The Adventuress

Treasure Trove Tuesday Numero X

by Amber on January 9th, 2007

I know, I know… it’s been many… MANY moons since I have done a Tuesday Treasure Trove. Who knew that reviewing one game a week was such hard work? Didn’t I know I already have a hard enough time posting here once a week? Man, what was I thinking?

I FAIL AT LIFE.

Anyways.

I know that it’s been awhile since this game was out, but I’ve decided I’m going to review the new TellTale Games games: Sam and Max: Culture Shock and Sam and Max: Situation: Comedy since they’re kind of short. BY GOD, that’s a lot of colons.

Heh… I said colon.

Soooo, without further adoodoo (heh… more poo references), I bring you TREASURE TROVE TUESDAY NUMBER X.

My favorite dog and rabbit team begin the series off with a loving tale of mystery and seduction. Okay… there’s not really much seduction, unless you count the romance you can only find between a sarcastic dog and a homicidal rabbit. If that’s the case, then there’s plenty of seduction. Our two heroes start off their journey back in the office, a space filled with rats, trash, fish and knives, everything that two budding detectives need to solve the toughest of cases.

Where all the action begins.

Sam and Max get a tip that a bunch of former child stars from the 70s have been out terrorizing Sam and Max’s hood. These child stars, known as the Soda Poppers, must have been very unloved and malnourished as children, as they haven’t grown past three feet tall. It’s sad, really, what these 70s child stars must have endured to entertain the masses. And it’s even more sad when they fall into obscure stardom, like when they appear on VH1 Celebreality TV shows. Please, donate to the Former Child Stars in Need Foundation. We’re their only hope.

A very confused child star

As Sam and Max bust into full detective mode, they realize that there is something strange going on with these former child stars, and I’m not talking Danny Bonaduce strange… No, I’m talking about hypnosis strange. The three Soda Popper brothers seem to have a new obsession in life: promoting the new video “Eye Bo”, created by another former child star, with a huge assed afro, Brady Culture.

Why, prey tell, would the Soda Poppers be so into this Brady Culture chap? And why do they look hypnotized on top of that? Why are they painting homages to a guy with a big afro? Why does one of them have such a tiny bladder? Does he drink too much coffee? Doesn’t he know that coffee is a diuretic? It makes you poo a lot? I mean honestly.

Sam and Max must get to the bottom of this silliness before the entire world is hypnotized by the incredulous Brady Culture. It would be horrible if the entire world was ruled by this afroed freak. I mean, what if the entire world started growing afros? My hair just isn’t curly enough. I’d have to tease my hair until the cows came home.

Domo arigato, Mr. Desota

As far as the graphics go in Sam and Max: Culture Shock, I think TellTale did an awesome job of turning the once 2d Sam and Max into 3d characters. It’s not every day you can make a 3d character look all comically appealing and awesome. But, TellTale did a great job. I also think they did a fabulous job of finding voice actors that could pull off a really good Sam and Max voice. I love Max’s New York style accent… or maybe it’s a Boston accent? Um, I don’t really know. I’m from the west coast and anything that sounds remotely different is obviously from the east.

Great job on Culture Shock, TellTale. I give you 4.5 out of 5 pirate hats:

Now on to Situation: Comedy.

I had a lot of fun playing this episode of Sam and Max. Sam and Max start off once again in their offices, where they are waiting for a new porn to be delivered to their humble abode. Alright, they don’t really wait for porn. I just love working the word “porn” into any entry that I can. It makes things more exciting for my heart.

I bet that rat is cold.

Sam and Max get a call that a local tv talk show hostess, Myra, has taken her audience hostage. This, of course, means that Sam and Max must get down to the bottom of this nonsense, as there are hostages at stake and there’s only so much people can take of annoying, mother like tv talk show hostesses (is that the word I’m looking for? Hostesses? Surely, it’s not). I mean, I can barely stand to watch an hour of Oprah before I want to call my mom up and tell her all the things she did wrong when raising me. Not that she did anything wrong. Mom, if you ever read this, I was just kidding! I LOVE YOU. I AM THE PERSON I AM TODAY BECAUSE OF YOU. YES.

I ask you… never become a hard assed director.

S&M need to do something quick, so they drive their trusty Desoto down to the tv station, so that they may put an end to this foolishness. When they arrive at the tv station, however, they find that the station is severely lacking in the employee department. According to the director, the rest of the cast and crew have been taken hostage by Myra, and before S&M can make their way to see Myra, they must help the director film some very important tv shows, like Midtown Cowboys, which is not anything at all like Broke Back Mountain, but more about two bachelor cowboys who have an evil chicken landlord that won’t allow cows inside of apartments. THE HORROR.

Sam and Max must also prove to Myra that they are rich and famous, or they can’t even enter the Myra studio. That Myra is a sadistic biotch, alright.

Never put a cow in your apartment. Unless you love the smell of poo.

I had a lot of fun playing this episode, but was saddened when the ending came so quickly. I know, I know… these are EPISODIC GAMES AMBER. I understand they’re episodic… but I’m still allowed to be sad.

All in all, I give this episode a 4.5 out of 5 pirates hats as well.

Both games highly amused me for quite some time. The only real gripe I have about them is that they’re easy. Almost TOO easy. Quite honestly, I think I could figure out most of these puzzles even if I were drunk (which I may have… or may not have been while playing Culture: Shock). I’m really hoping that TellTale has made these first couple of games with the thought in their minds that they are going to give Sam and Max harder puzzles to delve into as the season progresses. I really hope so anyways. I know that the games are meant to be short, but you can always make a game a little longer by just throwing in some more difficult puzzles.

Even if they don’t change the difficulty of the puzzles, I’ll still play. I can’t let Sam and Max go that easily. I love you guys. *sniffs*

[images lovingly borrowed from gamespot]

Share This

Related Stories

• Happy 4th of July!
• A slight delay…
• Tuesday Treasure Trove: Numero IV

POSTED IN: Sam and Max, TellTale, Treasure Trove Tuesday