Sam & Max: Save the World (2007)

Sam & Max Freelance Police is a huge multimedia franchise. Starting as a comic series created by Steve Purcell in 1987. It has gone on span many avenues. From comics, toys, its own animated TV show, and yes... Video games.

There have been many Sam & Max video games. But one of the more popular ones was the Telltale games. And where to start but the first one in that series, Sam & Max Save the World. This game came out in 2006 and ran to early 2007. An Episodic Series released throughout the year is why there is no single year it came out. In 2020, we saw a remaster of the game and that is the version I'm taking a look at.

Sam & Max Save the World follow the titular characters, Sam the Dog, the levelheaded and calmer (Albeit not by much) member of the Freelance Police. Often using long-winded sentences (Much like Robin from the 1960s Batman show), and the more diplomatic of the two. He is the one we play as. The other member is Max a "rabbity-thing", the more destructive and chaotic member of the Freelance Police. Bad Hygiene and a fascination with guns and prefers to solve problems with violence.

We follow Sam & Max as they go around their hometown of New York, solving crimes (often by causing more crimes to fix them) and mysteries. Over the course of 6 Episodes, we see Sam & Max go from stopping hypnotism to even "Saving" the president. Needless to say, although there is a story, it's more episodic than anything. I can only describe this game as a simple puzzle game. You use items that cannot be combined to fix issues. Each Episode has a main villain that Sam & Max have to solve.

Not every episode is perfect. There are some repetitions and the writing can be really annoying. And some of the acting are horrible.

But overall, Sam & Max Save the World is a very fun and charming experience. All thanks to how much chemistry they were able to give to Sam & Max. It's super fun seeing them interact in each situation. And not all the comedy lands. But some are really good. Even the music is pretty good.

The controls could be better and some puzzles are a little too obtuse... Sam & Max Save the World was a great introduction to this franchise. My girlfriend yet again sucked me into a franchise. Guess I'll play the next game... And maybe even watch the show... The game is good... Not much left to say :p

And yes... They have to be gay... I mean they have to...

3/5

Would Recommend

I've been aware of Sam & Max for a while, but never really consumed any of their media, unless you count Poker Night at the Inventory 2. It was actually a recent playthrough of that poker game that inspired me to try one of their titles. Luckily I waited long enough for their first Telltale outing to get a remaster.

Sam & Max Save the World is a Telltale game that doesn't feel like a Telltale game. I wouldn't be surprised to learn if this was one of their first games. This game doesn't have the usual Telltale formula of being a QTE/visual novel type of game, it's an honest, old school point and click adventure game. This makes the gameplay a little more engaging than those other Telltale games. It is broken up into 6 episodes, and the first episode did have the most moments of "use everything on everything" and I had to use a walkthrough to figure out the game's logic. The following episodes were better laid out and I learned to start thinking using Sam & Max logic. The final level is on the moon, but there's no moon logic.

The remaster looks great, the worlds are vibrant, detailed, and fun to look at. Sam & Max look like they're straight from a Saturday morning cartoon, and all their allies and enemies look good. The music is fun. The Freelance Police office has a catchy film noir theme, the White House has an out-of-tune version of Hail to the Chief, and etc. The only song I got a little tired off was the main street theme song. It's just a series of rising trumpet stings that got repetitive.

Now, the draw of Sam & Max is the humor. As mentioned, I've never seen any Sam & Max media and I was doing myself a disservice. Sam & Max shares my sense of humor. I was constantly laughing at this game. The humor is sardonic and smart with a good dose of satire. I wouldn't call the humor dry, because there are plenty I laughed out loud at, but they are fast. They say a clever line and keep moving along, they don't stop and bask in their own smugness. And again, there's a lot of smart jokes, and if you don't get the reference, they aren't going to explain it to you. This was also before comedy got neutered. There's some jokes that haven't aged as well, but most are comedy gold you don't get as often now as day.

Sam is my favorite, because he's a great straight man to Max's comic. He comes off as earnest, but also a little bit of a rascal. In one episode, he goes around asking people a secret passphrase "Does the carpet match the drapes?" with sincerity, but also, he knows what he's doing. Max is a bit of a "lol, so random" crazy character, which isn't a favorite archetype for me, but he's just self-aware enough to make it work. And their dynamic is great. You can tell they are old friends. Also the fact they are "freelance police", not private eyes or actual police is goofy funny.

You can tell Sam & Max was released in the early 2000s. All the references to Bush era America, like the color coded terror alert system, the Bush-like President, and American Idol spoof gave me a whim of childhood nostalgia. Sam & Max's world also has a old school 50s vibes. Most of the references made are to old 50s, 60s, or 70s actors or world events. One of my favorite jokes is if you try to shoot the President, Sam simply remarks, "I don't love Jodie Foster that much".

The story sees you taking on a different TV or entertainment personality who is being hypnotized. You learn they are all pawns of a new age bullshit cult leader. And the last episode on the moon does get a bit wild. Most of the episodes are exaggerated satires of American life, but this last one goes into left field as we learn, spoilers, that the cult leader is actually a bacteria alien? It felt a little too odd compared to the other Sam & Max escapades.

All in all, I am now a stalwart Sam & Max fan. I'm playing through the second season from Telltale, and I'd love to get my hands on some of the original comics. If I ever need to give someone an idea of what my type of humor is, I now have a series I can direct them to.

Sam & Max came back from the LucasArts era, brought to life by Telltale Games. How does it fare in 2007?

The interface is simplified and works pretty well, if not too unique. Sam gets access to an array of items that he may use with the environment. The conversation options are pretty streamlined and can be split between Sam options and Max options. Usually the player will just be using Sam - Max's options are mainly for humorous effect. Sometimes the player will embark on a minigame with the car (better than the first game's car minigame) and have to shoot a car's tire or a sign at just the right time, but it's no pain to pull off.

As for the adventure game meat, Telltale shows off their flair for episodic storytelling. Instead of a full adventure, the game decides to tell six different stories with the same gaggle of characters, centering around a mysterious hypnosis plot. For the most part the humor is insanely top-notch, even during the low points. Robotic Abe Lincoln, virtual reality shifts, a mafia play-land - there's no shortage of set pieces, and there are plenty of vulgar jabs and violent jokes that hit very well. The only downside is that while Sam & Max frequently punch at politics, one can take a step back and say "well of course a libertarian wrote this" and there's some borderline uncomfortable jokes at the expense of trans people at the end of the season. I can only hope for the humor to find better ways to express itself for future seasons -

The logic can get a little strange and difficult to manage, but the episodic format helps contain the player's line of thinking. Hopefully with future seasons the gameplay can either get more streamlined and the humor's edge sharper.