My favorite for Season 1 was Abe Lincoln Must Die!
My favorite for Season 2 was Chariots of the Dogs.
My favorite for Season 3 was They Stole Max's Brain!
I also really liked Ice Station Santa and Beyond the Alley of the Dolls.
The Chariot of Dogs. Simply because of the Davros-wheelchair thingee that Future!Sam was sitting in. I must have laughed for at least five minutes before being able to continue.
Darn. I forgot Reality 2.0. Otherwise my favourites are 'the Mole, the Mob and the Meatball', 'Night of the Raving Dead', and 'They Stole Max's Brain'. I noticed after I selected them that they are all the third episode of each season. Strange. (Other than Reality 2.0, of course, which I forgot to click anyway).
For me, 'The Penal Zone' takes out the#1 spot on my list. As much as I want to rate every episode of Season 3 equally, I'm afraid that 'The Penal Zone' was just a notch above the other four. I just loved roaming around the city and exploring Sam & Max's natural habitat(?) to a greater degree - it was my favourite setting of the whole season. I also found that the episode had the best gags. I mean, who could forget the banana-&-manhole joke? It was brilliant! And all of those 'penal zone' lines were hilarious, regardless of what denominator they were appealing to.
I also really liked the idea of inserting pieces of evidence into the Crimetron in order to open up a new location in the city - I thought that that was a terrific gameplay element, and one I hope to see in Season 4 (if there is to be one). The toys of power also produced some of the best results in 'The Penal Zone'. One of my favourite parts of the episode is still the resulting cutscene when you use future vision at the toyshop.
The puzzles, of course, were another huge factor in making the episode so great - they were fun to work out, rewarding to solve, and each one provided us with an entertaining aftermath. Two notable instances that I can think of off the top of my head are the 'teleporting Max to Stinky's cellphone while out on the ledge' puzzle, and the 'giving Flint Paper the helmet to protect him from a certain projectile that was supposedly going to hit him' puzzle. And there were plenty more puzzles like this: fun, rewarding, entertaining - and that's all you can ask for. That's what makes a good puzzle, and Telltale did it time and time again in 'The Penal Zone'.
And, one more thing, the characters were excellent. All of the new characters were charismatic, well constructed and well implemented into the plot and overall storyline. And no characters were thrown in there for no reason - there were no new characters put into the episode just for the sake of having a 'likable new character' to show off, and there were no returning characters brought back purely for the sake of pleasing the fans. Each of the characters, old and new, were integral to the game, its storyline and its plot. (Also, Skun-ka'pe and his minions actually felt like proper villains, unlike those damned Soda *******!)
All in all, the episode was just put together so well, and it was an absolute pleasure to play. There was rarely a dull moment, and the episode never left me unsatisfied - as I've said, it was rewarding. I wanted to keep playing, I wanted to solve these puzzles to find out what would happen next; just like how, with a good book, you find yourself wanting to turn over to the next page and find out what new pieces of information the next page will add to the narrative. This was how I felt while playing 'The Penal Zone'. This episode was fun; this episode was good; and this episode took Sam & Max to a whole new level.
...and there were no returning characters brought back purely for the sake of pleasing the fans. Each of the characters, old and new, were integral to the game, its storyline and its plot.
Abe Lincoln and Sibyl Lincoln-Pandemic.
There was _no_ reason to show Abe (unless in S4 the fact he has a body again plays a major role) and we could have substituted almost any other character for sibyl with only altering 1 puzzle. She didn't do anything except pose an obstacle for getting the leg-controls working.
Now, I'm not saying I didn't like seeing the couple. I was quite happy that they made a cameo, I'm just saying that they weren't necessary.
Abe Lincoln and Sibyl Lincoln-Pandemic.
Now, I'm not saying I didn't like seeing the couple. I was quite happy that they made a cameo, I'm just saying that they weren't necessary.
In all honesty, same for Featherly, He was only there just for that one forced puzzle and that's it, you never see him again apart from a visual cameo at the end. And if I'm honest, that puzzle was just annoying, would have preferred something like breaking into Stinky's Diner and stealing Egg's from the kitchen or something.
I agree with both of you, Ash and Ashton. Both of these instances were great examples of characters being brought back for no real reason, apart from to please the fans, and perhaps to connect season 3 with the previous two. The thing is, it doesn't need to be done; there's no need to drag characters back just to feed nostalgia, and the only thing that needs to be included to connect season 3 with 1 & 2 is Sam and Max themselves.
But, this is what was so good about 'The Penal Zone', and even 'The Tomb of Sammun-Mak' - there were few returning characters, ad the ones that did return actually served a purpose. Actually, come to think of it, there was quite a significant amount of returning characters in 'The Tomb of Sammun-Mak', but they all brought something great to the story and they slotted right into the episode - it didn't feel forced. Jurgen was great to have in there, because he was part of several puzzles, and we got to see his backstory, which was quite interesting. Baby Amelia Earhart played a very different role to that which she played in 'Moai Better Blues', and she was actually likable this time around, and along with this, she played a giant part in the episode's plot. And need I say anything to justify Santa and the elves' inclusion in the game? They were awesome throughout the episode.
I have 2 favorites per season that I can't choose between.
S1a: Abe Lincoln Must Die! (Superball, President Max, Lincon reading the cards on TV).
S1b: Reality 2.0. (Atari, text Adventure, fantasy RPG, & Tron references).
S2a: Ice Station Santa. (Grumpy Santa with a gun, time travel).
S2b: Night of the Raving Dead. (Jorgen, techno, zombies).
S3a: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak. (Jorgen, Sam's moustache, old timyness, new areas).
S3b: Beyond the Alley of the Dolls. (Sam clones dancing all over the statue, Shaun of the Dead opening).
Comments
My favorite for Season 2 was Chariots of the Dogs.
My favorite for Season 3 was They Stole Max's Brain!
I also really liked Ice Station Santa and Beyond the Alley of the Dolls.
I think somone picked that as a joke... Though I admit I did like some parts of them... just... not overall...
S1: Bright side of the moon
S2: Night of the Raving Dead
S3: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak
It's difficult to believe some people have significantly different tastes than you, isn't it?
It's a multi-select poll.
I also really liked the idea of inserting pieces of evidence into the Crimetron in order to open up a new location in the city - I thought that that was a terrific gameplay element, and one I hope to see in Season 4 (if there is to be one). The toys of power also produced some of the best results in 'The Penal Zone'. One of my favourite parts of the episode is still the resulting cutscene when you use future vision at the toyshop.
The puzzles, of course, were another huge factor in making the episode so great - they were fun to work out, rewarding to solve, and each one provided us with an entertaining aftermath. Two notable instances that I can think of off the top of my head are the 'teleporting Max to Stinky's cellphone while out on the ledge' puzzle, and the 'giving Flint Paper the helmet to protect him from a certain projectile that was supposedly going to hit him' puzzle. And there were plenty more puzzles like this: fun, rewarding, entertaining - and that's all you can ask for. That's what makes a good puzzle, and Telltale did it time and time again in 'The Penal Zone'.
And, one more thing, the characters were excellent. All of the new characters were charismatic, well constructed and well implemented into the plot and overall storyline. And no characters were thrown in there for no reason - there were no new characters put into the episode just for the sake of having a 'likable new character' to show off, and there were no returning characters brought back purely for the sake of pleasing the fans. Each of the characters, old and new, were integral to the game, its storyline and its plot. (Also, Skun-ka'pe and his minions actually felt like proper villains, unlike those damned Soda *******!)
All in all, the episode was just put together so well, and it was an absolute pleasure to play. There was rarely a dull moment, and the episode never left me unsatisfied - as I've said, it was rewarding. I wanted to keep playing, I wanted to solve these puzzles to find out what would happen next; just like how, with a good book, you find yourself wanting to turn over to the next page and find out what new pieces of information the next page will add to the narrative. This was how I felt while playing 'The Penal Zone'. This episode was fun; this episode was good; and this episode took Sam & Max to a whole new level.
Abe Lincoln and Sibyl Lincoln-Pandemic.
There was _no_ reason to show Abe (unless in S4 the fact he has a body again plays a major role) and we could have substituted almost any other character for sibyl with only altering 1 puzzle. She didn't do anything except pose an obstacle for getting the leg-controls working.
Now, I'm not saying I didn't like seeing the couple. I was quite happy that they made a cameo, I'm just saying that they weren't necessary.
In all honesty, same for Featherly, He was only there just for that one forced puzzle and that's it, you never see him again apart from a visual cameo at the end. And if I'm honest, that puzzle was just annoying, would have preferred something like breaking into Stinky's Diner and stealing Egg's from the kitchen or something.
But, this is what was so good about 'The Penal Zone', and even 'The Tomb of Sammun-Mak' - there were few returning characters, ad the ones that did return actually served a purpose. Actually, come to think of it, there was quite a significant amount of returning characters in 'The Tomb of Sammun-Mak', but they all brought something great to the story and they slotted right into the episode - it didn't feel forced. Jurgen was great to have in there, because he was part of several puzzles, and we got to see his backstory, which was quite interesting. Baby Amelia Earhart played a very different role to that which she played in 'Moai Better Blues', and she was actually likable this time around, and along with this, she played a giant part in the episode's plot. And need I say anything to justify Santa and the elves' inclusion in the game? They were awesome throughout the episode.
S1a: Abe Lincoln Must Die! (Superball, President Max, Lincon reading the cards on TV).
S1b: Reality 2.0. (Atari, text Adventure, fantasy RPG, & Tron references).
S2a: Ice Station Santa. (Grumpy Santa with a gun, time travel).
S2b: Night of the Raving Dead. (Jorgen, techno, zombies).
S3a: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak. (Jorgen, Sam's moustache, old timyness, new areas).
S3b: Beyond the Alley of the Dolls. (Sam clones dancing all over the statue, Shaun of the Dead opening).