Sam & Max: Abe Lincoln Must Die

[Noyb]

As a Yank, I had the chance to play episode four of Sam and Max on Gametap already. I'll try and be vague so as not to spoil the game for others. Short story -- it's now my favorite so far. It was significantly longer than the others, and I was even stumped a couple of times.

There's a couple of seeming background objects that turn out to be inventory items early in the game, and there's a pixel hunt at the end (although there is a decent clue if you know what to look for.) There's also a fair bit more moving back and forth (I'm hesitant to use backtracking in a game with so few locations), but it all makes sense in context.

The length seems satisfying because of the way this episode is structured: you have more interlocking small puzzles at any one time than just three, separate large puzzles making up the bulk of the game. This episode also has more inventory items that can be used to get funny responses out of the characters, which brought back memories of Psychonauts.

The writing is sharper than ever. The jokes are more motivated by politics than pop culture this time around. Some of them are amazing, some fall flat, but there's plenty of character and situation driven humor left over. The mayhem you can cause is astonishing.

Anyway, I highly recommend this episode. Telltale has been listening.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Thanks for your comments! I'm looking forward to playing it!

[David]

Yeah, I played this and feel pretty much the same way. The game also managed to be really visually interesting as well. Spending more time away from the usual office/street setting was a nice change.

[miffy495]

Ack! Early availability for subscribers? Dammit, I was so close to being caught up on the schoolwork I ignored over reading break too. Well, I guess I'm not sleeping tonight.

[miffy495]

Ok, so now it's a day later and I just finished the game. Holy crap, the dance number was brilliant. For the first 30 seconds of it I just stared at the screen with my mouth gaping. I couldn't believe that they'd actually done it. Then the laughter started. "And so much more! (NAPALM!)" killed me. The back and forth related to the money this time around was a bit awkward, but everything else was fantastic. I don't think I've laughed harder at something in quite a while. It's now almost 7 in the morning and I haven't slept yet, but I didn't notice 'cause I was too engrossed in the game. This also means the game lasted me a little more than 3 hours, so good work with the length. Feels about right for an episode. The little scene before the opening was a really nice touch as well.

One last thing:

Jesse James' hand is only 14 years old? I get the 1993 reference, but c'mon! I was hoping to find something in the office that'd get the cash directly to S&M.

[ThunderPeel2001]

This was worth waiting for, if you ask me! It totally, totally, totally rocked! It reminded me of the possibilities of Sam & Max, and indeed the adventure game genre in general. Top notch work! If you're reading this and haven't bought Sam & Max season one yet, what are you waiting for?

[zozole003]

well i played the demo but its harder than the other first episodes

i only got 1 item- the free delivery poster and i couldnt do anything else!i think it i have to do something with the guard and the dating sistem but its just a guess, but since its the demo so i dont know if i can do any more. some help with the start would be appreciated.

________

volcano vaporizer

Edited January 18, 2011 by zozole003

[vimes]

Less routine in the dialogue, brilliant Max charaterization, awesome teaser for next episode : I'm as happy with this one as I was disappointed by episode 03, which is to say : a lot.

And because this game was so good - and because I've been replaying a bit of GTA3 lately, a crazy Sam & Max idea began to grow in my head.

BEWARE - PLAYER FANTASMA AHEAD

Wouldn't it be great if you could play in a Sam & Max GTA clone with you playing as Max and a friend playing as Sam (or the contrary)?

When looking at the environment, one of the player would choose a line from several choices and the other could reply with another and so on, scoring 'points' in a weird system [tongue slamming abilities or whatever] as they chose more or less accurate dialogs. When interacting with characters the rule above would stand plus one player could decide to hand the interrogation to the other whenever he/she wants... and cooperation would be needed to solve dialog puzzles. Investigating would give Max a more active role as each of the character could only manage to solve certain parts of the problems and not others.

Small mischiefs would be generated dynamically on the street and new cases building an über plot would be made available to players via episodic updates. These updates would be downloaded as background task, the game warning you of their availability by having the phone ring at your office and the duo being given a case by the commissioner.

With each updates the city environment would be expanded (ala GTA 3 island unlocking system) and between releases, the player could roam the city in your car to trash it, create link with contacts and whatnot. You could even tune your car and your office.

God, am I the only one to wish for this game ?

[zozole003]

yeah i was thinking on something similar when i played the first part of sam and max (also i thought that soe other games would be great in gta-style, but it was soo long ago....). Anyways, if they could make sam and max a little bit like the simpsons hit and run, that would be fun.

________

NSS250

Edited January 18, 2011 by zozole003

[brkl]

That'd require a big budget and wouldn't work as an episodic game.

[vimes]

I understand the problem of the budget but why wouldn't it be possible as an episodic project ?

[brkl]

I was just commenting on zozole's Simpsons Hit & Run comment. If the idea of an episodic game is to spread costs over several titles, a game like that would require a very big budget for the first title. Gameplay wise, it could work.

[Nappi]

This episode rocked big time! I don't remember when was the last time a dialog has made me laugh this hard. Probably never.

I hope that this is direction Telltale Games will take the future episodes. Not that there was anything wrong with the first three episodes but.. well.. Abe Lincoln Must Die was just clearly superior. Makes me drool for Season 2 already.

[vimes]

Sometimes, reviewers make me want to kill them

There was one major problem with this otherwise very nice adventure: it’s just so slow! Not the animations, but all the dialogue (which is skippable, but not if you want to know what they’re saying! It prints out slowly rather than appearing all at once) and the dozens of objects which might serve a purpose, but 99% of them don’t. Similarly, conversations include dozens of directions to go through, any of which may be useful, so you’ll be spending a lot of time listening to them yap. I guess that’s supposed to be good – I mean, it is intended to amuse and all. But I just wanted to solve those puzzles, not hear lame jokes. There was too much fluff. Is that bad? It was for me. It probably wouldn’t be for someone who wanted more story than game.

7 out of 10