Sam & Max: Hit the Road | The Completionist | New Game Plus

the adventure genre has one of the most dedicated and proud fan bases of any subset of video gaming they have been with us since the beginning in the form of text adventures and have stayed in the culture until now with companies like telltale games pushing the point-and-click adventure to new and unexpected heights for a while in the 90s one company that was making an enormous impact in video games was LucasArts at the time they were responsible for classic Star Wars titles like x-wing vs. TIE fighter and Star Wars dark forces and things were looking pretty good but when LucasArts could have sat on their Star Wars laurels they also put a lot of heart into point-and-click adventures and they didn't just make some money grabbers they set the standard for these types of games that would be honored as the foundation of good point-and-click adventures to this day no game exemplifies LucasArts his heyday better than sam and max hit the road previous successes gave LucasArts the tech needed to make a game that looked more like an animated TV show than ever before the blend of adorable cartoon features mixed in with a healthy dose of debauchery where the perfect sensibilities for the hunt grabbed and destroyed tactics found in the genre these sam and max boys came seemingly out of nowhere but now they have become one of the most cherished franchises in all of video games if you haven't heard of these guys yet get out from under your rock because i'm about to wreak complete sam and max hit the road hey everyone and welcome back to another brand new episode of the completionist new game+ a show on which i am recomputing the first 120 games and episodes from the original completionists lineup for more information on that you can click or tap the link in the description down below sometimes on the show we play a lot of random games that no one's ever heard of and today's episode is no different while the legacy of the same max games is pretty large this one in particular is one that a lot of people don't remember so today we're gonna remember Andry complete sam and max hit the road for the PC let's begin [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] in 1987 maniac mansion was released for home computers and eventually for the NES it wasn't a massive success but it was a well received release for the then young LucasArts more importantly along with maniac mansion a particular system was also designed known as scum not a scummy system not like pickup artistry it stands first script creation utility for maniac mansion it was a hybrid of a coding language and a game engine on which most LucasArts adventure games and some of your other favorite dos games would be built on it was this system that helped usher LucasArts into a brief golden age of point and click games soon to come would be heavyweight to the genre Monkey Islands 1 & 2 in the end of Jones in the fate of Atlantis and day of the tentacle the sequel to maniac mansion in the early 90s looking to expand to new franchises LucasArts turned to animators Steve bracel Steve had initially come into the team as an animator but as luck would have it Purcell was putting out a comic in the quarterly LucasArts magazine the adventurer as an extra side job the comic gained traction and LucasArts solved the opportunity and tapped the one Sloane the animator to design his own game starring the characters he'd be making his comics for since his youth so for all of you out there look out for my upcoming comic 2 game ninja boy he has a yin-yang for a face and he shoots guns out of his sword Sam and Max were first published by FISH rap productions in 1987 and already made a splash in the indie comic scene yet it would be his upcoming game Sam & Max hit the road that would launch the duo into gaming godhood when the game was released in 1993 it couldn't have been more perfect for little Gerard cartoons were developing an edge and I couldn't get enough of it shows like Ren & Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life push me to a world of mischief that the Ninja Turtles and Mighty Max just wouldn't take me not only could cartoons be a little dangerous but they didn't have to be only for kids or have some giant grandiose lesson it's safe to say that Sam and Max and the other LucasArts adventure games hold a special place in my heart not only as a gamer but as a writer and a performer as well good comedy is hard to find in games and it was even more difficult back in the 90s he was either chin seal a humor or Duke Nukem and that's held up about as well as Duke Nukem Forever did so I was blessed to have people like Tim Schafer and the boys over at Ciara churning out games that were more unique and uncompromising in their voice instead of cheap shoehorned in jokes the game sound performance and storytelling in the front seat and that inspired me as someone who's always wanted to entertain and Sam and Max has every element of that era back when I first did hit the road for the show i gushed over it it was short sweet and effective I knew how I was going to feel I even said in the first two minutes that he was going to be a lovefest and lo loving it was I think I said the word grain about 400 times that was five years ago I've played a lot since then and also I have a thesaurus now so we get ready so it's certain that my outlook on the game has become a bit more sophisticated even if my sense of humor has not because adventure games certainly have grown over the past five years with companies like telltale and okay mostly just telltale games continuing to refine and perfect their own brand of the Poynting click genre not only that but a quick scroll through Steam and you will see tons of small studios with their own take on the scum system and they'll be on sale for two bucks maybe not now but at some point you know it's steam where everything eventually costs two bucks the trail of completion for sam and max hit the road entails solving the great mystery behind a missing yeti inform true to these older comedy adventure games I'll have to tune into the deranged logic of the designers Minds using the classic point-and-click mechanics I will pilot Sam to inspect pick up use and/or combined every object and mashing them together with the environment in the hunt for progression like pulling a mood ring out of the world's largest ball of twine or getting the proper tools to grow an eggplant that looks like national parks and wildlife conservation hero John Muir not only that but I'll be jumping from location to location milking each dialogue out of all of the NPC's in the hopes of finding every clue for connecting the Looney Tunes dots of this whacked-out story well I think I'm ready I've got my Acme supply catalog and portable Hall right here ready to go you [Music] sam and max hit the road is a weird-ass game in the best way possible it doesn't do much to stray from the point-and-click mechanics that doesn't matter though the game's presentation and writing are the best you're going to find from the era especially with the restraints of older tech in my first review I couldn't help but look at the game through nostalgia tinted lenses now things may not have aged as pristinely as I once claimed Sam and Max are freelance police at the ready to handle the world's most pointless cases Sam plays a warped out version of scruff McGruff the Crime Dog it's a reference to only people around my age would know it was the PSA where a dog in a trench coat would tell kids about how to form a neighborhood watch and don't do drugs and it was weird because I was 6 how am I supposed to form a neighborhood but no matter I'll go with something more current Sam is like sergeant Joe Friday from dragnet groovy he is the monotone Steely detective type carving through lies and danger to find the tender nuts of truth and Max is a sociopathic rabbit together they hold the shaky morality as they sabotage and harass their way to the goal in hand I think they are the perfect point-and-click heroes since these games generally involves stealing everything that isn't nailed down and ruining strangers lives all the while thinking you are doing good while in fact you're just interested in your own morbid enjoyment of these consequences because dogs in suits are fun could go either way regardless this time the two are charged with finding a Yeti and the woman who loves him Trixie the giraffe necked girl it only gets stranger from there the story plays out more like a weird Alice and wonderland type trip than any sort of detective story it's more of a tour through the crazed Lance gave Steve Purcell and his gang cooked up there aren't any growth moments no drama and no tears the story is a way of jumping from gag to gag with enough surprise arising from whatever bonkers aspect of this world pops up to make up for any kind of narrative twist or turn unfortunately that means there isn't much of a climax to speak of I didn't really notice this the first time I reviewed salmon next I loved the comedy as a kid I loved it when I was 25 and I loved it now the presentation of the game is focused on the jokes and that's great but now I noticed they may have leaned too far and forgot to give emotional stakes to the player so when the big resolution happened I was left kind of with that is it over feeling getting that victory you've been playing for it isn't given any weight by the game and I don't think this is a part of the joke it just kind of seems forgotten I know I know I sound like a wannabe grad student doing a thesis on a game about talking animals trying to find a mythical creature but one narrative hiccup is easy to overlook when everything else about the game remained ceaselessly entertaining the comic book vibe transferred perfectly to the digital realm with every environment character and animation retaining the same kind of zany Necedah range Sunday strip even as a kid I could tell you if a game was LucasArts just by looking at it day of the tentacle all of the monkey island games and even Indiana Jones had a consistent LucasArts style and is in full effect here in Sam and Max the locales are all lively and imaginative as the game assured me through a parade of tourist traps ranging from a gator themed mini-golf course to one of those dumb Arial restaurants that rotates to distract you from how bad the food is additionally each area is populated with what have always been my favorite aspects of these games the supporting characters Steve for Sally's voice shines through in every lunatic you come across so many of these guys begs the question what is it like to get inside of their head every time I encountered a new inhabitant I knew I was in for at least a few good titters titters I'm a mature adult [Applause] I'm sure way back in the original completionist episode 61 I was just so glad to be laying my eyes on a game that warmed to my precious childhood eyes to the point of astigmatism now I can't help but wonder it had a few more pixels or adopted the art style in Monkey Island 3 I think you'd have something completely timeless here sadly it was 1993 and there wasn't much they could do to smooth out some of the corners created by the resolution they were forced to work in but at the time it was the top of the line the same goes for the music - it's fantastic the soundtrack hits the retro detective vibe with big-band inspired themes and jazzy loops there as toe tappy as they are mood inducing LucasArts had the same crew handle most of their games in the 90s and I can tell why like their music LucasArts built a trusted team of voiceover artists over the years and many of your favorites are back I'll be 8 you may not know their names I certainly didn't know back in the day but I'm glad I'm more attuned to the voice-over world now I had no idea how many great talents were harvested for these characters most notably bill farmer who went on to not only voiced Yosemite Sam and Sylvester in space Jim but also the voice of goofy ever since the goofy movie money in the bank man I wish I had that maybe I could just be the next Donald Duck not bad not bad perfect printed in the original video I thought the presentation was great and now I think it's due pendous so pretty much the same except I have this Authority er thesaurus I can't even I can't even say the word thesaurus so if I use a thesaurus to look it up well there be another thing to tell me Sam and Max do practically everything right to create the feel of Saturday morning cartoons with a criminal record everything is bright and colorful juxtaposed against the maniacal violence of Max and the borderline schism of Sam it's obvious that this was made by a tight team with a unified direction that was capable of capturing a distinct comedic voice now would what's gaming for decades to come I'm simply glad to revisit the old ways in Sam & Max walking around talking to colorful citizens picking up random crap and using that same random crap to achieve random objectives hopefully while you take the time to enjoy the diversion the developers have offered you alas the same shortcomings remain clicking the right item can be a little finicky along with walking animations bogging the pace with dead air and some of the item solutions to puzzles border on nonsense hit the road does a decent job giving hints as to remedy each situation but sometimes I was left up a creek without a paddle if it wasn't for a guy I'd be on my deathbed telling my great-grandchildren asking them to avenge me by finding out how to get a vortex into a snow globe so I can save the yetis they did make a couple of improvements on some of the adventure game standards instead of walked to open and push prompts from the other games hit the road simplified it to grab look talking news to help cut down on random input syndrome that the games can give you when I got stuck Sam and Max did provide a few time wasters to let my brain stew on why that swearing guy and the turbine won't tell medically bend my screwdriver now that's a real puzzle there's also a statistic form of whack-a-mole using real rodents a less than PC version of battleship and even a coloring book all of these are decent and completely optional diversions except for one the car surfing side game at one point sam and max cruise on the open highway with max on top Teen Wolf style to score you have to jump various highway signs this has to be one of the ugliest side quests I've ever seen it was made up of like six frames of animation and overflowing with messy science sprites that seem to struggle with the concept of death luckily you only had to do this once to continue the game but still why have it in the first place without it there's still plenty to find and enjoy the humor and aesthetic carry the game just fine with its wealth of clickable to collect not necessary to collect in the completionist sense there aren't any hidden pages or relics or data locks to hunt out the only thing to compel you to scour every centimeter of the game is the chance at some solid chuckles or the very least that nasal exhale I do when something is kind of amusing it's good to go back and visit an old friend the last time I played sam and max hit the road i was in love I was so excited to play it again I think I let that nostalgia wash ride over me too much I missed out on the fact that there were a couple of things like the plot the pacing that haven't completely stood the test of time it feels good having grown as a person but what feels better is knowing that for the most part my nostalgia is justified here sam and max nailed the hardest part of a comedy game the comedy nothing hurts worse than being sure something was hilarious when you were young only to go back and find out it was a hunk of garbage I'm looking at you the past huh and Sam and Max pulled through helped by charming animation a groovy soundtrack and inspired performances it's no wonder why sam and max remained great I mean I'm sorry sumptuous huh that one doesn't seem to right it must be obvious now that sam and max isn't an enormous game and with that modest-sized comes little reward and by little I mean none as the credits roll you are in treated to a rudimentary shooting gallery where a couple more cameos appear I got the chance to fire at r2d2 and is that bubsy shots fired sam and max shots literally fired you're making fun of bubs before it was cool and that's all there is zero replay value the game literally tells you it is leaving you at the very end nothing nothing left but a couple of busted guts I really don't mind though the game is a breezy three hours if you don't fall into one of those cartoon and puzzle logic spirals and I had a great time hearing each fucked-up thing that the little rabbit had to say and loved every little observation Sam had about each Monday night um around him the game is so focused on laughs that it's less like replaying a game and more likely watching a favorite movie the replay value stems from wanting to rewatch your favorite moments or hunting for nuggets of comedy that you may have missed nothing actually to do on the side no new modes or features it enters that ever-growing rank of the completionist I beat it to complete it award congratulations you're adequate while I reek impleaded Sam and Max there were three hours of total playtime twelve tourist traps visited 45 puzzles solved and thirteen times I looked up a synonym for great that didn't give me the result I needed sam and max hit the road is well worth a first and even second playthrough even though there isn't any traditional completion bonus to speak up the humor is still unique crisp and I'm hesitant to even say remains a standout in video game comedy to this day point-and-click adventure games may not be the highest octane ride for today's thrill-seekers out there but Sam and Max and the other LucasArts games like it are perfect examples of excitement coming simply from exploring a world and laughing at it especially when there is a surprise around every corner sam and max hit the road is a game that is consistently funny from start to finish for completionists there's not really anything crazy to do extra and just playing the game essentially is completing it it's very funny it's very witty and in 2018 it still holds up very very well for you point-and-click enthusiasts out there this game still stand the test of time so with that of my guys I still give this game my completionist rating of complete it that's all telling me every today guys so please as always let me know you said about today's episode it's somewhere on the internet if you liked what you saw hit that like button and leave a comment for what you want to see next on the completionist New Game+ and hey if you missed the last New Game+ you can give a clear tap to that right you can give a click or tap to that right here on screen I draw the completionist and I'll see you next in front of the brand new episode bye

Channel: The Completionist

Views: 222,573

Keywords: sam & max, sam and max, sam and max hit the road, sam & max hit the road, hit the road, lucasarts, adventure game, classic video game, lucas arts, gameplay, hit the road gameplay, sam and max gameplay, sam & max gameplay, point and click game, sam and max remastered, sam and max hit the road review, sam & max hit the road review, the completionist, completionist, new game plus, detective games, detective, telltale games, day of the tentacle, sam n max, sam & max: hit the road

Id: sRvM7XPwAbQ

Length: 19min 11sec (1151 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 05 2018