The Freelance Police, they're back on the streets again!
The Penal Zone is the first of the five games that will comprise Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse, and for full disclosure, it also happens to be my first Sam & Max game. I am happy to say that it will most definitely not be my last, and not just because I bought the full season. My experience with this game was overwhelmingly enjoyable, with only minor technical glitches and some odd plot quirks holding this game back from complete nirvana.
Oh, and in this review I will try to stay out of spoiler territory as much as possible, though if something is in the first 15 minutes or so, it will be fair game.
Game Length
I played The Penal Zone completely through in 4 hours on a weekend, not including time spent downloading the game. I feel like this is about the right length for a game such as this, as it is long enough to build to an enjoyable conclusion, but not so long as to feel like a slog. The 4 hour length allayed some of my previous fears that if I had to put the game down I would forget something important and get hopelessly stuck on a puzzle meant to be relatively easy.
The overall presentation of the game seems well executed, with menus that "fit" with the tone of the game, and seemed not to detract from the overall experience. I thought that literally going into Max's head to utilize his psychic powers was extremely cool, and really added to the fun of using the powers. The integration of cutscenes into the experience is seamless, and loadscreens are nearly non-existent, so the whole game flows together extremely well. This is one of those uncommon games where the menus and cutscenes add to your immersion in the world instead of detract from it.
The Penal Zone looks pretty good, but not stellar (Ok, that sounded kinda wrong). The cartoon like art style makes the most of the lack of texture in the environment, and the art direction in simply amazing, and does a great job placing you in the world. Another standout feature of the game is the animations. There is a wealth of animation in this game, with unique actions created for seemingly every cutscene and object. Unfortunately, some models seem like they could use a few more polys. This is especially evident in cutscenes, which all seem to be done in-engine. I also experienced a few weird technical hiccups, mostly animations looping endlessly, or the wrong animation playing. Once the wrong cutscene played. Fortunately all of these events were infrequent and not game breaking.
The sound of Sam & Max is well done, but nothing specific jumped out at me when I was playing. As a whole the voiceover work seemed well executed, and always fit the character right.
Sam & Max controls fine, and most importantly using and interacting with objects is easy and intuitive. Dialog is easily navigable, and the trees are well designed. Maneuvering your character is either done by clicking and dragging the mouse, or with WASD, personally I prefer the latter method. When in first person Max view, once again Clicking and dragging or WASD will rotate your viewpoint. Not that in each level Max has a few set "spots" in which he will stand to use his psych powers.
For the most part the puzzles in Sam & Max are delightful, and fun to solve. I did get a little bit stuck at a few points (last puzzle, I'm looking at you) but nothing that couldn't be worked through in a few minutes. Most puzzles had interesting solutions, and the few that did seem cliche as they were solved ended in surprising cutscenes. Max's psychic powers also played a major role in the enjoyability of the game. These hilarious powers add a whole new dimension to the gameplay, and in particular (not a spoiler) the Future-Viewer proves itself to be endlessly useful, as well as an obvious foreshadowing tool. Only 4 out of 7 powers are obtained during this episode, two of which are just a tease in the prologue (It's actually more like an interlogue, but play the game to find out why) and I am exited to find out what the other 3 are.
Suffice it to say that the story of Sam & Max: The Penal Zone is extremely funny. I would love to share with you here all of the best jokes and situations that provoke this hilarity, but you should probably play the game first. So, I guess you will just have to trust me and take my word for it.
Pro
- Great characters, i.e. Sam, or Max
- Funny story, which happens to utilize the great characters
- Engaging world, who doesn't like a world where a psychotic rabbit is President?
- Presentation fits the world and doesn't detract from experience
- It's episodic
- It's $35, come on
Con
- Minor technical issues
- This ain't no Crysis
- It's an Adventure game, sorry no FPS here
- Delayed gratification (episodic)
- It's $35?
I salute you if you caught the Tower of Power reference (in the title of the review)
