[Lagomorph On] Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse (Season 3, PC/Mac/PSN - April!)

Cherrn

Gentlemen, it is once again time for adventure of dog and hyperkinetic rabbity thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4Lw312RrXk&feature=player_embedded

Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse, also NOT known as Sam & Max: Season 3, is the latest installment in the ongoing epic crime drama, and it looks like a significant step up. Once again it's five episodes, but this time the story is supposed to be less episodic in nature, being more in line with Tales of Monkey Island. So expect more cliffhangers and other nonsense. Also, supposedly created with newcomers in mind, so don't expect direct ties to previous seasons other than the token cameos/recurring characters.

Best part is that the first chapter is already out on April 15 for PC, Mac and PSN. Wiiware and XBLA are as of yet "TBD". Apparently the PSN version is slightly cheaper at $30 as opposed to $35.

The Episodes
Episode 1: The Penal Zone – April
Episode 2: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak – May
Episode 3: They Stole Max's Brain! – June
Episode 4: Beyond the Alley of the Dolls – July
Episode 5: The City That Dares Not Sleep – Finale

The game can be pre-ordered at Telltale Games, and will presumably be on Steam as well.

Giantbomb did a 30-minute quick look along with a couple of Telltale dudes. I assume it's the beginning of the first episode, so here be spoilers:

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-ex-sam-max-the-devils-playground/17-2141/

Aside from having received a technical upgrade in the form of real-time shadows and other jargon from Tales, the general style looks much more varied and detailed than seasons 1 and 2. More camera angles, more unique animation, more stuff in the world, greater variety in gameplay.

Some stuff includes:

-Max now has a repertoire of psychic powers, that allows him to interact with the environment in first person (!)
-Dialogue system looks reminiscent of Mass Effect
-Evidently a lot of the season takes place in pseudo-New York, and further districts open up as you progress

The quick look is from the PS3 version, so we don't yet know if there are any interface changes to the PC version, but expect something along the lines of Tales. The inventory system is new, and the PSN version includes a function to highlight clickable objects, so it'll be interesting to see if they implement something similar on the PC.

Anyway, it looks so good.

SO GOOD.

Cherrn

Oh, come on. Anyone be talking anything about these videogames.

Anyway, in case it wasn't clear enough already, Telltale are rad. Pre-ordering the season gets you a free episode from their store. So with all the holiday promotions and pre-order deals throughout the past year or so, I have now received the entirety of Wallace & Gromit for free.

Nocren

Dammit... Sam & Max Season 1 solidified my Gametap account for another year back in the day and purchased Season 2 on Steam when I canceled my GT account. But I never got around to playing S2 (S1 was awesome though).

Librarian's ghost

Yeah. This is an auto pre-order.

Cherrn

S2 is arguably better than the first one, too. I love how you can directly observe the growth of Tellltale; the steps between seasons 1 and 2 weren't huge, but with Monkey Island in between, season 3 has loads of potential. Even the writing seems sharper.

cj iwakura

Do any of them have Mack Salmon yet?

Jam Warrior

Woohoo! Pre-ordered like an, um, thing!

I have so many Telltale codes I have sat around from pre-order bonuses that I never get to cash in because I already own their entire catalogue.

Librarian's ghost

Jam Warrior wrote: »

Woohoo! Pre-ordered like an, um, thing!

I have so many Telltale codes I have sat around from pre-order bonuses that I never get to cash in because I already own their entire catalogue.

Ditto.

I also noticed they but the disc out for Monkey Island. I could have gotten it for free, but I went with the pack that came with little stuff because, well. Stuff! Just like the old days. It can go with my two season of Sam & Max both with their little items.

cooljammer00

A little sad that it's not Season 3, but really, the way Season 2 ended...how could they possibly keep going with that?

Jam Warrior

cooljammer00 wrote: »

A little sad that it's not Season 3, but really, the way Season 2 ended...how could they possibly keep going with that?

I would imagine it's just a naming thing to avoid putting off new players wary of starting half way through something ongoing.

cooljammer00

Jam Warrior wrote: »

cooljammer00 wrote: »

A little sad that it's not Season 3, but really, the way Season 2 ended...how could they possibly keep going with that?

I would imagine it's just a naming thing to avoid putting off new players wary of starting half way through something ongoing.

I guess so, though this does sort of seem like an attempt at a wider market. Maybe the first two seasons didn't sell as well?

Librarian's ghost

Well they also refer to the old seasons by specific titles now as well.

cooljammer00

Yeah but it's very clear just from playing that Save the World and Beyond Time and Space were heavily related to one another.

Cherrn

I don't think the old seasons sold poorly, I just think they want this to sell better, so they're taking a slightly different strategy. They've already made it pretty clear that they don't want newcomers to feel like they're playing a continuation.

Vegan

Yeah, they've talked about that as the reason for ditching the "Season" moniker.

Bad Asp

I didn't like the voices in the trailer. I don't. I wish Telltale would change their strategy and hire Bill Farmer and Nick Jameson again.

cooljammer00

Bad Asp wrote: »

I didn't like the voices in the trailer. I don't. I wish Telltale would change their strategy and hire Bill Farmer and Nick Jameson again.

Did they mention in the Giant Bomb Quick Look that they rehired the old voices again? I know they had Kid Beyond for the first game, but then he got sick and they replaced him with new Max.

Cherrn

Bad Asp wrote: »

I didn't like the voices in the trailer. I don't. I wish Telltale would change their strategy and hire Bill Farmer and Nick Jameson again.

YES WE KNOW HOW YOU FEEL GOD

Apparently the dude who voiced Max in the very beginning of Season 1 is back. He got sick or something, which is why they replaced him for the other episodes.

Edit: Beaten.

cooljammer00

I just think it's odd to hire the old guys back again, after ~2 seasons of a new guy.

edit: I'll be honest, I probably wouldn't have noticed if no one said anything.

Bad Asp

I know, but it seems like everyone who talks about this game talks about graphics. I think graphics are all people care about nowadays.

JohnDoe

They've kept the shitty control scheme from ToMI. SIGH.

Cherrn

Bad Asp wrote: »

I know, but it seems like everyone who talks about this game talks about graphics. I think graphics are all people care about nowadays.

You're being a complete silly goose. I don't think you've talked about anything other than voice acting yourself. How's that petition going?

Right now graphics are everything we have to go on until we can actually play it.

-SPI-

JohnDoe wrote: »

They've kept the shitty control scheme from ToMI. SIGH.

That's a shame, the straight point and click controls of Season 1 and 2 were perfect. Oh well, it's still going to be awesome anyway.

JohnDoe

-SPI- wrote: »

JohnDoe wrote: »

They've kept the shitty control scheme from ToMI. SIGH.

That's a shame, the straight point and click controls of Season 1 and 2 were perfect. Oh well, it's still going to be awesome anyway.

Why don't they realise that?

Still going to pre-order though, aside from the controls, it looks pretty good.

cooljammer00

Consoles don't have a mouse and keyboard, obviously.

Stilts

cooljammer00 wrote: »

Consoles don't have a mouse and keyboard, obviously.

Yeah, the ToMS control scheme makes sense when you consider their games need to control well on consoles, too. Granted, it's not a perfect compromise, since what works well for consoles feels a little clunky on PC's, but I can live with it.

JohnDoe

cooljammer00 wrote: »

Consoles don't have a mouse and keyboard, obviously.

You do realise theres already mouse/keyboard specific controls? Like point/click on objects? Click/drag?

Vegan

Yeah, I cringed in the quick look when they mentioned how you "drive" Sam around. Sigh.

maximumzero

So I used my free game code to grab the first episode of TOMI...annnd now I'm kinda regretting my pre-order of Sam & Max...

I'm really not any good at point 'n click adventure games. I'll get to a certain point and become utterly, utterly lost.

Cherrn

The Telltale games are, in general, much less obtuse than most adventure games. If you are having troubles, just jack up the hint system.

-SPI-

And if the in-game hints system doesn't get you there you can always use good old UHS. All the telltale games are there, and it gives an authentic old school feel using UHS for an adventure game imo.

Librarian's ghost

-SPI- wrote: »

And if the in-game hints system doesn't get you there you can always use good old UHS. All the telltale games are there, and it gives an authentic old school feel using UHS for an adventure game imo.

Telltale usually puts up a full walkthrough within a day of one of their games coming out.

Cherrn

Episode 1 is out now on Telltale's site. I assume the other versions will follow shortly.

Downloading!

MoosehatIV

Oh man. Who is excited? I'm excited.

Librarian's ghost

Downloading now!

maximumzero

God it's going to be a rough night.

I have to choose between Sam & Max and Halo 2 (Assuming it's still up when I get home.)

Excited to see how my Mac performs.

TetraNitroCubane

If you've got Team Fortress 2, you might want to order this through Steam instead of direct from Telltale. They're giving away free TF2 items for the next week to anyone who orders through Steam.

TF2 Blog wrote:

To celebrate the release of The Penal Zone, the first episode in Sam & Max's new adventure, The Devil's Playhouse, the Telltale team has provided us with some awesome TF2 items. We're going to give them out to everyone who buys The Penal Zone in the next week.

maximumzero

TetraNitroCubane wrote: »

If you've got Team Fortress 2, you might want to order this through Steam instead of direct from Telltale. They're giving away free TF2 items for the next week to anyone who orders through Steam.

TF2 Blog wrote:

To celebrate the release of The Penal Zone, the first episode in Sam & Max's new adventure, The Devil's Playhouse, the Telltale team has provided us with some awesome TF2 items. We're going to give them out to everyone who buys The Penal Zone in the next week.

Too bad I can't plug in my code from Telltale to activate the game on Steam and get the items that way.

Lars

I've played Sam & Max Season 1 and 2, but not Monkey Island. How are the controls different/inferior?

Cherrn

maximumzero wrote: »

TetraNitroCubane wrote: »

If you've got Team Fortress 2, you might want to order this through Steam instead of direct from Telltale. They're giving away free TF2 items for the next week to anyone who orders through Steam.

TF2 Blog wrote:

To celebrate the release of The Penal Zone, the first episode in Sam & Max's new adventure, The Devil's Playhouse, the Telltale team has provided us with some awesome TF2 items. We're going to give them out to everyone who buys The Penal Zone in the next week.

Too bad I can't plug in my code from Telltale to activate the game on Steam and get the items that way.

They're working on making the unlocks available for Telltale store purchasers. There'll be more info in a few days.

But anyway, just finished it. Definitely think it's the strongest opening chapter in any of the seasons, both in terms of presentation and gameplay. Also seemed longer than usual, so that's cool.

Love what they've done with the graphic design. Not only is there a wider variety of detailed animation and models (I for some reason really liked the way Max's feet moves when he finds the future vision in the beginning), but the new texture work and shading is phenomenal. There are just so many cool little details, and the overall smoothness and consistency of the graphic design really makes me happy. Great job in adding tons of visual variety, filters and unique camerawork, too.

I was especially fond of the intro credits sequence, the map and the little vignettes that sometimes occur; like when you first enter the Bosco house or use the teleportation ability. Also, the new menus/UI looks great - I have anxiously awaited the return of the little green squishy toy thing!

As for the puzzle design; the psychic powers are a great idea, and I loved that the future vision wasn't rigidly tied to specific puzzles, and that you could even use it to get hints. Very cool device that brought a lot of interesting situations.

The banana peel paradox was hilarious

Looking forward to (hopefully) being able to use the other toys more in future episodes.

Funniest moment:

"ENJOYING THE RIDE, SAM?"

Spoit

How is the camera/object placement in this? As in, can you kind of move around via point and click by selecting objects on the corner of the screen like you could in the 2 and 3rd episodes of ToMI, or does it have huge areas which you have to walk through with camera transitions and no good intermediate items like that mother goosing island they insisted on using for half of the ToMI games. I'd anticipate that areas like stunky would be particularly bad with the camera angles/clickable items, but who knows?

I didn't pre-order specifically because I knew that they are obsessed with that mother goosing driving control scheme, and I wanted to use the code I still have from ToMI to get one episode free and pay the smaller upgrade price, but if there are enough items strewn about it could be tolerable, and I'm a whore for TF2 items...