One of my brother's best friends growing up had a problem - he couldn't shut his mouth. I remember in particular when Jaws came out and while my brother and I had to wait for our parents to pre-screen before we were allowed to go, he went to see it right away (remember, this was when movies were in theaters for months, not weeks). We were talking about things one day that summer (he came over a lot it seems) and when Jaws came up he blurted out "Yeah, I really jumped when the head popped out!" Thanks! Why do I mention this? The answer is simple; because the enjoyment of certain things really depends on experiencing them for yourself the first time around. This is definitely true with stories and humor, and this is where my tangent ends - adventure games as a genre are reliant on showing you the story unfolding at a pace they determine. In particular, the Sam & Max Season 1 games are truly cinematic events full of humor - and I have no intention of spoiling those for you! I may drop in a funny quote every now and then if I just can't take it any more, but don't worry, there are hundreds per episode, so you needn't think that I'm revealing the best lines!

The LucasArts game Sam & Max Hit the Road from 1993 was a great mixture of adventure and humor and has become a deservedly classic milestone in gaming history. A few years ago LucasArts announced a sequel, going so far as to show off some art for a new 'Sam & Max Freelance Police' game before pulling the plug (on 03/03/04 as an in-game reference reminds us). Internet message boards lit up, petitions were generated and eventually TellTale games, creator of the Bone series got the license and started working on a new game.

Even before the first images of the new Sam & Max game arrived we had an idea of what to expect; TellTale released two games based on stories from the Bone series. While not strictly 'episodic', they used the TellTale tool as their adventure builder and told stories through a point-and-click adventure interface featuring full 3D animation. This served to get gamers more excited than ever. A more controversial move was the decision to make the game episodic in nature. Many were worried that it would end up being a failed attempt in the same way as SiN Episodes or Half-Life 2: Episode 1. But as TellTale have been true to their word and pumped out a new episode each month, concerns about the episodic delivery of this type of content have faded away. Certainly there are concerns, but those are small issues related to each episode rather than fundamental problems with the way the games are developed and brought to life.

The Sam & Max games use the TellTale tool that the company has developed and perfected over the years. The emphasis is on storytelling rather than delivering buzzword compliant technology, so expect loads of dialog and options, rather than the latest version of pixel shader models. This is actually a good thing, because so many games focus on delivering a great looking experience that they fail to deliver a great gaming experience. The TellTale Tool aims to do some of both - the game certainly is great looking, but in a 3D comic book style. This means that the world looks much like something out of Who Framed Roger Rabbit; everything looks real but exaggerated. The 3D styling makes everything look modern and the characters are all nicely animated, to the point where lip-syncing matched the dialog. The goal isn't realism so much as believability - I mean, how real do you expect a detective dog and his psychotic lagomorph sidekick to be?! The realism is injected into the dialog - the voice acting is superb and gets better with each passing episode! The voice actors really bring a wonderful passion and humor to their characters that makes each of them leap out of the screen and adds tremendous depth to already great stories - and the timing and delivery of the humor is spot on throughout.

The storytelling is where things really shine - the interface just begs you to click things, talk to people and try all sorts of crazy things. Quite simply, this is one of the nicest interfaces I have ever used in an adventure game. Everything is easily accessible - options and game saves are quickly located in a screen-level drop down and the inventory system is an ever-present box in the lower corner of the screen. Little things help - saves are done nearly instantly, with each one providing a clear caption and image to illustrate exactly where you were when you saved. Interacting with items is equally easy; the mouse-capture range is adequate for discerning small objects close to each other and you simply click on things to interact. This allows you to talk, flip switches, pick up items and so on - and to use an item in your inventory on another item by simply choosing the item from the box and then clicking on the desired object to interact with. It is incredibly intuitive and friendly - and allows you to focus on laughing!

"Malfeasance? That's my second favorite feasance!"

Full disclosure - I signed the petition to do ... um, something ... when LucasArts cancelled the planned Sam & Max revival a few years ago. More full disclosure - I was very late to the party on the early LucasArts point & click games and am not one of the hordes of rabid fans of the original games. But I am a rabid fan of this new series. And so will you be once you've played it - let me quickly explain why!

The original Sam & Max game featured some pretty edgy humor that would amuse younger audiences while also often being insightful and using biting satire that adults would appreciate. Sam & Max Season 1, Episode 1: Culture Shock continues that trend very nicely. There are great lines, such as Max saying, "By patronize you, he means we want to buy stuff from you, not... mock you. We probably will mock you, but that's not what he meant." And that stuff is scattered throughout the entire game. Your ten-year-old will laugh, your eighteen-year-old will laugh and you will laugh - a lot.

The new Sam & Max episodes are true episodic content - each one features a single main plotline that resolves in a few hours of gameplay. The game looks sounds and plays perfectly, providing a thoroughly modern point-and-click adventure. Load times for zones are a bit long, but everything else in the interface works perfectly. Playing this episode will only take about four hours - but you'll be back, trust me you'll be back, because one of the joys of the game is that there is so much extra content present that it's nearly impossible to experience it all, and you will want to go back and try scenes in different ways to get all of the humor out of the game. It is somewhat jarring to suddenly realize that the game is about to end, but knowing that a new episode is only a month away makes it acceptable - that is what episodes are supposed to be about!

In this first episode you meet some of the people in the neighborhood - Sybil Pandemik the ... errm ... I'll let you see, Bosco who runs the 'inconvenience' store, Jimmy Two-Teeth the rat, former childhood stars the Soda Poppers and more. You get a feel for the layout of the neighborhood and what will become some of the cornerstone relationships and interactions throughout the series. You also learn about playing the games - these are pretty standard point-and-click adventures in the classic sense, but those new to the genre will quickly learn how to work their way through any situation.

The two biggest criticisms I can level at this episode are the load times between zones and its overall length. The individual loads are not too long, but they get annoying when you are constantly going back and forth between places trying to work out puzzles or figure out what to do next. Complaining about the length of the episode is a sort of backwards compliment though, since Sam & Max Season 1, Episode 1: Culture Shock lasts nearly as long as SiN Episodes: Emergence or Half-Life 2: Episode One, provides more genuine replayability and costs less than half the price of those episodes. And, of course, the end of the first episode sets up the second one - not in a "we hope to resolve this someday" cliffhanger but in a "tune in next month and see" lead-in. And you know what? After this thrill ride, you will be anxiously awaiting the arrival of the next episode just a few short weeks later!

Reviewed by Michael Anderson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).