Sam & Max Hit the Road

"The only point and click game that will ever deserve this score"

Characters in videogames have evolved considerably, don’t you think? From vague industry beginners like dodgy carpenter Jumpman (Now known as Mario, who has since become a plumber) all the way up to dazzling personalities such as swearing squirrel Conker and moody Devil May Cry star Dante. But over the years that videogames have been spewing forth cuddly mascot after big breasted waif after brooding Japanese action hero, none have been quite so appealing as Sam the dog and Max the rabbit.

Both of these seemingly uninspired character designs are at the center of this massively entertaining and relentlessly side-splitting point and click adventure. Sam and Max are detectives and have been set on a job to find and capture a missing Bigfoot (Bruno) for a couple of worried carnival owners (Who just happen to be joined at the back). The subtitle ‘Hit the Road’ indeed comes into play, as you both must travel to various (fictitious) locations across America in the search for Bruno.

The difficulty and style of the puzzles remain unchanged from just about all the previous Lucasarts adventures (Just as they should be). It is a simple case of using your head (And quite often your sense of humour) to work your way around certain situations and into certain locations. Things rarely get complicated, but there’s such a wealth of options at your hand, and so many peripheral characters and objects to distract you, that it’s likely the solution won’t come straight away.

Having a conversation with any character provides you with a wide range of conversation options. What I like about how this game deals with them is that it doesn’t spoil the lines for you. Whereas the Monkey Island series had all of Guybrush’s lines spelled out clearly for you, all your options in this are represented by pictures, so you know what you’re getting into, but the funny parts aren’t spoiled. So sometimes either Sam or Max (You control Sam and he does all of the questioning, but Max will often chime in) will come out with something so bizarre, rude or just plain funny that you’ll be shocked to laughter.

The never mundane but mostly familiar puzzling is punctuated by some excellent mini-games. Some are compulsory, like the whack-a-rat stall (Playing exactly like carnival favourite whack-a-mole, but with live rats rather than plastic moles) but most of them are there to be played whenever you like (A quick break from the main game really). There’s an absolutely fantastic version of battle ships here, involving cars rather than boats. There’s also a juvenile but extraordinarily fun ‘Dress Sam and Max’ game where you can - you guessed it – dress Sam and Max in a pleasingly wide range of ridiculous outfits. I spent WAY too long with this. Coming bottom of a surprisingly accomplished barrel are the bland ‘colouring in’ game which is too fiddly to be worth it and the overly simple ‘road rage’ game where Max stands atop the car and must dodge oncoming road signs and the like. But their presence can’t diminish the fun that is on offer in the better ones.

But games like these are perhaps (Dare I say it?) less about their gameplay and more about their personality. And this is where Sam and Max shines. It’s mix of puzzles and mini-games may be stellar, but it’s enthusiasm, sense of humour and surreal imagination is unbeatable. Sam and Max stand out in their world as, bizarrely, they are the only non-human ‘human’ characters in it (Aside from Bruno the Bigfoot, but we don’t actually get to meet him until the end). No big deal is made of the fact that they are a talking dog in a suit and a little talking rabbit, things just happen to be that way. So we are able to like them a little more because, in this world of humans they live in, they are undeniably unique and visually striking.

And despite both having their quirks, they are superbly lovable characters as well. Neither of them, as you might expect from a ‘comedy duo’, are stereotypical at all. There is no ‘stupid’ one or ‘mean’ one. Sam the dog is uniformly calm and suave but can quickly break down into severe impatience and obviously hungers to be like the cool cops you see in TV dramas, his deadpan of deliverence of subtle insults and shocked reactions (In the fields of the written dialogue, the acting AND the animation) is very impressive. Max is a lot less calm and collected and a lot more like a child. Sarcastic and just as intelligent as Sam he still whines whenever he needs to go to the bathroom and is keener to get into fights. He is often very horrible to Sam but their friendship is still clear. In fact I think Sam and Max has just about nailed how to do ‘friendship’ in a videogame. While banal examples of efforts at these relationships, such as Jak and Daxter, are distinctly unconvincing, Sam and Max balances the funny times with the petty arguments you get into perfectly. Both are strong characters who have an obvious bond, and it is a joy to follow them across America.

The second most enjoyable thing about playing the game (Aside from the lead characters) is experiencing it’s glorious celebration-come-satire of tacky Americana crap. It would be impossible to pick the best example of this as there is just so much good material rammed into every corner of the game’s screen. One of my favourites is the greatest ball of twine on earth, and it’s just that. It comes complete with a hilariously tiny museum and a twine ball-top restaurant with a psychic who can bend cutlery. There is also the unashamedly hokey ‘Mystery Vortex’ with pools of water on the floor that drip onto the ceiling, and a huge room that also alters your size wherever you walk (Of course, Sam and Max discover that this is all done ‘with magnets’. Of course). Despite the weirdness, even the lady at the upside down gift shop’s cash register manages to look bored. The fabulously cheap tourist attractions just go on and on, from bungee-jumping out of presidents’ noses to the amazing pique of crappiness at country singer Bumpus’ mansion, with singing wall ornaments!

I can assure you that this is the most consistently, genuinely funny game you’ll ever play. It’s humour ranges all the way from subtle satire to perfectly timed and executed slapstick. It never plays for cheap laughs, and it never stops surprising you with its strange imagination. If you are a fan of bizarre humour, then you’ll absolutely love this. And videogame and movie references are shoved in by the truckload. The totally unexpected Star Wars parody (and not that tired ‘I am your father’ one) is one of the highlights of the game, Sam’s reaction is alone is worth the asking price. Its wildly creative and startlingly sharp in it’s delivery, and it never falls down. Sam and Max is a comedic masterpiece.

While not a technical marvel, Sam and Max is a triumph of animation and a stylistic gem. The rather slanted, simplistic environments hark back to the backdrops of old Warner Brothers cartoons, while the more important game set pieces are animated with suitable detail. I guarantee you’ll never see a better drawn (or more disgusting, for that matter) severed hand than the one you’ll see here. Sam and Max are drawn in the same effectively plain style as the backgrounds, and so they stand out from the side characters even more. The humans themselves, however, are a bunch of freaks, boasting scarily exaggerated physical features and ugly, expressive faces. They look similar to (but are more detailed than) the human characters you’ll find in Day of the Tentacle (In fact the cashier at Snucky D’s is just a slightly altered version of Bernard).

The Sound in the game also manages to hit right on the atmosphere. It is often plays with the theme of mystery (as, at it’s heart, this is a crime mystery game after all) but it mostly goes for cheesy American-themed elevator muzak. And, while it’s not good music, it works remarkably well for the game. The voices in this are just excellent, easily the equal of those found in the Monkey Island games. Sam and Max, in particular, are perfectly cast and deal with the terse sarcasm and petty frustration the characters must convey with admirable skill. There are also heaps of purely strange characters with comedic voices to match (Like Country singer Bumpus’ dumb sidekick). Everyone exaggerates everything, and they do it with style.

Sam and Max takes as long as the average point and click adventure to complete, which isn’t very long at all. But every moment is to savour, every character to remember and every joke to laugh at. It’s intensely funny and uncommonly clever until the massively satisfying, unconventional ending. While the structure of gameplay is hardly revolutionary, the presentation and sense involvement is unequalled. It was heartbreaking to see it end, as it really is
(And, I predict, always will be) the best game this genre has to offer, and the most entertaining game you’ll find.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/16/02, Updated 08/16/02