Review Catchup: Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone

Due to a dearth of work for university the team at OneLastContinue has been somewhat lax lately with regards to catching up on review code which we received.  For that we apologise, wholeheartedly.  And here’s cake because we’ve brought in some awesome hard-hitters such as Ash Jolliffe, Elaine McCormack, Hannel Trivedi, Matt Carron, Lloyd Dew and Joe Gwilliams in order to help clear out the backlog under our Review Catchup collection.  First up on the slate we have Ash Jolliffe with Sam & Max: The Penal Zone with more to follow soon.  Enjoy.

Shaun McIlroy (U.K. & European Editor)

First of all, a disclaimer.  I don’t really have much experience with the Sam & Max series.  The first Sam & Max game that I played was “Sam & Max 104: Abe Lincoln Must Die!”, when it was made available for free on Steam.  Before this point the only other adventure games that I’d encountered featured a certain Mighty Pirate deep in the Caribbean so let me say this; Sam & Max instantly impressed me for being well written and voiced, having an interesting visual style and the fact that the puzzles were challenging, but not impossible.  From here on out there shall be mild spoilers so, off we go!

“Sam & Max 301: The Penal Zone” is the first episode of the third season in the Sam & Max franchise.  Titled “The Devil’s Playhouse”, the season will focus mainly on Max’s acquisition of psychic powers from mystical toys and the fight to save the world from an alien invasion.  Each concurrent episode will introduce at least one new power, and by the end Max should have a formidable arsenal of mind tricks in order to repel the badness from beyond the stars.

This episode starts with a vision of the future, showing you the end of the episode and teaching you the basics of Max’s psychic abilities before taking you back in time to the beginning and stripping you of all but one of them.  It’s kind of like Metroid in a way, teasing you with possibilities then taking the toys back.  Kind of like Metroid, but in place of a tough blonde we have a rabbity thing with a penchant for wanting to eat people.

Back on topic, so, Max’s powers mean that some of the mechanics are different this time around, as you can now switch control from Sam to Max at any time to use Max’s powers.  This works well to involve Max’s point of view more, and was a necessary change, as solving some of the puzzles require Max to use his powers in a specific location – which would be next to impossible without being able to manually move him into position.  It’s not too different in that it jars with what I expected to encounter, but more welcome as now you’re able to control both guys on demand which is important as the game is called Sam AND Max, not Sam and A.I.

Also new is the control system, it’s somewhat different from previous incarnations.  You’re not only now able to click and drag the mouse in a direction, emulating an analogue stick but gamepad support has also been improved to allow players to use whichever method is comfortable for them.   The gamepad control systems have clearly been implemented for the ease of PS3 players, and the virtual analogue stick is there to aid iPad users in their adjustment to an all tactile input control scheme.  This doesn’t mean that the controls are in any way bad, they take a moment to get used to – especially if you’ve played most of the other games, but in my opinion they definitely work well, with all platforms considered.

The writing continues to entertain throughout the entire episode, with the usual abundance of one liners and witty dialogue that we’ve all come to expect from this series, delivered in perfect form by the excellent voice actors.  With an engaging story, one which drops references not only to previous games, but to pop culture as well – it all gels together without feeling forced, something which few other titles (Discworld)have achieved successfully.  One of the only negative points was that this episode was mostly designed to set the scene and to introduce the new mechanics and controls, and as such came across as a little slow paced and as such, short.  However I have no doubt that the pace will pick up as the season progresses.

As for performance, the game ran great on my now aging laptop with only a few minor issues – I was slightly miffed about some longer than usual load times, but this will only be a problem for lower end systems.  Overall it’s a great game, if you loved the previous seasons it’s definitely worth a purchase, but even if you’re completely new to series it’s an excellent game to initiate yourself into the world of point and click adventure games.

Pluses
+ Incredibly well written dialogue, with outstanding voice acting as per usual.

+ Graphically great looking, with a unique stylised look.

+ Great puzzle balance, with some more challenging than others – but overall a great mix.

+ Solid control system.

Minuses
- May be shorter than you expect if you’ve never played an episodic Sam & Max before, but remember there is a full season to come.

- Currently you have to buy the whole season, which can be quite pricey if you’re not sure about whether you want to commit to playing the whole season.  Saying that, there IS a demo available so you might want to try that out first.

Available now on PC, Mac, PlayStation Network, Apple iPad

ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10+)

Players: 1

A promotional copy of the PC version of the game was provided to One Last Continue by Telltale Games for reviewing purposes.

Final Verdict: Sam & Max: The Penal Zone is an outstanding edition to the series. Previous control issues have been addressed and the game should be player friendly on all released platforms. The storyline is engaging and the mechanics changes are an interesting take on the previous adventure game format.

Grab the demo here and tell us what you think in the comments below.