Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1374 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: JoWood
• Released on: 2007-08-31
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Platform: Windows XP

Manufacturer's Description
Sam & Max aren't your average crime-fighting duo. Sam is a six-foot tall canine shamus with a love of justice. Max is hyperkinetic rabbity-thing with a taste for violence. Together, Sam & Max are the Freelance Police, ridding the streets of bottom-feeding sludge one dastardly miscreant at a time.

Over the last two decades, Sam & Max have appeared in a number of formats, including independent comics created by Steve Purcell, an interactive PC adventure game, a Saturday morning cartoon, a webcomic strip, and now innovative episodic games developed by Telltale. The Adventure Company's Sam & Max: Season 1 release marks this series' first foray into retail stores, giving customers worldwide an opportunity to see why the game's bizarre humor, crazy characters, vivid 3D graphics, and good, old-fashioned point & click gameplay make Sam & Max: Season 1 the funniest PC game in years.

Customer Reviews

The best 3D adventure since Grim Fandango!
I loved the original sam and max game and had mixed feelings about whether it would translate well to 3D. However, I need not have worried! The interface is slimmed down and easier to use than ever, the episode system is cleverly implemented, and the dialogue is (that rare thing in video games) really, really funny. One or two puzzles have slightly obscure solutions but on the whole the difficulty curve is perfectly pitched. In summary: This is brilliantly entertaining, rib shakingly funny and the best game I've played in a long time.

Well, I'm certainly glad they're back!
This is just a quick one because the other positive reviews have already done a great job in explaining just how good Season One is, but I enjoyed catching up with Sam and Max again so much I just had to have my say too.

I guess like a lot of people who bought this I was a huge fan of Sam and Max Hit The Road when it came out way back when and I was so pleased to find out that TellTale and Jowood were reviving everyone's favourite freelance police. I was even happier when I found out that there wouldn't just be one or two but SIX new episodes to make up Season One.

OK, so each one isn't gonna win any titles for the longest point-and-click game in the world, but put them all together and you've got a fair few hours gameplay there.

The new graphics look great, the music is awesome, the interface is simple and very user-friendly, and the puzzles are a nice challenge (even if they aren't the most difficult ever, as others have mentioned). Most of all, it's really funny, very well-written, and put together by people who clearly love the characters and seem to have wanted to make new Sam and Max games that would have the feel of the original but update it for a modern audience of PC users.

If that really was their aim, I think they made an excellent job of it.
I can't wait for Season Two!

One of the best puzzle adventure games in years
Sam and Max are two of the most iconic characters in the history of pc gaming, and they're back in a brand new set of adventures which have snappy writing, smart puzzles, a wonderful visual style and some great voice acting. In short, if you like the genre, you want this game.

There are a few references to the original Sam and Max game, but you don't need any prior experience with the crime fighting duo to get into the game at all. All you need to know is that Sam is a giant dog and Max is a hideously shaped rabbity-thing. And that they're freelance police. If you know that, you can jump right into the game.

The game has a very minimalist UI, all you've got is a little cog at the top and a cardboard box at the bottom. Clicking the cog brings up a dropdown menu where you can load and save your game, or change visual settings, and the cardboard box opens up your inventory. The game interaction is very simple, too. It's all one-button-based - if you can pick it up, a left click will pick it up, if you can't, a left click will give you a little inspection dialogue. Left clicking the floor will walk you there, left clicking a person will let you talk to them. In your inventory, left mouse button is select item while right mouse button will give you a description of your selected item. And that's it - simple, contextual and intuitive.

Because the game was originally released in episodes (this `season' is a compilation of 6 games lasting two to three hours each), you'll find many characters and locations repeated. Almost every episode starts at the duo's office, and out on the street you'll find a shop, affectionately titled Bosco's Inconvenience Store, and the boutique of a woman named Sybil who can't seem to keep her job for more than an episode. Although there's a great deal of repetition in here in terms of locations, we do get to visit many other places, and both Bosco and Sybil have interesting changes to their characters every episode to keep things fresh.

The puzzles are mostly pretty simple - veterans won't find themselves terribly challenged, but there are often multiple puzzles you have to overcome at the same time, so you're presented with many obstacles and given a small degree of choice on the order in which you approach them, and it's a great feeling as you see all the elements of a multifaceted puzzle come together, as you realise what your endgame solution is. The puzzles also all make sense - there's never anything obscure or obtuse, so even when you do become stuck on occasion, you probably won't feel a tinge of frustration as you try to figure out what you're doing wrong.

Where the challenge is sometimes lacking, the humour more than compensates - Sam is the straight man, but his comments can usually get you smiling and are on occasion utterly hilarious. Max, on the other hand, is utterly inane and insane and his one-liners and irreverence will have you laughing constantly. There are many references to computer games, a few self-references that are utterly brilliant, and a few references to popular film. Some other characters - or just the absurdity of the situation - are often funny as well. All round, this is one of the funniest games I've ever experienced.

Although it is episodic, and each episode could be played individually and exclusively as each episode works as a standalone story, there is an arcing storyline that connects every episode together, it's hardly deep or overly engaging, but it works well, and considering that the game isn't supposed to be taken seriously at all, it fits well.
The visual style is great, you won't see any normal mapping or HDR lighting, but the game is smooth running on just about any system you can image, and it's a pretty great looking game at higher resolutions. The artistic style also means items stand out fairly distinctly, without resorting to effects like glowing items, which may spoil the feeling - and you'll never find yourself pixel hunting for some obscure or hard to find item.

It's smart, it's funny, it's fun, it's got a great cast of characters - it looks great, it's intuitive and easy to play, it's challenging without being frustrating - and all round it's just about the best puzzle adventure game I've played this side of grim fandango. Roll on season 2.