The Sam and Max saga continues into the fiery pits of Hell. After dropping through the Bermuda triangle with Bosco’s corpse, Sam and Max find that they must take a train into Hell to retrieve Bosco’s soul. Using their typical crime-solving tactics, the twosome must find a token to catch the next soul train to the pits of Satan’s Lair.
But getting in much easier than getting back out. Not only do the crime fighters find it hard to escape the grips of Beelzebub, but they find themselves surrounded by the people who they themselves sent to Hell. Now Sam and Max are trapped in a world where it’s always Monday and it’s always just before quitting time. It would almost feel like real life if not for the fact that the guy in charge is Satan himself. Actually, I guess this is pretty close to real life.
The story line is classic, and follows right in suit with past Sam and Max episodes. Without a doubt, this is the perfect ending to season 2. The game is well crafted and contains some of the most hilarious dialog in the entertainment industry, rivaled only by the most offensive characters out there. And in this day and age that’s saying alot considering some of the foul-mouthed and violent toons roaming the airwaves. Telltale’s writers are inventive when it comes to wordplay, and seemingly have no end to the smart-ass remarks up their sleeves. At the same time they don’t lose that “classic” game feel.
As much as this is a new adventure for our would-be heroes, it is also obviously a continuance of not only the entire season, but of the entire series. References to past chapters and the resurrection of old characters brings new light to those who are now living in their own personal Hells. I would recommend beginning with the first game and working your way to this one if you have never played Sam and Max before, because just like in a book the little things in the last chapter won’t make much sense if you havn’t read the ones before it. And when trying to escape from Hell, any clue missed could mean eternity.
And now to the nitty gritty. I had absolutely no problems installing the game. Everything went pretty fluid. I ran it on my gaming machine without any fuss at all in high quality mode, and it ran nicely on my 1.7Ghz Intel laptop in low quality mode. The only problems I had with it at all were in Low Quality mode while in Hell. The loading screens seemed to stick and skip temporarily when visiting each character’s version of Hell. Other than that, it ran like a dream. The storyline was easy to follow, and the ability to set one’s on hint level for in-game help was particularly nice if you have never played before.
Personally, I had a lot of fun playing the latest installment of Sam and Max, and look forward to the next. The only thing I found wanting in the game is a wider variety of scenes, and more places to explore. Other than the most mediocre complaints (and every game will generate a few) it generated more laughs and entertainment for me than many other games intended to have the same effect. I would definately recommend running to your nearest game vendor and picking this one up. In short, if you want to have fun… go to Hell.