Sam & Max: Beyond Time & Space - Season Two
Review
Episode 203: Night of the Raving Dead
by William Thompson
reviewed on PC
Meanwhile, back at the office... (cntd.)
Aside from their office, Sam and Max will visit only one new destination, Jurgen’s home of Stuttgart. Once inside Jurgen’s dance club, there are a few areas to explore, but not so many that one will get lost. Other locations include Sybil’s office, Stinky’s Diner, the COPS garage whilst the team will return to their TV roots and make a return appearance on the set of the popular (in Germany, anyway) Midtown Cowboys. Again, due to his disappearance, Bosco’s Inconvenience Store has been shut.
We’ll return to regular programming after these few short messages...
Gameplay hasn’t changed at all since the last episode. The intuitive point and click nature of the game continues, with clues given via the scalable hint-system. I found a couple of the puzzles to be a bit more challenging than the previous installment, but picking up all available items (I loved the joke about the printer ribbon) will help to solve the puzzles with not too many problems. I would suggest that newcomers to the Sam and Max series play at least the last episode to get used to the kind of puzzle-solving required as some of the puzzles involve in-jokes.
As well as the amusing point and click adventure gaming experience that a Sam and Max game brings, there are the now obligatory mini-games. The driving game requires Sam and Max to deliver advertising material to zombies roaming the streets in a tribute to the classic game Paperboy. The other mini-game is Sybil’s Dating Game. In it Sybil asks her three contestants a series of questions in an attempt to find the perfect man. Will it be a dog in a suit with no shoe? You will have to play to find out for yourself.
Max is all ears
There is a slight change of pace with the audio in this episode, but this is mostly due to the fact that much of the game relates to Jurgen’s disco. As you would expect from a disco, there is dance music. Sure, Sam will bring out his Banjo at one point and start a rap with Max, but the music is primarily of the dance variety. The voice acting again is of a high standard, with Jurgen’s German (and slightly gay in a Queer Eye way) accent was a highlight, whilst the dull forlorn tones of Jurgen’s Monster are perfectly scripted.
On the visual front, the game takes a darker approach than that of the bright and colorful Easter Island adventure. Stuttgart is dark and stormy outside and dark inside with the exception of the mirror ball and spotlights. The characters themselves continue in the Sam and Max cartoon vein. Jurgen has an Emo look about him, whilst the zombies fulfill all the typical zombie characteristics.
All in all, Night of the Raving Dead is another fun-filled adventure. The jokes continue to flow although some of the in-jokes won’t be understood unless you have played the previous episodes. The team at Telltale may need to look at that in future episodes, as not all gamers would have started from the first. The puzzles are simple enough and, as with all of this season’s episodes, given further help with the in game hints from Max. If you are new to the Sam and Max phenomenon, I would suggest you at least play the first two games in season two before attempting this one, but for fans of the series, the game will again leave you wanting more as the end credits roll.
7.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
