Sam and Max is a game that I have been looking forward to for a while. Having never played it on the PC I was always curious about it. I had heard great things and always wanted to play it. When I found out it was coming to XBLA I was very excited. Now I can say I have experienced the game that is Sam and Max. I have been able to see what everyone has been talking about. Is it really as good as everyone says? Or is it just another over hyped PC game?Sam and Max Save The World features six episodes, each running about 1-2 hrs, depending on how quickly you solve the puzzles and can figure out the all the situations and what to do.

Since this is technically a season of the game, there is a running plot theme. This is season one, and season one features six episodes. While each episode has its own plot, there are re-occurring characters and plot themes that run throughout the season. This gives it almost a TV show type feel.

Sam and Max is a point and click game. Just putting that out there. If your forte is for twitch shooters like Unreal Tournament 3 or in depth RPGs like Mass Effect or Oblivion you probably won’t like Sam and Max. I’m not gonna lie, not much happens. The game is basically all dialog. You point to where you want Sam to go and he walks there. You can then interact with people or objects by clicking on them.

Essentially the game is all about trying to solve puzzles/situations. You have a task to accomplish and you have to think logically and figure out how to resolve the situation or accomplish the task. Sam and Max are freelance detectives and in each episode you have to solve a case. This is where the puzzles and problem solving come in.

Sam and Max is a thinking game. Don’t expect to just mindlessly sit there and play. The game will take some problem solving, and some logical thinking and I promise you, you will get stuck. Some of the situations are hard to solve. Although if you think long and hard about it and pay attention to everything in the environment you’ll get it.

The puzzles essentially play out in sequence. Once you accomplish one task you can move onto something else that you couldn’t do before because you hadn’t finished the initial task.  You also have an inventory with items, and any item in your inventory will at some point be useful in solving a puzzle. No item is there just for decoration.

This is essentially how the gameplay of Sam and Max works. If you don’t think you’d have the patience for this type of game, then you’d be better off sticking to Halo 3 or Gears 2. Although if you do pick this game up and play it, you’ll find it very rewarding. Especially if you solve everything by yourself without guides.

Now the high point of Sam and Max for me was not the gameplay, it was the writing. Sam and Max is hilarious. It is just flat out funny. There are some great one liners from both Sam and Max and just in general, everything Sam and Max say is funny. The game is very well written. You will find yourself laughing out loud a lot. The game also pokes fun at everything from TV shows to video games to politics to current issues going on in the world. It is very funny and I think it is one of the most entertaining games out there for this reason alone.

Sam and Max does have a few small issues. Mainly technical issues. The graphics are nothing great and it sometimes is a bit hard to control where Sam walks since it is point and click. The loading times also are a bit annoying. That being said, none of this becomes to bad and it never really dampers the gameplay experience.

Honestly I’d never played a point and click game before Sam and Max. I didn’t know if I’d like it. I’m happy to say though that I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s more of a chilled and laid back game then your average shooter and it requires more thought then something like Call of Duty. Hopefully this will not scare you off. The gameplay in Sam and Max is very rewarding. It feels great when you solve a puzzle and are able to figure out what you need to do. There will be times when you are stuck but Sam and Max are both such lovable characters that you don’t mind doing some trial and error to find the right method to solve the situation. Trust me, there will be much trial and error.

Overall though Sam and Max Save The World is a fantastic game. It features all six episodes of the first season and it really is an awesome gameplay experience. I loved sitting down to play it. It reminded me a lot of my favourite XBLA game of all time, Penny Arcade Adventures. It was similar in the way they handled the humor, dialogue and puzzles. I’d think I can even say Sam and Max is almost like Penny Arcade just minus the RPG elements that Penny Arcade has. I think that’s why I enjoyed Sam and Max so much. It was because it reminded me of Penny Arcade Adventures, and I loved those games.

9/10