Sam & Max Season One
From Sam & Max Wiki
| “Sam & Max Season One” | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Video game | |||||||
 The Boxart for Season One | |||||||
| Developer | Telltale Games | ||||||
| Publisher(s) | Telltale Games GameTap | ||||||
| Designer(s) | Brendan Q. Ferguson Dave Grossman Steve Purcell | ||||||
| Villain | Hugh Bliss | ||||||
| Release date | October 17, 2006 - April 26, 2007 | ||||||
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Sam & Max Season One is an episodic series of adventure games by Telltale Games based around the characters of the Sam & Max comic series created by Steve Purcell. The first of the six-episode series—referred to collectively as Season One—was released on October 17, 2006. The second episode was released through GameTap on December 21, 2006 and to the public on January 5, 2007. Subsequent episodes followed on a monthly basis.
As with Telltale's series of games based on the Bone comics and Homestar Runner series, the games were made with close co-operation of the creator of the characters. Although many Telltale employees previously worked on Sam & Max: Freelance Police (the canceled LucasArts game), Season One is unrelated in its content. In an interview with CBR News, Steve Purcell has noted that the stories "will each be self-contained, but with a continuing thread that links them throughout the season."
The first season of Sam & Max games was co-financed by the U.S. game distribution company GameTap. Each game was available via the GameTap service for a 15 day exclusive debut period, followed by a general release directly from Telltale's website, whereafter the game became available through either outlet. The full season has since been brought to conventional retail as well as the Nintendo Wii. It has also been released for Xbox Live Arcade under the title Sam & Max Save the World.
Telltale Games and GameTap went on to cooperate on Sam & Max Season Two.
Distributor: GameTap, Dreamcatcher Games/The Adventure Company (North American Retail), JoWood (European Retail)
Platforms: PC, Wii, Xbox Live Arcade
Contents |
[edit] Overall plot
The season revolves around various schemes to gain power by hypnotizing large amounts of people, all but the first of which turn out to have been orchestrated by Hugh Bliss. As the Master Plan reveals, Hugh Bliss used the Prismatology movement to control Chuckles, who went on to control both the Toy Mafia Don Ted E. Bear and the Puppet President. When Chuckles was finally defeated in Abe Lincoln Must Die!, Hugh used the alias "Roy G. Biv" to manipulate The Internet into causing the events of Reality 2.0. When that failed, he took matters into his own hands, making one last bid to hypnotize the world before being defeated in Bright Side of the Moon.
This leaves only the events of Culture Shock, which were not part of Hugh Bliss' plan but the result of renegade prismatologist Brady Culture using stolen hypnosis technology for his own reasons.
[edit] Characters
Heavily recurring and otherwise key characters in Season One are the following:
See the individual episodes for characters of lesser importance.
[edit] Settings
- See also The Office, The Street.
The one location which appears in all six episodes is Sam and Max's office and the surrounding buildings (Bosco's Inconvenience, Sybil's office, etc.) The office features several references to "Sam & Max Hit the Road", including "Human Enigma" and "Harry Moleman" posters, along with Jesse James's hand, which has been placed on a plaque above the closet door. The box on top of Sam & Max's filing cabinet bears the label "03-03-04", the date that the Lucasarts Sam & Max sequel was officially canceled which explains Sam's comment when the box is examined, in the first four episodes. The date also appears as a post-it note on the desk and the back wall (only visible when the camera zooms in, such as when talking to Jimmy). The office also displays two framed pictures, which can be found hanging on the left side of the office. These are scenes from the Sam & Max comic book stories "Bad Day On The Moon" and "On The Road". The bulletin board displays one last reference to other Sam and Max multimedia, a Max paper bag hand puppet. A short segment in the animated series, the comics and the Hit The Road game manual originally explained how to construct one.
[edit] Episodes
| # | Episode | Release date (GameTap) | Release date (International) | Overview |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Culture Shock" | October 17, 2006 | November 1, 2006 | A group of former child stars, known as the Soda Poppers, are found causing trouble in Sam and Max's neighborhood. |
| 2 | "Situation: Comedy" | December 20, 2006 | January 5, 2007 | Myra Stump — a television talkshow host — has taken her audience hostage. Sam and Max are called to defuse the situation. |
| 3 | "The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball" | January 25, 2007 | February 8, 2007 | The commissioner is looking into an underground operation at Ted E. Bear Mafia's-Free Playland and Casino, but the mole he sent in has suddenly gone quiet. To find the mole, Sam & Max must infiltrate the operation and become members of the Toy Mafia themselves. |
| 4 | "Abe Lincoln Must Die!" | February 22, 2007 | March 9, 2007 (March 1 for Season 1 subscribers) [1] | Sam and Max must investigate the top man himself, the President of the United States, who has been passing inane mandates such as required hugs. Not only must the two take down the President, they may have to install their own man in his place, though Abe Lincoln may have a word or two about that. This episode was released for free on November 5, 2007. |
| 5 | "Reality 2.0" | March 29, 2007 | April 12, 2007 (April 9, 2007 for Season 1 subscribers) | People are being hypnotized by the Internet craze, causing systems around the world to go haywire. Sam and Max must find a way to enter the virtual world and track down the heart of the Internet herself to pull the plug on her shenanigans. |
| 6 | "Bright Side of the Moon" | April 26, 2007 | May 10, 2007 (May 7, 2007 for Season 1 subscribers) [2] | Sam and Max must go to the moon in order to save the entire world from hypnotic enslavement. |
[edit] Machinima shorts
- Main article:Season One machinima shorts
Following each episode, Telltale released three machinima shorts for Sam & Max, as a lead-up to the next episode.
| # | Episode | Release date | Overview |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | "Frank Discussion" | November 30, 2006 | Sam and Max share a discussion regarding hot dog weenies and their preservative properties in Bosco's Inconvenience store. |
| 1.2 | "Trainspotting" | December 7, 2006 | Sam ponders the meaning of life while Max questions the sensibility of being outside, away from the comforts of their office. |
| 1.3 | "A Painstaking Search" | December 12, 2006 | Having misplaced the keys to their office, Sam and Max return to the scene of their last case, Brady Culture's 'Home' for former child stars, in an attempt to retrace their steps. |
| 2.1 | "Reality Blights" | January 4, 2007 | Max volunteers the duo to appear on the fictional reality television show Four Freaks in a Terribly Cramped Office. |
| 2.2 | "Egregious Philosophy Platter" | January 11, 2007 | Sam and Max host the fictional television show Egregious Philosophy Platter, discussing the philosophers Socrates and René Descartes. |
| 2.3 | "Kitchen Consequential" | January 18, 2007 | Sam and Max host Fun in the Kitchen With Sam and Max where they showcase a few recipes of special effects. |
| 3.1 | "Interrogation" | February 1, 2007 | Sam and Max demonstrate for their viewers how to properly interrogate a suspect. |
| 3.2 | "Coffee" | February 8, 2007 | Sam and Max demonstrate their use of telekinesis on a coffee cup. |
| 3.3 | "The Blank Blank Blank" | February 15, 2007 | Sam and Max discuss with Bosco the government agency so secret, the acronym is classified. |
| 4.1 | "War Games" | March 1, 2007 | Sam and Max execute "simulations" in the War Room at the White House. |
| 4.2 | "The Teapot Drone Scandal" | March 15, 2007 | A Secret Service agent is ordered by Max, the President, to recite the Teapot Song (I'm a little teapot...) |
| 4.3 | "Saving the Economy" | March 22, 2007 | Max details his plan to make the economy more productive. |
| 5.1 | "Artichoke" | April 5, 2007 | President Max holds a press conference. Heaven help the reporters. |
| 5.2 | "Bosco" | April 12, 2007 | Max previews his attack ad against Bosco, despite the fact that he is not running. |
| 5.3 | "A Fireside Chat" | April 19, 2007 | Max records a "fireside chat" addressing the state of Idaho in the hopes of getting them to vote for him. |
[edit] Boxed releases
There are currently three boxed releases of Season One. On May 10, 2007, Telltale announced that they would release a hybrid DVD for Season One subscribers in June; holding all six episodes of the game as well as hours of bonus material, including commentaries, behind-the-scenes info, and all of the machinima shorts. The disc is available to those who buy a Season One subscription, plus the price of shipping and handling. It was released July 28th.[3].
Another version for the general consumer was published by JoWooD and has been available in stores since August 15. The boxed release contains a bonus printed poster featuring artwork by creator Steve Purcell, as well as "behind the scenes" videos, an interview with Steve Purcell and concept art on the disc.
The third and final version is the edition for the Nintendo Wii console, and can be purchased at the Telltale Store (for the NTSC version) or in general retail globally. This marks the first piece of Sam & Max merchandise to be available through store fronts. The games are included on the Wii disc, and they are packaged alongside character design illustrations as a bonus feature, however the other features from the DVD are lacking. It is also distributed with a hefty manual.
[edit] Soundtrack
The music for all six episodes was written by composer Jared Emerson-Johnson and recorded at studio.jory.org. Telltale released a 2-disc album in late July which is only available through their website.
[edit] Reception
| Title | Metacritic | GameRankings |
|---|---|---|
| "Culture Shock" | ||
| "Situation: Comedy" | ||
| "The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball" | ||
| "Abe Lincoln Must Die!" | ||
| "Reality 2.0" | ||
| "Bright Side of the Moon" | ||
| Save the World PC version | ||
| Save the World Wii version | ||
| Save the World Xbox 360 version |
Reception for the episodes was generally positive, and individual episodes have won various awards. The first episode got very positive reviews, generally commending the faithfulness of the game to its predecessor. However, the two successive episodes got progressively lower review averages. The fourth episode was generally seen as a large step back on the right track; it was also the first episode in which Telltale had been able to make use of all the user feedback they had been getting on their forums. The fifth and sixth episodes got similarly high reviews.
The Boston Phoenix awarded the complete season compilation three out of four stars and declared, "The complete Season One package gives the stories a shape and a sense of cohesion the discrete pieces lacked."
[edit] Awards
- Culture Shock
- Abe Lincoln Must Die!
- Tied with Loonyland II: Winter Woods for "Game of the Month" at Game Tunnel's "March Indie Game roundup". Also won a Gold Award. [8]
[edit] External links
| This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Sam & Max Save the World. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Sam & Max Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
