Sam & Max Hit the Road

"Belated note to self: Max is not a role model."

Where Day of the Tentacle was humorous but somewhat sweet, Sam and Max Hit the Road was humorous, but completely DEMENTED. But it remains one of the funniest and funnest games I have EVER played, perhaps because it employed a couple of ''Simpsons'' writers. That brand of humor is taken to the hilt in the magnum opus of Lucasarts's point-and-click adventure games. Well-constructed, extremely challenging, and with a whole bunch of mini-games to relieve boredom when the puzzles have taken their toll, Sam and Max(S&M, LOL) is a creative masterpiece. Just look at the

GRAPHICS, the best use of the old-school animated sprites on hand-drawn backgrounds LucasArts has yet come up with. There are a few significant animations and locations that have been computer-rendered, but otherwise the title stays true to it's cartoony motif. That's good, because some of the cartoon violence(mostly meted out by Max the psychopathic bunny) would be a little too painful to watch if it was more realistic. All in all, an excellent job.

MUSIC: Peppy! Fun! Scene-fitting! I'm starting to talk like those movie reviewers....y'know, the type who can't speak in anything but blurbs, such as:''Four stars...a masterpiece!'' However, you usually only see the preceding comments on films where somebody gets a disease and loses the farm. So if you see that on a film poster, you'll know the movie's a downer, and probably low-budget too. Why did I just waste all this time talking about movie reviews? Because my first three words said all that needed to be said about the music. And the sound is good too, with special emphasis, again, being placed on the voice acting. Sam sounds like the quasi straight-man that he is, and you can always tell that Max is on the brink of destroying or maiming something. And with the intuitive

GAMEPLAY, you should eventually be able to find plenty of things for your little lagomorph to destroy. Rather than having a list of commands at the bottom of the screen for you to choose from, you can simply click the right mouse button to change the commands from walking, grabbing, using, talking, or looking. This frees up a whole lot more screen area for the pretty graphics, as does the new system of sticking all your items in a big box for easy retrieval. Often, you'll just spend some time LOOKing at objects, just to see what your hilariously paired duo will say next. The script is wacky, the characters are endearing, and there are even a bunch of mini-games(all with extra quotes from your lovable twosome.) BUY THIS GAME NOW! Part of the LucasArts archives vol. 1, it should only be about 20 bucks, and that comes with Day of the Tentacle and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.

LucasArts logic: I learned to stay FAR away from this category when I chose a random ''act of Max'' to perform each day. No matter which one I chose, SOMEONE ended up losing a few limbs. But nobody ever told me that those cartoons weren't real...

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/01/00, Updated 04/01/00