Sam & Max Save the World Remastered

Sam & Max Save The World Remastered is an updated port of Telltale Games' 2006 series, the first in a series lasting three seasons. Boasting six episodes, the remaster is basically the original point-and-click adventure with updated graphics and a new engine.

However, while all is good with the graphics and gameplay, the remaster sadly changes some things. One is Bosco, the paranoid owner of the Inconvenience Shop, as his VA has been changed from. Joey Cameron to Ogie Banks, as the former was white (I know the controversy aimed at characters like Apu from the Simpsons, but it seems overblown, especially considering no one talks about African American VAs voicing characters that are white or any other ethnicity),but also editing and removing dialogue in an attempt to avoid offending people (Bosco's Frenchman disguise in Episode 3 is a new wave French anarchist, instead of a cowardly French anarchist, and possibly one of the most ridiculous censorship, editing dialogue involving the word foo' on the stupid excuse of being stereotypical, which would make Mr. T facepalm at the stupidity). While the game is okay and I can get used to Ogie as Bosco, I cannot recommend this due to the amount of censorship done to the jokes, and would recommend people stick to the original version (which Skunkape thankfully put in as free DLC).

Point & click games have mostly gone away (unless you count visual novels) but I still enjoy the odd one provided they can tell a good story. I was introduced to Sam & Max through the Poker Night games, I understood very little of what they did made sense (not being familiar with their previous TV shows or comics) but they were consistently hilarious. Moving to this game, I'm not sure how much I can talk about the story in this game. Sam & Max are hunting a mysterious villain/villainous group that are setting propping up various other villains as part of their "master plan." The scope of this game is nuts, they work as TV stars, mafia goons, Max becomes the POTUS, they become warriors online and they take the DeSoto to the moon. There's a through line but it's loose at best. But while this would normally be a negative, it's true to the random nature of the property and I was consistently entertained. It's completely random but it was never boring and I was laughing throughout. My favourite episode was Reality 2.0 but all the episodes have their moments..

To me the draw of the Sam & Max property isn't the story, it's the characters themselves and the surrounding cast. They're such a fun duo and I love their wacky dynamic. They're both down to clown for whatever and when I say whatever, I mean whatever. The Poker Night series accurately shows what they're like in their own property and their comic dialogue was worth the price of admission by itself. I can see why the property has a cult following and I'll count myself among the group now. I also loved the supporting characters. Between Bosco's paranoia, Sybil's frequently changing professions or Jimmy's underhanded dealings, the game never grows stale or tiresome.

Gameplay is largely restricted to clicking around the environment or dialogue trees. This isn't the most frenetic style of game but it is as advertised. As mentioned before, the dialogue is awesome and completely slapdash. The accompanying voice acting is also good. Some people got upset over Bosco being recast but I never heard the original actor and I thought Ogie Banks sounded great. I also enjoyed the animation, their cartoonish movement compliments their frenzied shenanigans perfectly and the remaster on the game looks great. Skunkape did an excellent job updating the game, I guess some jokes were cut as well but I didn't let that bother me either.

This game won't be for everyone between the random humour and the old-school gameplay but I enjoyed this game wholeheartedly. I hope it wins some new converts to the property and I'll be playing Beyond Space & Time and the Devil's Playhouse when it comes out. If you're interested in a gem from yesteryear, I'd happily recommend Sam & Max Save the World Remastered.