Snow
is on the ground and we are fast approaching that Christmasy time
of year. Children and adults alike anxiously await a visit from a
rolly, polly white bearded man (Al Lowe?) driving a reindeer propelled
sleigh who gives coal to bad girls and boys and presents to good girls
and boys. Everyone in the land is decorating their houses with a pine
tree under which presents magically appear. The chimney is soot free
and decked out with holly and bright colorful stockings hung with
care. The milk and cookies are on the table next to the easy chair
for Santa to relax in.

Well the reindeer are on
unemployment with most of the elves. The head elf and his assistant
are charged with outsourcing toy management. The toys seem to be shaping
up with some new diabolical presents and there are rumors that Santa
is demonically possessed. Instead of a twinkle in his eye and rosy
cheeks, Santa is armed with an assault rifle. Well at least this time
it is not mind controlling teddy bears.

I guess we better get ready
for the Sam & Max version of Santa gone bad. This rendering of
a naughty Santa is on par with movies like Billy Bob Thorton’s
“Bad Santa”, South Park’s Mr. Hanky and the bad Santa
on the animated television show Futurama.

Sam
& Max are on the case once they receive a 40-foot windup robot
assassin as an early Christmas present. The first clue is the North
Pole sticker on one foot of the metal monster. Off to the North Pole
the daring duo go and what is in store is another three to five hour
romp of the serialized graphic animated adventure game in three dimensional
backgrounds and characters.

Yes Virginia, this is the
Sam & Max we remember from the 1993 Lucas Arts game — Sam
& Max Hit the Road. This Sam & Max are not quite
as well behaved as the Saturday morning television show of the same
name. In fact the whole idea behind Sam & Max is the irreverent
and sometimes violent banter between the rabbit and the dog.

Sam & Max was created
by Steve Purcell when he was a child. The comic books, the game and
the animated television series came later. These other projects required
the expansion with other help, new producers, animators, writers,
and background artists. Steve was a background artist for the Lucas
Arts company for a few years, including the time prior to Sam &
Max so there are cameos and Easter eggs featuring the duo in many
Lucas Arts games.

The
three dimensional art is like most of the other projects. Sam &
Max’s office is on the same block they have always been on. The inhabitants
of the block from prior adventures are still there, including Sybil
and her ever-changing business, Bosco and his convenience store and
Jimmy the Rat (literally) and his hole in the wall of Sam & Max’s
office (again, literally). Two new block denizens join the fray with
jimmy the rat’s son and the new diner and owner named Stinky who stinks
(literally, one last time). I endeavor to be less literal in the future.

The all new and improved
tutorial is not really new because if it was new how could they improve
it and it could not be improved if it was really new. Well the authors
excavated the Swiss cheese puzzle (not to say the puzzles are cheesy)
as the new and improved tutorial. So now new players or simply improved
players can use the tutorial to get up to cheese speed (Apologies
to Wallace & Grommet another dog and rabbit story that has the
duo obsessed with English Wesleydale cheese. But I digress).

Another feature that is
not new but continues to be improved is to show a bit of the episode
before the credits for the game and then continue the game after the
credits. Thank goodness I don’t have to figure out where the commercial
goes. This method of introduction which is similar to many television
show teaser starts is continued from last season.

The
story is a new one, not just a retread of mind controlling bears.
The new schtick is demonic possession. Hopefully there will be no
massive story arc of demonic possession since Sam & Max have apparently
concluded the conflict by sending the offending evil doer straight
to someplace hot. The story is improved since it is longer, has harder
puzzles, and is better written and wittier.

The plot device in part
is winning four contests to find the for wooden horsemen of the apocalypse
by solving a trivia contest, a driving for points contest, a boxing
puzzle, and tricking Osco out of the horseman contest.

The ending sequence involving
the revolving toy bomber, the wall switch, the trampoline, stinky’s
dirty and, yes, stinky sock, the “Christmas present-o-matic,”
a cannon, a Christmas tree, a flounder pounder (you gotta see this
one), and a gunfight with Santa is much more difficult than any of
the puzzles in the last season of Sam & Max. More difficult puzzles
are certainly new but not necessarily an improvement over last season,
especially when you consider that the new harder puzzles also do not
come with hints – just like last season’s easier puzzles.

The
graphics seem to be the same good job. The music is well done. The
voice over work is superb. The sound effects are good. Overall voice,
music and effects sound is quite good. Audio adjustment of these three
elements allows you to set the music and effects down and the voice
up so that you can actually hear what Sam, Max and the rest are saying.

The game mechanics allow
you to save and restore games. Sound options controls set sound volume
levels in three separate areas. Video options allows you to accommodate
most of the new and improved and even more powerful video cards like
the NVIDIA 8800 GTX with 640MB DDR3 Video RAM. Should you need to
you can even quit the game or pause it to think about what to do next.

Overall I would give the
game 9 out of 10, except we do letter grades at Just Adventure and
that works out to an A in my book.. What’s
not to like? The game has 20% more product for the same price (read
20% longer). The puzzles are harder without hints causing game players
to say Duh for much longer. I loved the plot and I love Sam &
Max.