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PLATFORM: PC
ESRB RATING: N/A
PUBLISHER: Telltale Games, Gametap
DEVELOPER: Telltale Games
The second episode of the second season of Sam and Max continues with our anthropomorphic heroes… taking a vacation to Easter Island?
THE PITCH
After defeating the demon that’s possessed Santa up at the North Pole and returning home to their office, Sam and Max soon find out that there’s yet another crisis in the neighborhood. No, this time it’s not giant attack robots, but instead they’re faced with a gigantic red triangle that’s chasing around their neighbor. They soon find out what it is- the Bermuda triangle lost in NYC. Stopping it from attacking their friend, they end up traveling through the portal anyway and discover that it leads to Easter Island. Why the hell is the Bermuda triangle hanging out at Easter Island? Looks like the triangles are on vacation, and Sam and Max think that’s not such a bad idea themselves.
He hits the bottle WAY too hard.
Unfortunately, any possibility of relaxation is dashed when they talk with some nearby sentient Moai (you know, those huge Easter Island statues that are buried in the ground) who tell them that the island’s on the brink of devastation because of a nearby volcano. Thankfully the Moai’s ancient prophecy predicted that Sam and Max would come to save the day, and they proceed to do just that. On the way they find the Fountain of Youth, converse with historic figures like Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindberg (who are hanging out at a local Tiki bar) and manipulate an aquatic race of "Ocean Chimps".
THE PLAY
This is going to be a much shorter review than my last one about Sam and Max (here), because of course the game is very similar to the first. It’s a point and click adventure game, that’s all you have to know. Much like at the start of the episode, there’s a minigame here that you can play with the keyboard, but otherwise you’ll just be clicking on objects or conversation choices.
Sam proves that while there might not be anything funnier than a dog on a surf board, a suit helps.
As always, the humor is where its at. This episode seems to be the most niche of all of them, and if you don’t know about the history of the Bermuda triangle and the people who supposedly got sucked into it you’ll miss a bunch of jokes. Besides that, the Moai statues are hysterical, and especially their infatuation of them by Abraham Lincoln’s severed head. The "Ocean Chimps" (nice dodge there, Telltale!) are my favorite new characters, with Caribbean accents and a whole lot of gullibility.
But it’s not all great. While a lot of red herrings about future plot developments are thrown around, this episode actually feels much less eventful than the last few. There just really aren’t many screens to explore this time. Usually in the games you can explore all the various businesses around Sam and Max’s office, but everything’s mostly closed now. A very small bit of the game is spent conversing with local crackpot Bosco in his store ("It’s not a store!"), and instead you’ll spend the majority of the time at Stinky’s diner.
Easter Island’s only got 3 places that you can explore, and it just feels a little claustrophobic. The puzzles are a little trickier and since the scope is more limited you’re left trying to do silly things to figure out what works.
But while it may not the strongest follow-up to Ice Station Santa that we could like, it’s still another solid Sam and Max adventure.
THE PRESENTATION
Same as before. Great graphics, great sound.
The new characters are voiced perfectly as always… just wait till you see what happened to Jimmy Hoffa.
"That’s the last time I let Courtney Love on my countertop…"
THE REPLAY
If you’re like me you’ll replay this when the Second Season is released in one set, just to play across all of them together. But barring going back to relive some jokes, you won’t be going back to this one right away. Adventure games don’t work like that.
THE VERDICT
It’s necessary to play this, of course, but this feels more like a setup for a bigger, better episode. That’s the one problem with the episodic format… sometimes to advance the story you have to slow things down a bit. Not to say it’s bad, not at all. It’s still great, laugh out loud funny and worth your time, but it’s not utterly fantastic like we’ve come to expect with the last few episode. 3 more to go for this season… let’s hope they take it back up to new heights.