My love of TelltaleGames has been repeatedly well documented. From their origins in reviving the Sam and Max series from Lucasarts Games after the cancellation of Full Throttle 2 and Sam and Max: Freelance Police, they have since gone on to thrive. Between new series of Sam and Max, episode game series such as Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People (based off the popular Homestar Runner series), Wallace and Gromit, and last year’s phenomenal Tales of Monkey Island, Telltale go from strength to strength.
So what’s new for the developer responsible for reviving the point and click adventure? Why, another series of Sam and Max, of course!
Originally dated for last year, but then held back to work on Tales of Monkey Island, Sam and Max series 3, otherwise known as “The Devil’s Playhouse”, has a few new suprises in store, many of which may have possibly been bought on by the delay. When looking at the new trailer, there’s quite a lot of new things to take a gander upon. Firstly, there’s the new graphical overhaul. It doesn’t look like much, but the difference between this and the last series is quite impressive, and should, like the series before it, be able to run on quite a lot of machines of varying ages. One of the more appealing aspects of TelltaleGames is that they put writing and the quality of the jokes and gameplay before the graphics.
Even the dialogue system has been changed! It looks awesome. Ask about Skunkape! I wanna know about Skunkape!
Did I mention that it's coming out for PC, Mac, and suprisingly, the Playstation Network. Expect it to hit the XBLA and the Wii eventually, though.
Coincidentally, this new series of Sam and Max will include all of those things.
More Funny: Something the series is famed for, and throughout the trailer, I was laughing my head off at all the jokes on display. As well as that, there are loads of returning characters, all with their original voice actors. Characters like Harry Moleman sound the same, but look a lot better, and should hopefully come up to keep the series as hilarious as it always is. As long as the recurring characters feel natural, and not shoehorned into it, then all should be good.
More New: In the trailer, there are new characters being shown off, more locations, and more questions to ask from both player and makers. For example, who exactly is the person narrating over the trailer? He claims that it’s his playhouse, but anyone who played the fantastic finale to Sam and Max Series 2 knows that’s not the Devil. Obviously, there are new abilities, what with Sam having psychic powers. Also, where is Bosco? His store is boarded up in the split second it’s shown in the trailer. However, this should be a wonderful combination of old and new, with lots of new locations shown off in the trailer not seen before in the series.
Psychic Powers: Covered before, but should bring a lot to the series. I’m a bit of a fiend for psychic powers (Second Sight is an underrated classic!), so I’ll find it hard for them to mess this up.
Space: Despite the last series being given the retroactive subtitle of “Beyond Time and Space”, The Devil’s Playhouse looks to bring on a lot of adventures, with the quest the characters are on being given a much bigger, more universal one than that of the other series.
Monkeys: I love monkeys. Monkeys monkeys monkeys. Who is the main villain? A giant space ape. Match made in heaven, guaranteed game of the year.
Seriously, a Space Ape! Instant favourite villain. Skunkape(?) is going to be awesome. A combination of space, monkey, and awesome. Possibly skunks.
So, as you can tell, I’m massively psyched for Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playground.
5 episodes over 5 months by the masters of episodic gaming. The first episode is April 14th, and I can’t wait already!
I leave you with the trailer.
-Jokesound
Okay.
But I really wish that one day Telltale would redub their games and include the original voice actors from Hit the Road as a voice option.
Are you kidding me? Neither Sam nor Max were voiced by their original actors in this game. In fact, not a single Sam and Max product containing the original voice actors has been sold legally in the United States for five years.
Get your facts straight.
When I say “with the original voice actors”, I meant “the same ones as Series One and Two”.
Not Hit the Road and the Animated TV series, both of which I’m massive fans of.
Thanks for reading, but calm down. It was a simple mistake of not providing proper context to that statement.
Note to self: When in money again, order that Sam and Max TV series DVD. Youtube just doesn’t cut it.