I'm not so sure I'm liking the episodic feel. Its too much like the TV series? Very linear.
I would enjoy a true sequel more. In the spirit of the original game...
Perhaps they can spin future episodes into more open-ended style games? You can have ‘episodes’ and still retain the freedom of an adventure game. Take money island for example… four games vaguely fit together but the actual game play is very free with plenty of quirks and dare I say it, more atmosphere than S&M episode 1.
Money Island??:D
Anyway, we know that also Freelance Police was planned to have different "episodes", or let's say self-conclusive stories tied together, the only difference is that they would have been released in one game while we have to wait for each episode to come.
I think that buying Freelance Police would almost have been like buying Telltale's S&M Season 1 once it's all over.
BTW, what do you mean by TRUE SEQUEL? The continuing story of Bruno, C. Bumpus etc. (that sure would be horrible!) or a brand new adventure separated from HTR?
Money Island??:D
Anyway, we know that also Freelance Police was planned to have different "episodes", or let's say self-conclusive stories tied together, the only difference is that they would have been released in one game while we have to wait for each episode to come.
I think that buying Freelance Police would almost have been like buying Telltale's S&M Season 1 once it's all over.
BTW, what do you mean by TRUE SEQUEL? The continuing story of Bruno, C. Bumpus etc. (that sure would be horrible!) or a brand new adventure separated from HTR?
Obviously I meant Monkey Island, simple typo.
By true sequel I mean a second game. Not an episode or a ‘gamette’, if there is such a thing. And preferably in the same interface style (2D would be best) even with some of the old places.
Obviously it would be another case. Take the old Sam and Max game, and wrap it around a new story/case. Make it the same length with new puzzles equally as insane as the first. We just want more of Sam and Max hit the road… is that so much to ask
Well just got in from work and dotted the I's and crossed the T's on Culture Shock.
Here are my pros and cons.
Pros
Charater Design: This was pretty much spot on though Max's protruding "eyebrow" creeped me out a little.
Music: This was right on the money though the intro sequence, while awesome, sounded like it was trying too hard to sound like HTR's.
General Animation: Pretty damn good with one exception, I'll get to that in Cons.
Voices: The voice actors got the characters just about right, Sam is has that noir'ish deadpan and Max certainly sounds hyperactive and his delivery is pretty good.
Dream Sequence: I loved this section was nice to the little touches like the hand and lamp moving and the pencil coat rack.
Cons
Sample quality: The voice samples in some areas were woefully poor, there was hiss and crackle all over the place especially from Sybil.
Lip Synch: Here is where the animation falls on its arse, combined with the awkward closeups its really jarring how badly synched their mouths are.
Humour: While the jokes are moderately funny their delivery and timing just isnt there. I didnt guffaw once, something HTR had me doing throughout.
Voice: Yep I know I put Voices in Pros too but heres the rub. Though Sam's voice is about right, his delivery is atrocious. It sounds like he is either stoned or just come out of a coma. There is no bite or wit to his one liners.
Difficulty: Sorry I had to put this here, its early in the game of course so this may improve with time. But as a seasoned adventure gamer with the best part of Lucasarts back catalogue and the Discworld series under my belt I found the puzzles patronisingly easy. Less "Hrrrm..." and more "Well DUH!"
My Pros :
- Almost everything ... Really
- Music, ambience, dialogue.
- Lots of things to interact with, I was very impressed by the fact that sam&max had answers and thoughts for almost every object in the world.
Cons :
- Lypsinch is better than what I thought in the videos, but lacks speed and reaction sometimes.
- Animations are sometimes too slacky, I especially felt that with brady culture. It felt like people where too stiff.
- A detail : A little moving thing on the loading times, just to be sure things have not freezed up.
In the end, it has been a looooooong times since I laughed out loud in front of my computer, and just for that : THANK YOU Telltale !
I have a heavy middle finger ( oversensitive mouse button ?) and so missed some of the characters dialogue & some scenes because I clicked the right mouse button inadvertantly...which got me cursing a bit...
Love your signature Hero...Sam & Max was the last of the Lucasarts adventures I played ..so I've only had to wait 3 years..
- Probably the most important thing to me: Good old Sam and Max dialogues and comments (bacteria playing basketball, uncle Louie's moth-eaten wallet and false-idol-worshipphing car drivers really crack me up)
- Music - superb.
Cons
- Sam's voice could use some impassionedness. Although the other voices were great
- Characters are a little bit lifeless
- Too easy! How am I supposed to find all the great replicas and easter eggs if I'm not bumbling around?
Animation Is Nice But also kind of **** it Lacks Real Emotion Hit The Road Had
2d Animation Which Had Real Quality, But This Has Some Basic 3d Animation.
Waaaaay Too Linear
Way To Easy And Short! It Took Me Like 6 Hours I Waited 13 Years For What Felt Like A Freaking Mini Game I Know Its Eposodic But The Next Ones January So Evry 2 Months I Get 6 Hours Of Gameplay? *(
The Humour Is Classic Sam And Max But It Feels A Lot More Pc And Boring Than Hit The Road. Darken The Humour A Bit Were Not Ten Dont Aim For Kids, This Is Sam And Max Not Finding Nemo Baby Puzzle Adventure!
GAAAAAAAAA IM DELIGHTED BUT VERY DISSAPOINTED
DARKEN THE HUMOUR FOR THE LOVE OF GOD IT WAS SOOO PG we dont eat rusks were not 8
i could smell the tone it down humour approach for the wider audience bs!
Just played through and I thought it was really great, not perfect but pretty damn good.
Pros:
The humor was spot on, I personally found it much much funnier than HTR.
The music was awesome.
I found the difficulty to be slightly too easy but nothing that detracts away from the fun of the game.
Cons:
My major gripe was that by re-using the 3D models in places cheapened the whole affair, I may be wrong but in the dream Seq isn't the blacked out guy the same model as the guy who works on the Cow Race Game in Bone?
Also the place feels quite sterile, the whole lighting needs to be toned down it's just way to bright and it kind of kills the atmosphere.
My only complaints about the game were visual the rest was spot on if you ask me.. not that anyone was, but you know.
The game looks fantastic. The graphics look much better than I expected.
The voices were much like the originals, so top marks there guys.
Decent story, with fun characters.
It's Sam and Max!
Game was a good (read: easy) introduction back into adventure gaming, which I've barely touched since Grim Fandango.
Puzzles weren't too obscure.
Relatively amusing (not 'hilarious' as some have said)
Telltale were definitely the right people to do this game. You have my faith in successfully bringing back the adventure game genre to the masses.
Cons
At the same time as it looking fantastic, it would have been awesome to have used the same comic styling as the original game, rather than the 3D models. Even so, once out on the street the design was ace. Its not really necessarily something I'd even want changing, at least not for the current series. In truth, it may be above Telltale games and their current game engine tools to do something like that anyway.
The delivery of Sam's lines just seemed to be a little flat. Lacking in any emotion.
As has been said, this game is short. Waaay to short. Which is a bit of problem when the game has little to no replayability.
The game seemed a little lacking in scale. Outside of their office and the street, we only saw one other place, and that was for a very small segment in the game.
A little too much compression on the audio in the game. Remember that most people using the game download service WILL have fast connections, and that most demos tend to be over 100mb nowadays! So don't worry about keeping the game download size to something small, unless Gametap say its a major requirement!
A widescreen option would have been nice, for my laptop screen (similar to what Company of Heroes uses).
Although some have maybe said otherwise (ie. the Tom Cruise lookalike on the TV at the end), but this series appears to be a number of small stories, rather than this being Part 1 as I thought it was. A storyline that ran throughout, would have been far better, but I can live with this format as long as you give us a PROPER story next time.
Seems obvious to say it, but the game was a little too Americanised! In other words, please take into account us European gamers (I'm in the UK), who might not understand the usage of certain words in puzzles. I found the Psychoanalysis a little tricky in the word association bit - I mean who was that Emmy winning woman?
And last but not least... The game was CONSTANTLY crashing on me. Every 5-10mins, when entering/exiting a room or building, the game would crash. It was 50/50 whether the game might crash, and it was highly irritating. I'm using a Macbook Pro, with Windows XP installed via Boot Camp. It's the 1.8ghz model, which has always been fine on every other PC game before. I'll get the next Episode, but if it happens again I won't be able to continue with the series. Which is a real bastard if so.
Don't get me wrong, the list of Cons may be bigger than the Pros, but it didn't impact too much on my enjoyment. And I think the reviews have been justified; I think Gamespots may be closest to the mark.
Anyway... welcome back Sam and Max and well done on an ace job on a game that I've been waiting aaaaaages for. How about Full Throttle 2 next?
Just a small notice, I didn't have any crash in the game, using also a Mac with BootCamp (XP SP2 for games). It's an iMac CD, so, except if you have a Core2Duo, we have pretty the same hardware... it's strange, there must be threads where you can put your crashlog to help telltale surround the problem in their engine
It's been so long since I played HtR that I not able to compare it, which is probably a good thing. That said, here goes:
Pros:
- Sam n' Max are back! 'nuff said!
- There was no part of the game that felt rushed or tacked on, except maybe the driving bits, which were just generally confusing.
- Several bits put a big smile on my face.
- The dream sequence was a great idea.
- I'd heard several bad things about Max's voice, but I loved it.
- Alternating between Sam 'n Max during the interrogation was great. More please!
Cons:
- I had a "that's it?" moment just before the final scene when I realised the end was coming up. That's the downer of episodic releases. Even for an episode though it felt short.
- While you started with several puzzles to solve, they were mainly self-contained in a single location with little cross-solving. The only cross I can think of is the tear gas launcher.
- I'll add my voice to the calls for a bit more difficulty. Actually I think the difficulty level for Culture Shock is fine, as long as it's intended only as a primer. If the rest of the season is at the same difficulty, that's a problem.
- Sam's voice was fine, but a little too soporific. I know he's the straight guy of the double act, but I think he needs just a little more life.
- Max spends too much time talking about crazy stuff, and not enough time *doing* crazy stuff. Funniest part of the game is right at the beginning after he drops Jimmy. It's just the look on his face. His character comes out more there than in anything else he says in the game (because he certainly doesn't *do* anything else). I do like how he just randomly wanders around.
- Connected to the previous point. I have two words - "Use Max"! Heck, one of these days, maybe Max should use Sam! In order for Use Max to be a workable non-hardcore feature, it would need to be rewarding (as in funny) most of the time it's attempted, even if it doesn't progress the game.
- While it was chuckle-worthy, it just wasn't hilarious. Sam 'n Max have high standards to live up to when it comes to this! :-)
- The dream sequence was too short, for some reason I was expecting it to be a whole act in itself. I was to be greatly disappointed.
Anyway - I hope this is useful and I look forward to the next installment! :-)
- Max spends too much time talking about crazy stuff, and not enough time *doing* crazy stuff. Funniest part of the game is right at the beginning after he drops Jimmy. It's just the look on his face. His character comes out more there than in anything else he says in the game (because he certainly doesn't *do* anything else). I do like how he just randomly wanders around.
I agree. That part is absolute perfection. Hopefully once the game moves into more adventurous locations, we'll see more of that.
I'm not so sure I'm liking the episodic feel. Its too much like the TV series? Very linear.
See - I went completely the other way with that, I really enjoyed the 'episode' - I thought it was kinda fun having the adventure completely self-contained...
I had a laugh for a couple of hours, really enjoyed the adventure, and because it didn't have an annoying cliff-hanger ending I felt quite satisfied with the whole thing once it was complete.
For the series it would be cool if there was an overall story arc, but I found it kinda refreshing that the adventure was self-contained (as opposed to every other episodic game I've played to date), though at the same time, gave it an old-skool TV cop series, which I think works really well with the S&M universe?
[*]Voice: Yep I know I put Voices in Pros too but heres the rub. Though Sam's voice is about right, his delivery is atrocious. It sounds like he is either stoned or just come out of a coma. There is no bite or wit to his one liners.
I thought that too - The deadpan is cool but a little more inflection wouldhave rocked (and, I reckon, made his one liners even funnier)
Another example of a perfect exchange of dialogue:
SAM: Somebody once told me that the contents of a lava lamp make a good hand cream. MAX: That was me. SAM: Which is why I haven't tried it.
I really like the delivery/execution of that dialogue, even though it's not inherently the most hilarious thing ever written. Also, the way Sam is talking while his back is turned to the camera gives me warm, fuzzy memories of Hit the Road.
In HtR he was always deadpan, but he had that sarcastic snap that was very funny.
That's what I'm saying (Though I'd rather have more irony that sarcasm); that it's cool Sam speaks with a deadpan voice, but that his lines would be funnier if there was a little more inflection (basically that deadpan != monotone)
Great little game, made me chuckle from beginning to end.
The graphics and voice acting are fantastic - to be honest I prefer 3D Sam and Max to the 2D ones!
I thought it was quite silly having the same puzzle used twice though.
(The Whizzer puzzle, which you basically only have to re-do when Sam is hypnotised?)
PROS
Everything that's been mentioned. In particular I like the visual style, the puzzles seemed fresh enough, the voice acting of both main as supporting cast are good, music is great (has it a very 'McConnell' sound to it, or is that me?)
Also, I like the interface the way it is. I don't mind "one action"; mostly you'll be only able to "examine" anyways. You get enough "That's not gonna work"'s when you try to use items on objects as it is.
CONS
- The talk animations didn't convince me too much. It's not so much an issue of lipsync to me, more an issue of lack of expression. The characters look like cartoon characters, but are animated (when talking) like 'realistic' 3D characters. Max is fine, but with a big mouth like that it's easy to be expressive. Sam seemed alright too. But Sybil for instance barely moves her mouth. Of course, she doesn't have to move it like crazy if she doesn't want to, but that's when bad lipsync shows. Not saying the lipsync in this game is awful; personally I've never seen good, convincing lipsync anywhere ever. It baffles me people are still even trying.
- It's been mentioned before: Max doesn't do much. It's more "Sam" than "Sam and Max". The game would work perfectly well without him at all.
- Punctuation consistency in the dialogue options seemed a bit off. Not that a lot of people really care about such things, but it should be covered now anyway with Squinky aboard
- One specific glitch: Max would often 'jump' from one place in the room to another; and I mean instantly, between frames. It would mostly occur when he's been kicked up by Sam, and Sam starts talking immediately afterwards. Max would then instantly be positioned right to deliver his lines, in stead of first finishing his animation.
- One other specific glitch: you'd sometimes click on the edge of the screen to make Sam walk, and he'd walk to a completely different spot in the room.
PROS:
- Sam and Max(!!!)
- Graphic
- Sam and Max (!!!)
- everything else except my cons
- and: Sam and Max (!!!)
CONS:
- 1. Far too short even for just one episode. Less than 2 hours
- 2. For me, who played Adventures since DOS exists, it was far to easy...could be the reason for point 1. I just stuck 5 mins to disable the Graffiti guy. It was the same thing with "Geheimakte: Tunguska" (however it's called in english) or other current adventures... just clicking my way until the end of the game without to think about what I could do next because mostly it's obvious what I need to do next.
Could someone tell me what happened to the original Desoto? why the convertible? And at Boscos store in Hit the Road, was the kid in his store like a guy working there, cuz he got his lower lip stretched complitly over his head. I might have answered that question myself, being that Bosco is black and thats cool and all. guess things dont really need to run together with hit the Road.
Main thing: What happened to the Desoto.
Telltale u guys need to put Snuckys back in. Unless Bosco's replaces Snuckys.
In game: Click on the bent parking meter and you'll find out.
In real life: I'm lead to believe that Steve Purcell decided to go with the newer Desoto. And why not? 'tis a fine automobile. Big 'n' beefy enough to run over motorbikes yet also stylin'. Or maybe because sam is a big dog and felt that being able to stick his head out the window wasn't enough.
In game: Click on the bent parking meter and you'll find out.
In real life: I'm lead to believe that Steve Purcell decided to go with the newer Desoto. And why not? 'tis a fine automobile. Big 'n' beefy enough to run over motorbikes yet also stylin'. Or maybe because sam is a big dog and felt that being able to stick his head out the window wasn't enough.
well its a change ill have to get used to. Just means no more Highway mini games for Max, being that he cant stand on the roof of the desoto.
well its a change ill have to get used to. Just means no more Highway mini games for Max, being that he cant stand on the roof of the desoto.
I thought that too. But I guess Highway surfin' is always achievable by standing on the bonnet. That way Sam can't see where he's driving and it's twice as fun!
PROS:
Personally I thought they got everything pretty damned close to perfection (game of the year, as far as I'm concerned), so the best I can come up with are some
PEDANTIC QUIBBLES:
-Poor use of positive/negative space, particularly when I need Sam to walk large distances (the street scene). I don't really need to see much of what's behind Sam, but if I could see more of what's in front of him, I wouldn't have to click as constantly to keep him moving (this has bugged me for fifteen years of adventure gaming; I think there may be something wrong with me).
-Unable to continue moving around whilst Sam is still delivering his "look at" dialogue. He can't walk and talk at the same time?!? (Again, fifteen years, something wrong, me).
-Blind obediance to the almighty 4:3 aspect ratio. Seriously, this is meant to be the age of flying cars and trips to the moon, y'know?
-Being able to double-click on an exit to cut straight to the next scene would get rid of some petty frustration when "I just want to go THERE, dammit!"
Cons: It does seem to have a memory leak. It gets sluggish after a while and when I close GameTap, WinXP is complaining about not enough virtual memory. I have 512MB installed and nearly 40GB of free HD space.
First, I didn't have any of the mentioned technical issues, everything ran smoothly for me.
I agree with most on the music being awsome.
The jokes were great, but they would have been really improved with a better acting. Not from the voices, but from the 3D models: they mostly use the same face to say something funny, something problematic, something witty, something angry, etc. There where times when I knew they where saying something funny, but I just couldn't laugh because of the lack of expression in their faces (remember that about a 70% of a message meaning depends on the non-verbal part of the comunication).
The game was short, but ok for it's price. I think most complains come because we're used to play big games, and it'll take some time until people get used to the idea of an "intentionally" short game. But that'll change once we've got more episodes available. I guess we'll see by the end of the season if I'm right...
Anyway, TellTale have done a great job giving the game a "bigger" sense by leting you click on almost anything, but I think this should be improved by adding secondary charachters which don't have to have anything to do with the story (for example, Flint on Hit the Road was awsome, and he didn't even appeared!). This would also help to give the game world a more "live" feeling.
The other thing I miss from Hit the Road, but to which I think I'll get used to (I know, they're different games...), is the absense of alternative actions (look at, use, etc.). I'd love to use Max as an item again, or to hear Sam's amusing sobbing after forcing him to do something he can't...
So, as a final note, I'm really enjoying the series so far, but it still can be even better. Keep on the good job, TellTale! and Thanks!
Comments
Anyway, we know that also Freelance Police was planned to have different "episodes", or let's say self-conclusive stories tied together, the only difference is that they would have been released in one game while we have to wait for each episode to come.
I think that buying Freelance Police would almost have been like buying Telltale's S&M Season 1 once it's all over.
BTW, what do you mean by TRUE SEQUEL? The continuing story of Bruno, C. Bumpus etc. (that sure would be horrible!) or a brand new adventure separated from HTR?
Obviously I meant Monkey Island, simple typo.
By true sequel I mean a second game. Not an episode or a ‘gamette’, if there is such a thing. And preferably in the same interface style (2D would be best) even with some of the old places.
Obviously it would be another case. Take the old Sam and Max game, and wrap it around a new story/case. Make it the same length with new puzzles equally as insane as the first. We just want more of Sam and Max hit the road… is that so much to ask
Here are my pros and cons.
Pros
Cons
CONS:
Hello !
My Pros :
- Almost everything ... Really
- Music, ambience, dialogue.
- Lots of things to interact with, I was very impressed by the fact that sam&max had answers and thoughts for almost every object in the world.
Cons :
- Lypsinch is better than what I thought in the videos, but lacks speed and reaction sometimes.
- Animations are sometimes too slacky, I especially felt that with brady culture. It felt like people where too stiff.
- A detail : A little moving thing on the loading times, just to be sure things have not freezed up.
In the end, it has been a looooooong times since I laughed out loud in front of my computer, and just for that : THANK YOU Telltale !
Oh yeah, that had to be the BEST bit about Sam and Max. Finding a computer game funny again.:D
It's SAM & MAX ! Thankyou Telltale !
Cons
I have a heavy middle finger ( oversensitive mouse button ?) and so missed some of the characters dialogue & some scenes because I clicked the right mouse button inadvertantly...which got me cursing a bit...
Love your signature Hero...Sam & Max was the last of the Lucasarts adventures I played ..so I've only had to wait 3 years..
Pros
- Probably the most important thing to me: Good old Sam and Max dialogues and comments (bacteria playing basketball, uncle Louie's moth-eaten wallet and false-idol-worshipphing car drivers really crack me up)
- Music - superb.
Cons
- Sam's voice could use some impassionedness. Although the other voices were great
- Characters are a little bit lifeless
- Too easy! How am I supposed to find all the great replicas and easter eggs if I'm not bumbling around?
Feels Like Sam And Max!
Great Musical Score!
Sweet graphics!
Voices Are Spot On!
Nice Plot!
We Get To Use A Gun!
cons
Animation Is Nice But also kind of **** it Lacks Real Emotion Hit The Road Had
2d Animation Which Had Real Quality, But This Has Some Basic 3d Animation.
Waaaaay Too Linear
Way To Easy And Short! It Took Me Like 6 Hours I Waited 13 Years For What Felt Like A Freaking Mini Game I Know Its Eposodic But The Next Ones January So Evry 2 Months I Get 6 Hours Of Gameplay? *(
The Humour Is Classic Sam And Max But It Feels A Lot More Pc And Boring Than Hit The Road. Darken The Humour A Bit Were Not Ten Dont Aim For Kids, This Is Sam And Max Not Finding Nemo Baby Puzzle Adventure!
GAAAAAAAAA IM DELIGHTED BUT VERY DISSAPOINTED
DARKEN THE HUMOUR FOR THE LOVE OF GOD IT WAS SOOO PG we dont eat rusks were not 8
i could smell the tone it down humour approach for the wider audience bs!
Pros:
The humor was spot on, I personally found it much much funnier than HTR.
The music was awesome.
I found the difficulty to be slightly too easy but nothing that detracts away from the fun of the game.
Cons:
My major gripe was that by re-using the 3D models in places cheapened the whole affair, I may be wrong but in the dream Seq isn't the blacked out guy the same model as the guy who works on the Cow Race Game in Bone?
Also the place feels quite sterile, the whole lighting needs to be toned down it's just way to bright and it kind of kills the atmosphere.
My only complaints about the game were visual the rest was spot on if you ask me.. not that anyone was, but you know.
Cons
- At the same time as it looking fantastic, it would have been awesome to have used the same comic styling as the original game, rather than the 3D models. Even so, once out on the street the design was ace. Its not really necessarily something I'd even want changing, at least not for the current series. In truth, it may be above Telltale games and their current game engine tools to do something like that anyway.
- The delivery of Sam's lines just seemed to be a little flat. Lacking in any emotion.
- As has been said, this game is short. Waaay to short. Which is a bit of problem when the game has little to no replayability.
- The game seemed a little lacking in scale. Outside of their office and the street, we only saw one other place, and that was for a very small segment in the game.
- A little too much compression on the audio in the game. Remember that most people using the game download service WILL have fast connections, and that most demos tend to be over 100mb nowadays! So don't worry about keeping the game download size to something small, unless Gametap say its a major requirement!
- A widescreen option would have been nice, for my laptop screen (similar to what Company of Heroes uses).
- Although some have maybe said otherwise (ie. the Tom Cruise lookalike on the TV at the end), but this series appears to be a number of small stories, rather than this being Part 1 as I thought it was. A storyline that ran throughout, would have been far better, but I can live with this format as long as you give us a PROPER story next time.
- Seems obvious to say it, but the game was a little too Americanised! In other words, please take into account us European gamers (I'm in the UK), who might not understand the usage of certain words in puzzles. I found the Psychoanalysis a little tricky in the word association bit - I mean who was that Emmy winning woman?
- And last but not least... The game was CONSTANTLY crashing on me. Every 5-10mins, when entering/exiting a room or building, the game would crash. It was 50/50 whether the game might crash, and it was highly irritating. I'm using a Macbook Pro, with Windows XP installed via Boot Camp. It's the 1.8ghz model, which has always been fine on every other PC game before. I'll get the next Episode, but if it happens again I won't be able to continue with the series. Which is a real bastard if so.
Don't get me wrong, the list of Cons may be bigger than the Pros, but it didn't impact too much on my enjoyment. And I think the reviews have been justified; I think Gamespots may be closest to the mark.Anyway... welcome back Sam and Max and well done on an ace job on a game that I've been waiting aaaaaages for. How about Full Throttle 2 next?
Pros:
- Sam n' Max are back! 'nuff said!
- There was no part of the game that felt rushed or tacked on, except maybe the driving bits, which were just generally confusing.
- Several bits put a big smile on my face.
- The dream sequence was a great idea.
- I'd heard several bad things about Max's voice, but I loved it.
- Alternating between Sam 'n Max during the interrogation was great. More please!
Cons:
- I had a "that's it?" moment just before the final scene when I realised the end was coming up. That's the downer of episodic releases. Even for an episode though it felt short.
- While you started with several puzzles to solve, they were mainly self-contained in a single location with little cross-solving. The only cross I can think of is the tear gas launcher.
- I'll add my voice to the calls for a bit more difficulty. Actually I think the difficulty level for Culture Shock is fine, as long as it's intended only as a primer. If the rest of the season is at the same difficulty, that's a problem.
- Dedicated right-click 'look at' command, please! :-)
- Sam's voice was fine, but a little too soporific. I know he's the straight guy of the double act, but I think he needs just a little more life.
- Max spends too much time talking about crazy stuff, and not enough time *doing* crazy stuff. Funniest part of the game is right at the beginning after he drops Jimmy. It's just the look on his face. His character comes out more there than in anything else he says in the game (because he certainly doesn't *do* anything else). I do like how he just randomly wanders around.
- Connected to the previous point. I have two words - "Use Max"! Heck, one of these days, maybe Max should use Sam! In order for Use Max to be a workable non-hardcore feature, it would need to be rewarding (as in funny) most of the time it's attempted, even if it doesn't progress the game.
- While it was chuckle-worthy, it just wasn't hilarious. Sam 'n Max have high standards to live up to when it comes to this! :-)
- The dream sequence was too short, for some reason I was expecting it to be a whole act in itself. I was to be greatly disappointed.
Anyway - I hope this is useful and I look forward to the next installment! :-)
I agree. That part is absolute perfection. Hopefully once the game moves into more adventurous locations, we'll see more of that.
See - I went completely the other way with that, I really enjoyed the 'episode' - I thought it was kinda fun having the adventure completely self-contained...
I had a laugh for a couple of hours, really enjoyed the adventure, and because it didn't have an annoying cliff-hanger ending I felt quite satisfied with the whole thing once it was complete.
For the series it would be cool if there was an overall story arc, but I found it kinda refreshing that the adventure was self-contained (as opposed to every other episodic game I've played to date), though at the same time, gave it an old-skool TV cop series, which I think works really well with the S&M universe?
I thought that too - The deadpan is cool but a little more inflection wouldhave rocked (and, I reckon, made his one liners even funnier)
SAM: Somebody once told me that the contents of a lava lamp make a good hand cream.
MAX: That was me.
SAM: Which is why I haven't tried it.
I really like the delivery/execution of that dialogue, even though it's not inherently the most hilarious thing ever written. Also, the way Sam is talking while his back is turned to the camera gives me warm, fuzzy memories of Hit the Road.
In HtR he was always deadpan, but he had that sarcastic snap that was very funny.
That's what I'm saying (Though I'd rather have more irony that sarcasm); that it's cool Sam speaks with a deadpan voice, but that his lines would be funnier if there was a little more inflection (basically that deadpan != monotone)
The graphics and voice acting are fantastic - to be honest I prefer 3D Sam and Max to the 2D ones!
I thought it was quite silly having the same puzzle used twice though.
(The Whizzer puzzle, which you basically only have to re-do when Sam is hypnotised?)
That's why we love you.
More puzzles and items would also be nice.
Everything that's been mentioned. In particular I like the visual style, the puzzles seemed fresh enough, the voice acting of both main as supporting cast are good, music is great (has it a very 'McConnell' sound to it, or is that me?)
Also, I like the interface the way it is. I don't mind "one action"; mostly you'll be only able to "examine" anyways. You get enough "That's not gonna work"'s when you try to use items on objects as it is.
CONS
- The talk animations didn't convince me too much. It's not so much an issue of lipsync to me, more an issue of lack of expression. The characters look like cartoon characters, but are animated (when talking) like 'realistic' 3D characters. Max is fine, but with a big mouth like that it's easy to be expressive. Sam seemed alright too. But Sybil for instance barely moves her mouth. Of course, she doesn't have to move it like crazy if she doesn't want to, but that's when bad lipsync shows. Not saying the lipsync in this game is awful; personally I've never seen good, convincing lipsync anywhere ever. It baffles me people are still even trying.
- It's been mentioned before: Max doesn't do much. It's more "Sam" than "Sam and Max". The game would work perfectly well without him at all.
- Punctuation consistency in the dialogue options seemed a bit off. Not that a lot of people really care about such things, but it should be covered now anyway with Squinky aboard
- One specific glitch: Max would often 'jump' from one place in the room to another; and I mean instantly, between frames. It would mostly occur when he's been kicked up by Sam, and Sam starts talking immediately afterwards. Max would then instantly be positioned right to deliver his lines, in stead of first finishing his animation.
- One other specific glitch: you'd sometimes click on the edge of the screen to make Sam walk, and he'd walk to a completely different spot in the room.
- Sam and Max(!!!)
- Graphic
- Sam and Max (!!!)
- everything else except my cons
- and: Sam and Max (!!!)
CONS:
- 1. Far too short even for just one episode. Less than 2 hours
- 2. For me, who played Adventures since DOS exists, it was far to easy...could be the reason for point 1. I just stuck 5 mins to disable the Graffiti guy. It was the same thing with "Geheimakte: Tunguska" (however it's called in english) or other current adventures... just clicking my way until the end of the game without to think about what I could do next because mostly it's obvious what I need to do next.
Main thing: What happened to the Desoto.
Telltale u guys need to put Snuckys back in. Unless Bosco's replaces Snuckys.
In game: Click on the bent parking meter and you'll find out.
In real life: I'm lead to believe that Steve Purcell decided to go with the newer Desoto. And why not? 'tis a fine automobile. Big 'n' beefy enough to run over motorbikes yet also stylin'. Or maybe because sam is a big dog and felt that being able to stick his head out the window wasn't enough.
well its a change ill have to get used to. Just means no more Highway mini games for Max, being that he cant stand on the roof of the desoto.
I thought that too. But I guess Highway surfin' is always achievable by standing on the bonnet. That way Sam can't see where he's driving and it's twice as fun!
Personally I thought they got everything pretty damned close to perfection (game of the year, as far as I'm concerned), so the best I can come up with are some
PEDANTIC QUIBBLES:
-Poor use of positive/negative space, particularly when I need Sam to walk large distances (the street scene). I don't really need to see much of what's behind Sam, but if I could see more of what's in front of him, I wouldn't have to click as constantly to keep him moving (this has bugged me for fifteen years of adventure gaming; I think there may be something wrong with me).
-Unable to continue moving around whilst Sam is still delivering his "look at" dialogue. He can't walk and talk at the same time?!? (Again, fifteen years, something wrong, me).
-Blind obediance to the almighty 4:3 aspect ratio. Seriously, this is meant to be the age of flying cars and trips to the moon, y'know?
-Being able to double-click on an exit to cut straight to the next scene would get rid of some petty frustration when "I just want to go THERE, dammit!"
Cons: It does seem to have a memory leak. It gets sluggish after a while and when I close GameTap, WinXP is complaining about not enough virtual memory. I have 512MB installed and nearly 40GB of free HD space.
Thanks for the great game TellTale.
I agree with most on the music being awsome.
The jokes were great, but they would have been really improved with a better acting. Not from the voices, but from the 3D models: they mostly use the same face to say something funny, something problematic, something witty, something angry, etc. There where times when I knew they where saying something funny, but I just couldn't laugh because of the lack of expression in their faces (remember that about a 70% of a message meaning depends on the non-verbal part of the comunication).
The game was short, but ok for it's price. I think most complains come because we're used to play big games, and it'll take some time until people get used to the idea of an "intentionally" short game. But that'll change once we've got more episodes available. I guess we'll see by the end of the season if I'm right...
Anyway, TellTale have done a great job giving the game a "bigger" sense by leting you click on almost anything, but I think this should be improved by adding secondary charachters which don't have to have anything to do with the story (for example, Flint on Hit the Road was awsome, and he didn't even appeared!). This would also help to give the game world a more "live" feeling.
The other thing I miss from Hit the Road, but to which I think I'll get used to (I know, they're different games...), is the absense of alternative actions (look at, use, etc.). I'd love to use Max as an item again, or to hear Sam's amusing sobbing after forcing him to do something he can't...
So, as a final note, I'm really enjoying the series so far, but it still can be even better. Keep on the good job, TellTale! and Thanks!