Until January 31st (2010), Telltale Games is offering the entire first season of Sam & Max for $4.95 USD.
Go Here To Get It
For five bucks you get 6 episodes of hilarious cartoon violence and witty dialog. If you've been reading this blog for any length of time you'll know that I've talked about Sam & Max before (here and here). That was back when I was subscribing to GameTap. I've since canceled my subscription, but I've still wanted to make sure I have these games. For this price, I couldn't say no. Also, they take PayPal.
I think that this falls under the no-brainer category of purchases. What are you waiting for?
Showing posts with label Telltale Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Telltale Games. Show all posts
Friday, January 29, 2010
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Hoorah
Last weekend I finished my first play through of Mass Effect, the first installment of BioWare's epic Space Opera. It is a rare occasion that I get to complete a full-sized RPG like this, and I'm still feeling inordinately pleased about it.
When I play, I like to get immersed. I lean heavily towards games with lots of narrative elements and large storyworlds. This used to be adventure games. Still is, on the rare occasion that I can find them. More recently this also lends itself well to epic RPGs (BioWare being a favourite developer).
The problem with my desire for immersion is that I like longer play sessions. I like to sit down and get lost in a game. Play for hours, then look up after a grueling task has been completed (and the subsequent story dump has been given) and wonder where the last 5 hours have gone. This is difficult because I don't always have either the time to commit to these marathon sessions, or the mental desire to be locked into a heavy game for that long.
The casual game has had quite the effect on me. Playing browser games takes maybe 30 minutes (unless they're ridiculously long and/or hard). Episodic games, the new golden format for adventure games thanks to Telltale Games, only take a couple of hours of time and feel less like epic stories and more like episodes of television. And I love it. Only needing a few minutes to play means I can play when I only have a few minutes to spare.
But finishing these quick-pop games doesn't give me the same feeling of satisfaction that beating a huge time-sink of a game does. And I don't think they should. There has been a lot of clamoring about casual spectrum of gaming replacing the hardcore demographic. Assuming "hardcore" can be partially defined as "any game that takes a significant investment of time to play", this would require breaking down what used to be epic into bite-sized bits of play.
Which works for some things. Like for the newest Prince of Persia, which I'm playing as a palate cleanser before delving into the wasteland of DC. I'll expound more about the game as I near completion, but suffice it to say that the game could easily be played in a series of sittings each no longer than half an hour. And the game would be no less for it.
However, I think that there will always be a place for the games of such scale and scope that they defy your sense of time. Games so large that they demand immersion, despite their flaws. Games that take time and commitment to play becuase they are trying to convey a sense of time and commitment. Games that make you glow with pride when you finish them (for every story should have an end) because you have made it through the trials and bested all the challenges. Games worth playing hard.
When I play, I like to get immersed. I lean heavily towards games with lots of narrative elements and large storyworlds. This used to be adventure games. Still is, on the rare occasion that I can find them. More recently this also lends itself well to epic RPGs (BioWare being a favourite developer).
The problem with my desire for immersion is that I like longer play sessions. I like to sit down and get lost in a game. Play for hours, then look up after a grueling task has been completed (and the subsequent story dump has been given) and wonder where the last 5 hours have gone. This is difficult because I don't always have either the time to commit to these marathon sessions, or the mental desire to be locked into a heavy game for that long.
The casual game has had quite the effect on me. Playing browser games takes maybe 30 minutes (unless they're ridiculously long and/or hard). Episodic games, the new golden format for adventure games thanks to Telltale Games, only take a couple of hours of time and feel less like epic stories and more like episodes of television. And I love it. Only needing a few minutes to play means I can play when I only have a few minutes to spare.
But finishing these quick-pop games doesn't give me the same feeling of satisfaction that beating a huge time-sink of a game does. And I don't think they should. There has been a lot of clamoring about casual spectrum of gaming replacing the hardcore demographic. Assuming "hardcore" can be partially defined as "any game that takes a significant investment of time to play", this would require breaking down what used to be epic into bite-sized bits of play.
Which works for some things. Like for the newest Prince of Persia, which I'm playing as a palate cleanser before delving into the wasteland of DC. I'll expound more about the game as I near completion, but suffice it to say that the game could easily be played in a series of sittings each no longer than half an hour. And the game would be no less for it.
However, I think that there will always be a place for the games of such scale and scope that they defy your sense of time. Games so large that they demand immersion, despite their flaws. Games that take time and commitment to play becuase they are trying to convey a sense of time and commitment. Games that make you glow with pride when you finish them (for every story should have an end) because you have made it through the trials and bested all the challenges. Games worth playing hard.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Upgrade Your Reality
Sam & Max Episode 5: Reality 2.0 came out on GameTap yesterday. I also played it yesterday. This is only the second time since the series started that my schedule has been forgiving enough to permit me to play the game as soon as possible (the first being when it premiered back in November). I must say that the episodes just keep getting better. I seriously thought that nothing could top a 20 foot robotic Abe Lincoln saying, "In the name of Democracy... Bring it!". I was wrong. I could spout on for, well... minutes at least, about the dialog, the characters, the sheer joy in theepisodicness of the game. But I won't. I will, however, say that Jerry Holkins has love for the series, as that in itself may sway you to download a demo.
Instead, what I wanted to write about is inspired by the game's subject matter. Without giving away too many details, the story this time has our intrepid Dog and Rabbit crime fighters headed into cyberspace to confront the personified Internet herself. Yes, the Internet is a woman, so what? In the process they run into just about every game cliche they possibly can.
What really hit me was the ability of the game to produce interesting commentary on Internet culture and games in general. For the uninitiated, Sam and Max have a long and glorious history of subverting their mediums, mocking their own reality, and generally poking fun (and pun) at just about everything. By nature they are a verbose and sarcastic mirror for reality. Which makes them a perfect vehicle to express commentary about games from within the medium.
Which is interesting because Telltale Games are not attempting to create a new form of participatory storytelling. If anything, they are pushing for the renewal and rebirth of a more traditional means of linear narrative. The satire of their own medium contrasted with the effective fun of the game itself submits the argument that sometimes a game doesn't have to reach new heights of interactivity (whatever those may be) to be fun. You know going in that there is little direct agency provided to you (Sam and Max even know this). You have limited locations to explore, limited and pre-defined social interactions, and entirely pre-scripted and sometimes cyclical dialog. The episodes are not fun because you are saving Sam & Max from peril through action. However, slow and deliberate exploration, and the metered story progression, provide a backdrop of achievement around which the real rewards cluster themselves. The design team has populated the world of Sam & Max with so much lush detail, and humorous observation, that it is a pleasure to explore and fun to progress despite the lack of real agency. Your actions, however simple and repetitive, are necessary to dribble out the satisfying humour that the game provides and that is enough.
Traditionally adventure games relied of a reward cycle of puzzle/progression to provide interesting stimulation. Telltale has replaced these often complex challenges with much simpler ones in such a way that the reward they provide doesn't compare to digging around in the dialog trees and passive scenery searching for the next laugh. You are driven to progress because you know it will unlock more areas, more characters, more dialog, and thus more humour. The hard gameplay, solving the puzzles, has been replaced by the light gameplay of passive exploration. You want to explore what the characters have to say because what they say is the reward. Which makes this game a perfect vehicle for subtle and interesting commentary.
And at a game a month, six games in a year, that's a lot of potential commentary. With a game that only takes a few hours to play, and controls that anyone can understand, that's a large potential audience. It's an interesting way to make a game mean something.
Instead, what I wanted to write about is inspired by the game's subject matter. Without giving away too many details, the story this time has our intrepid Dog and Rabbit crime fighters headed into cyberspace to confront the personified Internet herself. Yes, the Internet is a woman, so what? In the process they run into just about every game cliche they possibly can.
What really hit me was the ability of the game to produce interesting commentary on Internet culture and games in general. For the uninitiated, Sam and Max have a long and glorious history of subverting their mediums, mocking their own reality, and generally poking fun (and pun) at just about everything. By nature they are a verbose and sarcastic mirror for reality. Which makes them a perfect vehicle to express commentary about games from within the medium.
Which is interesting because Telltale Games are not attempting to create a new form of participatory storytelling. If anything, they are pushing for the renewal and rebirth of a more traditional means of linear narrative. The satire of their own medium contrasted with the effective fun of the game itself submits the argument that sometimes a game doesn't have to reach new heights of interactivity (whatever those may be) to be fun. You know going in that there is little direct agency provided to you (Sam and Max even know this). You have limited locations to explore, limited and pre-defined social interactions, and entirely pre-scripted and sometimes cyclical dialog. The episodes are not fun because you are saving Sam & Max from peril through action. However, slow and deliberate exploration, and the metered story progression, provide a backdrop of achievement around which the real rewards cluster themselves. The design team has populated the world of Sam & Max with so much lush detail, and humorous observation, that it is a pleasure to explore and fun to progress despite the lack of real agency. Your actions, however simple and repetitive, are necessary to dribble out the satisfying humour that the game provides and that is enough.
Traditionally adventure games relied of a reward cycle of puzzle/progression to provide interesting stimulation. Telltale has replaced these often complex challenges with much simpler ones in such a way that the reward they provide doesn't compare to digging around in the dialog trees and passive scenery searching for the next laugh. You are driven to progress because you know it will unlock more areas, more characters, more dialog, and thus more humour. The hard gameplay, solving the puzzles, has been replaced by the light gameplay of passive exploration. You want to explore what the characters have to say because what they say is the reward. Which makes this game a perfect vehicle for subtle and interesting commentary.
And at a game a month, six games in a year, that's a lot of potential commentary. With a game that only takes a few hours to play, and controls that anyone can understand, that's a large potential audience. It's an interesting way to make a game mean something.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Short and Sweet
The official reviews of Sam & Max’s second episode are in. I didn’t review it after I played it mostly because I was busy, but also because I played it back in December, via GameTap, before it became widely available. I’m in pretty good agreement with the reviews that I’ve read (link, link, and pdf – near the end): the game is a good second episode, and fans of the series will like it. It is noticeably easier to solve the puzzles, which fit together a bit more loosely, allowing for better casual play. The dialog is, if anything, better than the first episode, tapping further into the odd wit and dry surreality of Purcell’s world.
If you don’t know what to expect, the first two episodes of Sam & Max are:
- Short – 2 to 4 hours of gameplay, including hearing all of the banter and descriptions, depending on your speed of play
- Casual – Easy to play (one-button), easy to understand (clear interface), easy to solve (light puzzles)
- Wacky – They are, after all, Freelance Police
This all well and good, but the question remains: are they worth the money? Let’s do some comparison and analysis to find out.
Money Talks
Let’s compare the cost per episode for Sam & Max to other available episodic content. It took me 3 hours to complete the last episode, sucking as much entertainment value as I could from the game, and without getting stuck for more than 10 minutes (twice, I think). The cost: $9 USD. This gives us $3/hour of entertainment. If we get a season pass ($35 USD), and assume that all the episodes will give us about the same amount of play time, totaling 36 hours (the first was about 3-4 hours, I didn’t play it in one sitting), we wind up with $1.94/hour.
So what do we have to compare it with? iTunes sells episodes of television at $2 USD, which amounts to 44 minutes of entertainment, usually. DVD collections usually clock in at about $2 per episode as well, and some animated stuff is only 22 minutes per episode.
- Family Guy Volume 4: $30 USD, 14 episodes + extras, $2/episode
- House Season 2: $40 USD, 24 episodes + extras, $1.70/episode
An episode of Sam & Max, based on play time, is equivalent to 3 or 4 episodes of hour-long TV drama. The cost is roughly equivalent to what you would pay for a season of your favorite show on DVD. The price seems right to me. Cheaper actually, as 24 episodes of television is only 18 hours.
Timing is Everything
So what about the release schedule? So far, there have been 2 episodes. There was a gap of 2 months between the pilot and the second episode. The intended schedule now is to release the remaining 4 episodes once every month. At the equivalent entertainment time of 3-4 hour long TV episodes (commercials do not count as entertainment), this would be the close to the one episode per week format of most shows. Especially since many primetime shows produce 22 to 26 episodes to show over 32+ weeks, leaving the occasional programming gap. Except for winding up with all of your entertainment time bunched into a single session (or a couple of shorter ones), this seems timed right to me.
It’s All What You Like
This leaves a final question: is time spent playing a game as entertaining as watching television?
If it isn’t, then why are you playing? Some people like to watch comedy, some drama, some romance. Some like to play platformers, or shmups, or shooters, or MMOGs, or adventure games. If you don’t like the format, then the entertainment is never going to engage you. You can’t force someone to like a show; all you can do is offer it to them.
Rent Control
This leaves a final comparison. Thanks to a plethora of rental options, I can watch all the TV on DVD I want for much cheaper than the purchase price. I use the Canadian equivalent of NetFlix to rent and watch a whole lot of movies, many of which I may never own. What equivalents are there for games? I can see two clear options:
If episodic content starts to show up on consoles – perhaps delivered via online services like Live – then collections of these episodes would likely become available through the traditional disc formats as well. These would be just as rentable as DVDs.
Subscription game services, like GameTap, provide a single monthly cost to play any of their available games. This includes all past and current episodic content. The concept is very similar to a subscription rental service, but the games are available immediately (pending a download) and you can “check out” as many as your hard drive can hold without having to return them between.
Telltale’s Got It
I don’t know if someone at Telltale did this math when they were laying out the overall plan for Sam & Max. I don’t know if being comparable in price, length, and schedule to existing episodic formats mattered to them when they laid out their business plan. All I know is that Telltale has worked out a system that, to me, is just as valuable as TV. They have also married it to a story that suits the format. I continue to look forward to the rest of Sam & Max Season 1, and I have high hopes episodic games in general.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Reminders
It's the Day of the Dead... so go and remember with joy. Also remember these things:
Sam & Max, Episode 1: Culture Shock is out. Go and download the demo now.
NaNoWriMo starts today. While I will not be participating this year, chances you know someone who is. Like Josh, of Cathode Tan. Send your support.
There are only 53 days left to buy Christmas gifts (if you do that sort of thing).
There are only 17 days until the launch of the Nintendo Wii.
Sam & Max, Episode 1: Culture Shock is out. Go and download the demo now.
NaNoWriMo starts today. While I will not be participating this year, chances you know someone who is. Like Josh, of Cathode Tan. Send your support.
There are only 53 days left to buy Christmas gifts (if you do that sort of thing).
There are only 17 days until the launch of the Nintendo Wii.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Sam & Max: Freelance Review
Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture Shock is going public on November 1. It has already been live on GameTap for a couple of weeks now. In honour of its pending release to the unwashed masses (and hopefully to its riotous success) I present an homage and a review.
Inauspicious Beginnings
Steve Purcell created these dynamic and slightly deranged characters back 1980, where they made their debut on the campus of the California College of the Arts. By the end of the 80s they could be seen and read in their own full-length comic book. They were then picked up by LucasArts to be turned interactive. By far their most popular venture, Sam & Max Hit the Road released in 1993 to become a cult classic among adventure gaming. Their next stop took them to television land where they found themselves fighting crime, freelance-style, in a Fox-produced Saturday morning cartoon. In 2002 LucasArts announced the long-awaited sequel to Hit the Road, Sam & Max: Freelance Police. Fans were delighted, only to be disappointed by its cancellation in early 2004.
That might have been the end for the Freelance Police. Doomed to obscurity, and kept locked in the hearts and closets of fans and collectors. Fortunately, a clause in the licensing agreement with LucasArts has released them. Without a game released or in production the rights reverted to Steve Purcell. Now Sam & Max are shooting their way back onto the video gaming scene. Steve Purcell has teamed up with Telltale Games, made up primarily of former Sam & Max developers, to bring us more surrealistic crime fighting adventures. One episode at a time.
Inane Questions that Start With ‘W’
Who? Sam is an anthropomorphic dog with a prodigious vocabulary and an over-sized revolver. Max is a hyper-kinetic rabbity sort of thing bent on wreaking havoc and mayhem.
What? They are freelance police, and together they fight crime. They are called up by the Commissioner to tackle the wackiest of situations that the sane of us would not venture near. They dispense justice with excessive dialogue and unnecessary violence. Usually in that order. Right now there seems to be troublemakers down on street-level bothering the neighbourhood businesses.
Where? Inhabiting a world of gritty reality, not unlike out own, our heroes deal with some of the zanier underbelly the city has to offer. The city is a place where both garbage and paranoia litter the streets. The air is thick with fear and smog. Culture Shock conveys this through use of colour and texture in every scene. You get the sense that this is a cartoon, but at the same time you are aware that it is a mirror of life. It also avoids the pitfall of becoming too dark and dangerous, opting for a light-hearted edge to the darker comedy. Culture Shock finds a fun balance between cynical and zany .
Whuzza? The characters you meet help too. A tattoo artist turned psychoanalyst, a conspiracy-minded convenience store owner, and a rash of 40-year-old midget child stars, brings out the surreality that epitomizes Sam & Max. While the game only takes you to a few locations (with some hints at future ones), each is well thought out. Graphical details fill each scene; many of them are even clickable, revealing additional depth through dialog. Thought and care has gone into making the areas you explore both interesting and reusable. The characters are narrow enough to provide instant comedy while allowing for future growth that will keep them fresh. Chances are that we’ll see them all again in future episodes, and there will be new things to look for and learn.
Episodic-ly Delicious
I’m happy to say that Sam & Max fit amazingly well into an episodic format. Admittedly, there is only so much of the rampant banter one can endure. Having a shorter game, complete with satisfying Sam & Max-style conclusion, on a regular schedule will serve to extend the play value over a longer (and more endurable) time. Teaser glimpses provided at the end of the episode will also hook players into coming back, assuming they liked what they got the first time. The plot and flow of the story has been well developed for this format with concessions made for shorter play times, limited locations, and casual players. The game has definite scenes, and while it is strictly linear (all you generative story/multiple paths people can leave now) the depth of character makes it feel as if you are controlling the pace, causing the story to unfold.
Everyone Can Enjoy the Mayhem
As a fan of adventure gaming, I found the first instalment of Sam & Max to be both satisfying, and far too short. I’m used to games that have dozens of puzzles, some obscure enough to require outside assistance, and 10-20 hours of total gameplay. I’m not everyone. Sam & Max clocks in at about 5-10 hours, assuming that you explore all of the wacky and verbose dialogue (which is very well worth it). There is also a complete lack of mindless tasks and incomprehensible puzzles. Getting stuck will mean that you spend a few minutes (not hours!) trying a few very logical, and limited, options. If you get really stuck, jut head over to the official forums for a quick hint or solution.
As a dedicated adventure gamer I’ll admit that many adventure games are simply not user friendly. Oddball leaps of logic, aggravating pixel hunting exercises, and indistinct or indefinite goals (with near unlimited useless objects) are just a few of the things that have haunted this genre and kept it from the mainstream. Telltale Games has done everything in their power to keep these pitfalls far away from their game. The result is something easy to interact with, easy to follow and succeed at, and fun to play.
The most obvious design choice Telltale made was to keep all interaction to a single click. There are no symbolic icons or cursors. There is no confusing verb list. You don’t have to combine inventory items to create some wacky gadget. You point to something, you click, Sam does whatever he needs to do. Sometimes he’ll make a witty remark (with occasional retorts from Max). Sometime he or Max will do something (from the mundane to the bizarre). Occasionally he’ll pick something up to use later. Even driving the Desoto is handled entirely through the mouse and the left-click.
What Stood Up
The episodic format snugs nicely with the story-telling style of Sam & Max. This makes the game feel naturally paced and coherent. It also means that I have five more experiences waiting for me over the next five months.
The game looks great. It’s not photo-realistic, but it is gritty and full of life. The game runs with the cartoony-ness of the world, keeping the lines and colours simple, while allowing a vast amount of detail to sneak in. The game should also remain playable on a wide variety of systems because of the simplicity of the overall design.
The dialog is great. If you have memories of watching the cartoon, then you will enjoy every tongue-twisting and brain-warping syllable. The voice acting is well done, deserving compliments for sounding polished and consistent.
What Fell Flat
While the dialog is plentiful, creative, and pithy the animation leaves something to be desired. The quantity is lacking. After the fifth time that you see Max make the same gesture, you’ll understand what I mean. The game could have used a few more unique animations to pair with the dialog options, or a few more general animations that would prevent us from seeing the same ones over and over again.
Driving in Sam & Max is unnecessarily broken. It is a laudable goal to create a varied experience that pinions on a simplistic interface. However, when fine control is simply abandoned for uniformity then something is wrong. The DeSoto is driven by clicking to the right or left of the car. This leads to slow response, massive over- or under-steering, and a generally frustrating driving experience. Left-clicking on the car should have simply locked/unlocked steering to the mouse movement, leaving Max to drive when you relinquish control to do other things. In any case, this was the part that was most frustrating and disappointing to me. Fortunately it only plays a small role in the first episode.
Case Closed
If you are a fan of Sam & Max, or enjoy a good adventure game (and pine for the days of LucasArts glory), then I highly recommend this game. I know that I will be waiting for the rest of season one eagerly. The game itself is fairly standard adventure fare, with a much lower point-of-entry than many games of this genre. This makes it a good game for casual gamers and those unfamiliar with the rigours of point-and-click adventuring.
I’m not going to rate the games I review, because I find that most review numbers are arbitrary and rather meaningless. I would rather suggest games to people based on what a game offers and what a player expects and wants. Only through matching play-styles to games can you really get a good experience. To that end, Culture Shock is not a game for most hardcore players. Players looking to be told a story in a casual setting are going to be far more interested. This game is easy, linear, not very replayable, exploration-based with almost no action, and friendly to most ages. It also has a very odd sense of humour. Sound like your kind of bullet?
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