Sam & Max Hit the Road

"Sam, is "pronto" a real word?"

Fresh off the critical and commercial success of Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle, LucasArts sets off to use the SCUMM engine in another mega smash the same year. And this time, if Day of the Tentacle was a home run, this one hit it right out of the part right at the nearest convenient national landmark.

The game would be Sam and Max Hit the Road, using the dog detective in a fedora, Sam, and the hyper-kinetic, ultra-violent rabbity-thing, Max, created by comic artist Steve Purcell. The characters, known collectively as the Freelance Police, were cult classics by the time the game came out, having even done a very brief stint with the same Marvel Comics imprint that hosted another cult property, Groo, for a time. They were also appearing like crazy in various LucasArts games, ranging from small portraits in Day of the Tentacle, to a totem pole in Indiana Jones’ office in the computer game adaptation of the Last Crusade movie. Max at least would continue to appear while LucasArts held the license, as part of a warning sign in Full Throttle, and as a hidden enemy in one of the Dark Forces games.

So the games plot goes as follows. Given your mission by the commissioner, you’re after Bruno, a bigfoot that is on the lam from a carnival sideshow, having taken with him another of the sideshow attractions. To find him, you (Sam) and your easily distracted partner (Max) have to schlep around the country in your beat-up police car going from cheesy tourist trap to cheesy tourist trap. These range from the largest ball of twine in the world to that roadside infestation known as Snucky’s. It’s an exercise in tackiness and the people you meet along the way match that perfectly, especially your main opponent. He’s insane… he’s demented… he’s a country and western singer named Conroy Bumpus!! Oh, the unmitigated horror!!

The game is classic LucasArts graphic adventure, made extra simple this time around. Now, instead of forming sentences by clicking on a menu of verbs, you right click to select an icon for talk, use, grab, etc, and the icon will change appropriately when it’s rolled over something that you can interact with. The only icon on the screen is the inventory, which is represented by a worn cardboard box. Select an item there, and it becomes an icon option for your cursor. Just be ready to be pretty creative, because in true Freelance Police fashion, the solutions are not always the most obvious ones.

This change to the SCUMM system also means that backgrounds get to be on the whole larger and more detailed. This is a serious boon, because there is plenty of silly things to look at, including a nicely drawn version of Mount Rushmore. The characters themselves look right out of Steve Purcell’s work, which is no surprise since he no doubt had a hand in designing at least a few of them.

And of course he wrote the script along with the main development team, which is a major reason why the voice-over work in this game is such a treat. A big part of it also has to do with the excellent voice cast. Bill Farmer, known today as the voice of the classic Disney character Goofy, gives Sam a nice, detached, practical tone. Max and the other characters are all voiced by LucasArts usual team of actors who by now have honed their craft to near perfection. The music fits the scenes of wherever you are, with happy pipe organ music at the carnival, and in a cute touch, elevator music when you ride an elevator.

The only thing that keeps this game from being perfect is the lack of any major replay ability. There is only one story path, and though it’s very entertaining, it’s not one you can really go back to, like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis with it’s three very different story paths. Still, there are little things you might miss even the first few times around, so it’s worth picking up every now and again and trying different things.

Other than that, I find it very hard to not recommend Sam and Max Hit the Road to anyone who happens to find it in bargain bins, or used on ebay. If you’re a fan of lunatic humor, Kevin Smith’s Roadside Attractions segments on the Tonight Show, or just really good computer games, this belongs on your CD-ROM rack, no questions asked.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/24/02, Updated 09/24/02