Sam & Max Save the World

I haven't played the original Sam & Max, but it is commonly regarded as a point-and-click classic on the PC. Sam & Max return in 'Save the World' which is presented in a cartoon 3D look and still maintains the point-and-click style game-play.

This was developer Telltale Games' first venture into episodic gaming. Each episode has a different theme and could be played individually, but it all wraps up in the sixth and final episode. On the Wii, all six episodes are on the disc.

Sam the dog and Max the rabbit are freelance police and must put an end to the various hypnotising schemes, and they discover the cult of prismotology. They will meet the child stars known as 'Soda Poppers', will star in their TV show, join the Toy Mafia, battle for presidency with statue Abraham Lincoln, enter virtual reality to take down the internet, and go to the moon.

Each episode has the same design structure so becomes a bit predictable. There are usually two locations. One location is the main place where the episode centres around (eg Casino or the White House), and the other is the street where Sam & Max's office is located. On this street is Sybil's shop (which changes function in each episode) and Bosco's 'Inconvenience' store. You will go back and forth between these locations until you can purchase an extortionately priced item from Bosco, before getting to the finale. Sometimes the backtracking gets a bit tedious since you do it so often, especially because the game needs to load for a few seconds when doing so.

Each episode doesn't have that many puzzles but features loads of dialogue. The entire game is silly and more ridiculous than the Monkey Island series, but is well acted and humorous. Sadly, sometimes the dialogue seems to cut off half a second early, so it's a good idea to keep the subtitles on. The graphics are good, and the point-and-click style is well suited to the Wii remote, but the chase scenes suffer from jerky frame-rate.

Sam and Max are brilliant characters, Sam is funny but level headed, whereas Max is a hyperactive and controversial nut case. Although he looks cute enough, he does produce some adult humour but it's more innuendo than explicit. Overall, it's a good adventure game but is let down by the small world, repetitive structure and final episode.