You can also visit new locations that you couldn’t visit before. Remember Stinky’s diner down the street that you could never get to? Now you can enter it, which is now a key place to solve some of the cases. The waitress at the Diner is the granddaughter of the original Stinky (I’m not sure what it says about her that she’s wearing a fish apron). There are some nice touches to the diner, such as flies buzzing around in the kitchen, and there are lots of details (some of the developers shared some of the inside jokes behind some of the items on the wall). In this episode it is revealed that Sybil and Lincoln’s Head (characters from Season One) are now dating.
You can now get into Stinky’s Diner
Also new in this Season are some mini-games. In one of these, Jimmy Two-Teeth (your office rat) has some items that we need, but he won’t just give them up: you must fight him for it. Since both Sam & Max are too big to fit in his little mouse-hole, they send in a remote-control doll to fight the rat in a minature boxing ring. This boxing game is obviously influenced (satirically) by Nintendo, and any gaming historian will be familiar with the “Body Blow” sounds and behind-the-back camera angle. There are also some driving mini-games as a segway between locations while in the DeSoto, and you can drive and shoot at the same time (well, Max shoots, Sam drives).
A new fighting mini-game a la Nintendo
The formula for a Sam & Max episode has been successful, so some aspects of the episodic adventures remain the same. Each episode takes about three hours to play (depending on how you play). If you go through every line of humorous dialog, then it may take a little longer. Most people play the game as interactive entertainment, and want to hear all the lines of comedy. Gamers who take the quickest path just to complete the game will miss alot of the fun, and will get through the episode a little quicker.
Like in the previous episodes, you have to manipulate others in the environment to solve the puzzles. Emily stated that “The right answer is never the right answer”, until you do something to manipulate the environment to get the question right.
I asked if the Giant Robot from the trailer will be making an appearance, and the developers confirmed that he will appear in one (or more) of the upcoming episodes. Alot of the usability gripes have been addressed in this new season, and the games are made more fun with the addition of fun mini-games. The clever writing and art direction is as strong as ever, and the laughs just keep on coming. It appears that TellTale knows what it’s got, and is giving the Sam & Max fans more of what they want.
Some character concept drawings for Season Two
Like Season One before it, Sam & Max Season Two will be released electronically (over the Internets). GameTap subscribers will get each new episode first, but just one day later it’ll be unleashed on Telltale’s website for gamers worldwide to consume.
