Telltale Games released a brand new Sam and Max game “The Penal Zone” last month.  It’s their third Sam and Max series and debuted on Playstation 3, PC, Mac and iPad.  LucasArts “Sam and Max: Hit the Road” which was released on PC back in 1993 remains one of the funniest video games ever made.  This makes any Telltale Sam & Max game have a lot to live up to, when you compare it to that classic.  Telltale is up to the challenge and  continues to make great strides with their technology. It’s been a few years since Season 2 of Sam & Max and with the expanding companies additional resources they’ve produced their best video game to date.

The graphics have come along in leaps and bounds since the first two seasons.  The characters and environments look fantastic on a high definition television, this is clearly Telltale’s best looking game so far. The environments really look alive in 3d, graffiti on buildings, and added grit and grime to the streets adds to the atmosphere.  The only disappointment is the first episode pretty much stays in New York city.  What I loved about Season 2 of Sam and Max was it went to new and interesting locations every episode, so I hope we get to visit some zany places in upcoming episodes.

The music again is top notch.  Jared Emerson-Johnson has created a great sci-fi score.  The theme and inside Skunkape’s ship are real highlights.  His music for Sam & Max really win some awards, it’s diverse, always enjoyable, and adds a lot to the vibe of the game.

The true test of any Sam and Max game, and what the characters ultimately live and die on, is the humour. Is it funny? Definitely, the writing is once again excellent.  I don’t think the situations are as strong and funny as the end of season 2 but a lot of this episode is about setting up the overarching arc of the season. There is so much dialogue in this game that you will surely find some laugh out loud moments.  References to The Exorcist, The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, The Twilight Zone and the endless supply of penal jokes had me thoroughly entertained.

One of the big improvements in the writing is in regards to Sam’s dialogue.  Too often all the big laughs are left to the psychotic bunny but Sam more than hold’s his own with some hilarious quips.  I do have one issue with Telltale’s Sam though and that is in the voice work.  The delivery of Sam’s line are so dry and monotone that he does not take advantage of the writing.  William Kasten is doing some excellent work as the voice of Max.  He really punches each joke, and uses the pitch of his voice to sell every line.  I don’t think you can go past the voicework done for Sam in Hit the Road.  The voice acting portrayed a real Humphry Bogart/Gumshoe character and Sam’s lines were just as effective as Max’s.  I hope David Nowlin does a bit more with Telltale’s Sam, or they change voice actors because it’s a real missed opportunity.  The other characters are again great.  General Skunkape is brilliant, and very funny.  Harry Molemen has many hilarious scenes in this episode, and even Grandpa Stinky delivers some laugh out loud moments.

The control scheme has been completely reworked for the Playstation 3 release and it works a treat.  I could never envision playing an adventure game on a console and it working as good as this.  It’s extremely user friendly and the control scheme does not get in the way at all. Left analog stick to move Sam around and the right analog to select objects and dialogue choices, triangle and square to interact with objects.  The dialogue options are very well done and more reminiscent of Hit the Road.  You choose a topic, which means the joke is not given away before it’s delivered.  This is extremely important to Sam & Max because you never know what to expect, or what they’ll say.  This really adds to the comedic value of the game, and an example of how the improved UI work has payed off.  It is very easy to use and allowed me to completely focus on the game, solving puzzles and listening to jokes.

The puzzle difficulty is similar to other Telltale games.  I would say they were largely in the moderate category with a few puzzles slightly more tricky.  I did play the game with the hints completely turned off.  I think it’s the best option for a Telltale game if you want to get the most value for your money.  The game took me a couple of weeks to complete and I only ever really got stuck at one point.  All up around 5 or 6 hours of gameplay.  I’d expect the puzzle difficulty to increase as the season goes on.  I’m sure the Playstation Network release will bring many new players to Sam & Max so it’s important to make it as accessible as possible.

The writer for this episode was Chuck Jordan who has penned the best Sam & Max episodes so far, “Abe Lincoln must die” & “Chariots of the Dogs.” One writer missing from this season is Brendan Ferguson who appears to have left Telltale Games.  This is a big loss. He was one of the first 10 Telltale employees, was a writer on the cancelled Sam & Max Sequel, “Freelance Police,” and the first two seasons of Telltales “Sam & Max.”  Telltale has however acquired Mike Stemmle, one of the original writers of Sam & Max: Hit the Road as well as the executive producer of “Freelance Police.”  Few people know Sam & Max, besides Steve Purcell, as well as Mike Stemmle so I can’t wait to play his episodes. He is penning episodes 2 and 4.  Mike did some great work on episodes 1 and 4 of Tales of Monkey Island.  His puzzle design is I think the very best in the games industry and those 2 Monkey Island episodes have the best puzzles of any Telltale game.  It is the perfect balance of being tricky and well though out, but not so hard that it completely stop you in your tracks.

Overall it is a very strong start to Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse and I think the games will only get better as the story plays out.  The game mechanics, the graphics, the voice acting and music are all excellent.  The first episode has set the story up, now it’s just a matter of playing that out and delivering the jokes.  The game is excellent value and I’d reccomend getting the Playstation 3 version.