After Telltale Games closed its doors, its entire Backpage catalog was thrown into limbo. That’s when Telltale co-founder Dan Conners founded Skunkape Games and took over the rights to Sam & Max and completely remastered their first season of Telltale, Sam & Max Save the World. Independent policing is back after a 10-year hiatus in this modern relapse. The graphic redesign of Sam & Max Save the World Remastered makes the game more modern without losing its Charm. Some edges are smoothed out and the lighting is more dynamic, which really makes the cartoon graphics of the game pop. In terms of performance, Sam & Max constantly ran on an anchored switch without noticeable frame rate losses or disturbances, which had been a major review in the after Telltale Games series.
The world of Sam & Max is alive, stylized and constantly evolving. The main area with Sam & Max’s office is in every episode, but the other shops on the street change from episode to episode to keep it fresh. Each episode also includes a matter that offers new areas like the White House and an all-digital world to explore.
Although the graphics have been revitalized to keep up with current expectations, the writing tends to show its age. Whether it’s writing off Keanu Reeves for a bad deed, referring to Ralph Nader and Pat Robertson, a pun based on the popular 90s Tae Bo home workout, and even mentioning Tivo! The younger crowd may need to Google for answers, but if you are an older player, these references allow you to automatically detect that time is passing and the average age is close.
While most of the after titles in the Telltale catalog were chosen by the players, Sam & Max Save the World is a much easier Point-and-Click adventure. The player guides the independent police duo through 6 episodes with matters where former children’s actors have been brainwashed, VR games have gone wrong and navigate the reality show circuit.
All of these episodes combine to form a bigger conundrum, but Sam & Max Save the World doesn’t offer much in terms of a coherent story arc. Some matters that the pair is working on are only partially and sometimes lazily related to the framing device, and it is necessary to let the game get along with some loose logic.
However, as a wise man said, it’s about the journey. It’s just fun to adapt to the logic of the cartoon to figure out how to pass obstacles. In addition, the characters of Sam and Max are incredibly entertaining and full of jokes that can make even a Stone pebble smile. This is one of the few comic games that made me laugh.
There is not much of a challenge in the puzzles of Sam & Max Save the World Remastered, the biggest challenge was that some came and went a lot. In one episode, I had to run between two buildings about 4 times in one of the puzzles. Fortunately, the loading screens are quite fast and soften the back and forth to find the right items.
At the end of the day, the new coat of paint on this game is working wonders and it’s great to see Sam and Max playing each other. However, there are a few design options that show your age more than the moment when Max asks Sam to play Dukes Of Hazzard while you are in a Chuck E Cheese parody game room.