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Review: Sam & Max Season 3 Episode 3 – They Stole Max’s Brain! | PSNStores

Review: Sam & Max Season 3 Episode 3 – They Stole Max’s Brain!

Posted by on July 9th, 2010 | 1 Comment | Tags: , ,

Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Telltale Games
Release Date: May 18th, 2010
Availability:
Price: $34.99 | £19.99 | €24.99 (Season Pass)
Demo: No
Players: 1
Rating: Teen

What I liked:

  • Act One’s Noir
  • Seeing Sam get angry
  • Best new Character: Sal
  • Framerate issues weren’t there!

What I disliked:

  • Puzzles, they all seemed to use the same gimmick after Act 1
  • Humor wasn’t there for me

Warning: This review contains minor spoilers from prior episodes.

If you’ve read my other reviews of this season, you can tell I’m a fan of the work done so far.  Does episode 3 still have it?  Yes and no.

Picking up where we left off, Sam returns from his trip to bathroom discovering that his little buddy has lost his brain! What follows is yet another unique twist to the gameplay that was really enjoyable. Sam rolls up his sleeves and enters a noir-esque mood where he goes around town interrogating people as to the whereabouts of Max’s brain. Interrogating is done by interrupting suspects during their stories to find holes in them. I was weary of how this would be played out but I thought it was executed perfectly, the game still felt fresh and Sam’s change of behavior was interesting. Unfortunately, this comes to a close all too soon, and once you get to Acts 2 and 3, the game goes back to normal (gameplay wise) and things come off a little stale.

While the voice acting is still top notch, some of the humor just doesn’t seem to be there. While you get a quasi replacement for Max in act 2, the interactions Sam and “Max” have just aren’t as funny as usual.  Puzzles don’t seem as varied either. Most involve the toy nose called rhinoplasty (magic silly putty). We haven’t had free roam with this toy yet, but it is kind of a one trick pony. Use the silly putty on a picture of something to make Max become that item. It only worked on certain items, and it didn’t leave many red herrings for Max to transform into. It seemed as though if you could use the silly putty on something, there was a reason for it. It was cool the first few times, but building the game entirely based upon that power was lame. Future vision and the telephone return, but they have very limited uses.

There isn’t too much else to say that I haven’t said about the previous installments. It’s a shame Act 1 didn’t last longer, and while the change up with our freelance police sounded good on paper, it didn’t translate as best as I thought it would. If you liked the first two installments, you’re not gonna get blown away by this one, but it is certainly worth playing. Here’s hoping Episode 4 comes back swinging.

Click Here to purchase Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playhouse from Amazon.com