Genre : Video Game
Publisher: Telltale Games
Players: 1
Retail Price: $9, or $30 as part of Sam and Max Season One
Availability: PC (Telltale Store, Gametap)
Midway through season one of Sam and Max, I felt fairly confident going in that I knew what to expect. The main characters, locations and gameplay mechanics have by now been set up, meaning that the series is set to take one of two paths: it can become stale and repetitive, set in its ways and merely iterating over the set formula; or it can go into Empire Strikes Back mode, free from the restraints of having to introduce or wrap up story points and simple be awesome.
Sam and Max just took a trip to Cloud City.
(Editor’s note: the use of the Oxford comma is going to annoy me throughout the review, but I’m nothing if not a stickler for using the proper title, personal grammatical style be damned)
The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball is easily the funniest Sam and Max game to date. The opening exchange of dialog had me laughing out loud, which was unfortunate as my wife was trying to sleep next to me. She had to get used to it, though, as the dialog frequently coaxed a chuckle, chortle or guffaw out of me. The initial setup seemed to hint at an interaction that never really occurred, unfortunately: you’re searching for a police mole in the Toy Mafia, and while you can use the code phrase on anyone, it’s never quite the reaction I wanted.
The writing in the game is top notch. Any time I walked into ‘Ted E. Bear’s Mafia-Free Playhouse and Casino,’ greeted by a mafioso with a giant colored bear head, I was reminded why I play these games. The final puzzle was my favorite so far, as while I still obviously had to do something specific to get the desired results I was actually able to walk around. It may not seem like much, but being able to click around without being attacked by a trio of former child stars did wonders for my patience. It’s also the most demanding of the finales so far, following the trend set in the first two (dialog only, then dialog with interaction with the environment).
Don’t misunderstand my prior enthusiasm. There are definitely familiar elements: you need to go to see Bosco, Sybil has a new profession, Jimmy Two-Teeth is doing something illicit and so on. But these seem less repetitive and more like elements of the games themselves: if Bosco wasn’t being paranoid, or if I didn’t have to do something odd with Sybil, I’d be disappointed.
I continue to be surprised by the amount of continuity in the series. I’d be content if each game were stand-alone, but the hints and teasers for what’s to come are just more examples of the little things that add up to make me love the games. Bosco’s ‘Buy One, Get One’ sign, the calendars that Sam and Max have been going through ‘at a rate of about one a year’ and the long list of things you may not have tried (as always, that’s a one way ticket to spoilertown) are all nuances that don’t need to be in the game to make it good, but add up to make it great.
I hope that the rest of season one carries on this trend of one-upmanship. Even if Telltale has plateaued, that still means I’m in for one hell of a ride (in a Desoto!)
