THE BORE

General => Video Game Bored => Topic started by: Fragamemnon on March 19, 2008, 03:43:06 PM

Title: Sam And Max Season 2
Post by: Fragamemnon on March 19, 2008, 03:43:06 PM: Anyone else playing Sam and Max this season?

It's been sort of up and down so far (much like the first season), but I played through the most recent episode (Chariots of the Dogs) yesterday and it was just fantastic. The whole thing was sort of a weird riff off of Dr. Who (time traveling elevator!) mixed with a lot of the best inside humor that they have built on the series. Everything about it was smart, from the puzzles to most of the dialogue to the degree of absurdity needed at times.

Just a heads up if you had given up on the season after Moai Better Blues or "how could this be so bad" Night of the Raving Dead. There is some light in the tunnel afterall, and the next episode (S205) should complete the season. Telltale is then taking a break for a while from Sam and Max while they work on some other things, which is probably a good thing to give them room for some better ideas-some of the stuff from the middle of this season really is showing the signs of creative fatigue, as I mentioned.
Title: Re: Sam And Max Season 2
Post by: Joe Molotov on March 19, 2008, 05:58:07 PM: I decided to wait until the Season 2 boxset came out this time.
Title: Re: Sam And Max Season 2
Post by: The Sceneman on March 19, 2008, 08:33:00 PM: how are these new Sam & Max 'levels'? I was huge fan of the old point and click game back in the day...
Title: Re: Sam And Max Season 2
Post by: Howard Alan Treesong on March 19, 2008, 10:29:02 PM: glad to hear ep 4 is so good. I actually quite liked Night of the Raving Dead, especially the second half after

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Sam n Max turn into zombies.
[close]

It did have a lot of wasted potential, though. Both episode 2 and 3 have the weird adventure game issue that sometimes I can't even figure out what the puzzles ARE, let alone how to solve them.

season 1 was like this, though (high highs and low lows), so I'm not letting a single episode get me down. Moai Better Blues was pretty damned awful, though.
Title: Re: Sam And Max Season 2
Post by: Fragamemnon on April 30, 2008, 03:09:49 PM: Finally finished up the last episode of Season 2 last night. I think the season ended on a high note-characters were very well done, puzzles were (for the most part) straightforward without being so obvious as to be unrewarding, and the episode probably put together the series' bizzare cast of characters together in the most coherent manner they have done so far. it's not as good as Chariot of the Dogs, but it is a cut above the lower points of episode 2 and parts of 3.

It's a good B+ effort overall from Telltale. I hope they keep it up after they get done with their Strongbad games, which I am also looking foward to.
Title: Re: Sam And Max Season 2
Post by: Howard Alan Treesong on April 30, 2008, 03:24:37 PM: I enjoyed it, though I ran into the same problem I did with the first season; namely, by the time I was at the last episode I was kind of sick of the adventure game tropes and getting stuck and was just FAQtastically blowing through content.

I'm not sure how I felt about 5 "longer" episodes to S1's 6 "shorter" episodes. I liked S1's easy-breezy two hour romps; there were a lot of S2 episodes that I couldn't finish in a single sitting. I suppose that's value for money, but I liked treating each episode like a movie or something - a single night's entertainment.

Even so, I think S2 was overall stronger than S1, and I really look forward to S3! :)
Title: Re: Sam And Max Season 2
Post by: GilloD on April 30, 2008, 03:27:30 PM: The driving sucks.
Title: Re: Sam And Max Season 2
Post by: Fragamemnon on April 30, 2008, 03:28:34 PM: I agree, too floaty and twitchy!

(the paperboy like driving sequence this season was great though).
Title: Re: Sam And Max Season 2
Post by: GilloD on April 30, 2008, 04:13:23 PM: I was trying to make a GTA4 joke. Is there actual driving?
Title: Re: Sam And Max Season 2
Post by: Howard Alan Treesong on April 30, 2008, 04:14:07 PM: yes, you drive the Desoto in every episode
Title: Re: Sam And Max Season 2
Post by: Fragamemnon on April 30, 2008, 04:19:45 PM: Torture Me Elmer was the best bit of driving this season.

I wish we'd have fixed Buster Blaster before the season ended. :( C.O.P.S. are some of their best characters, but without his jolting, obnoxious interruptions the group loses something.
Title: Re: Sam And Max Season 2
Post by: disgruntled_jojo on April 30, 2008, 05:40:41 PM: Haven't picked it back up since finishing Ep. 2... but I'm really looking forward to picking it back up (as soon as I finish my current project). Even at it's worst, the dialog and humor fit my bill. I've never been much on the whole point-and-click adventure genre's puzzles, so if I don't 'get it' right away, I just FAQ it. It's the only way I enjoy those kinds of games. I frustrate easily.