Sam & Max Save the World Episode 102: Situation: Comedy

Posted by Erik-André Vik Mamen.
First posted on 26 February 2007. Last updated on 25 August 2010.
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Sam & Max Save the World Episode 102: Situation: Comedy
This time around the intro screen is in yellow!
Sam & Max Save the World Episode 102: Situation: Comedy
A sign shows Sybil's newfound occupation!
Sam & Max Save the World Episode 102: Situation: Comedy
Sam and Max are playing chefs on TV!
Sam & Max Save the World Episode 102: Situation: Comedy
Who says that rabbits are innocent?
Sam & Max Save the World Episode 102: Situation: Comedy
Situation: Comedy or Situation: Tragedy?

Sam & Max: Season One

The season, Sam & Max Save the World, is comprised of 6 episodes:

Episode 101: Culture Shock

Episode 102: Situation: Comedy

Episode 103: The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball

Episode 104: Abe Lincoln Must Die!

Episode 105: Reality 2.0

Episode 106: Bright Side of the Moon

A compilation of Sam & Max: Season One has been released in August 2007 by The Adventure Company in partnership with Telltale Games. It includes all 6 episodes of the season as well as bonus contents such as behind the scenes videos, trailers, desktop wallpapers, concept artwork, a soundtrack sampler, and a full-sized printed limited edition poster.

Just a few months after releasing Episode 1: Culture Shock, Telltale Games delivers yet again to fans of the new Sam & Max series by releasing Episode 2: Situation: Comedy. The mere fact that the game arrives on schedule is itself impressive. Episodic games from other developers are often delayed or, in some cases, never released. Not only Telltale Games delivers as promised, fans can now look forward to more laughter and fun playing as their favorite canine shamus and hyperkinetic rabbity thing!

Much like an episode of a sitcom, Episode 2: Situation: Comedy opens the same way as Episode 1: Culture Shock, except for the changed background color and a slightly different tune. This familiarity definitely works in "warming you up" for the coming return of the freelance police. As before, the game starts off at the office where Sam and Max are getting their next assignment. This time the case is about a talk show host named Myra Stump, who is holding her audience hostage inside a TV studio and wanting to talk about gossips all day.

After exiting the office, Sam and Max will meet up with their old neighbors from the first episode—Bosco and Sybil. Bosco, the storeowner, is as paranoid as ever. Sybil, who was a psychotherapist in the previous episode, is now a news reporter for her own paranormal tabloid newspaper. Will she perhaps have a new profession in each episode?

Bosco's place looks pretty much the same since the last episode. All who have played the first episode will notice that many of the characters, objects, and locations in the game are reused from the first episode and appear again in the second episode. In fact, many of the comedic comments made by Sam and Max are exactly the same as those from the previous episode. The changes made to the neighborhood area are also minimal. I suppose this is what you can expect from an episodic game format. So, while this game is technically as great as the previous game, it does not offer any new mode of gameplay.

There are, however, still some great scenes. The new locations take place inside a TV station where Sam and Max will need to act as hosts of different TV shows. These include a cooking show called Cooking Without Looking that makes fun of celebrity chefs, a parody of the Idol series called Embarrassing Idol, a quiz show called Who's Never Going To Be A Millionaire which pokes fun of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and a sitcom called Midtown Cowboys where the actors have lost their scripts so they have to improvise. To win the game, Sam and Max have to star in all of these shows. Of course, there are a lot of the new humor here, and somehow I feel this game is even funnier than the first. Perhaps I am just growing fond of the crazy humor, or perhaps Telltale Games is truly able to improve the gaming experience for me. The level of difficulty for this episode is about the same (not too hard) as the previous episode. The length of game is still far too short, though fans of the series now know not to expect days of entertainment from just a single episode.

The car driving sequence makes another short return appearance in this episode. The sequence is short and it is easy enough to be entertaining but not frustrating. There are no other new "arcade" modes in this episode. The rest follows the standard adventure mode.

Most gamers will not notice that the voice actor for Max has changed (yet again). Andrew Chaikin is not able to do the voiceover for the game because of personal health problems. William Kasten is the new voice for Max and the fourth actor to play the role. From what I have heard with the voice acting, Telltale Games has done a good job finding this replacement.

Overall, Sam & Max Episode 2: Situation: Comedy is a good, albeit short, game. It compliments nicely the first episode and solidifies the tone and feel for the new Sam & Max series. With a good track record, fans of Sam & Max can now count on Telltale Games to deliver the next episodes on time, unlike LucasArts.

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