Anyone who didn't like "Hit the Road"?
Hi everybody!
I have no idea if this has been discussed before (taking my chances, I am sure it has...) but as I have seen some messages around the forum about how people loved the old S&M adventure game Hit The Road, are there some people around here who didn't like it really (like me)?
To me, I was really one of the biggest fans of the LEC adventures at the time, having played MI2 and Indy4 and DOTT in succession and having been etremely proud the I could solve them without any outside hints etc. (I was only 14/15 at the time), but when Hit the Road came out, I was quite frustrated because I was really stuck a lot and had no idea what to do in the game...
Maybe it was the new Sierra-style interface that made the game harder. Because I played a lot of the Sierra games too at that time, I was quite used to that kind of interface, but in S&M I missed a lot of essential places to click on just because you would only notice an object existed when you pointed the "walk" icon on it, as the "eye" icon for example didn't react to it (the door in the back of the Bigfoot convention, anyone?).
Don't get me wrong, I really liked the Dott-style graphics, the humour and the great and wacky dialogues, but in terms of overall enjoyment, (maybe just because of the new inteface) it was and is one of the weaker LEC adventure games to me.
I even prefer "The Dig" to it, because of its great atmosphere, music, and inventive puzzles, and , I guess, intuitive interface.
Having said all that, I really enjoy the simply interface of the S&M games, the great diaolgues, and especially the new episodic format which makes you come back to this world every month and re-meet all the characters we are all growing fond of at a fast pace. Sybil's one my favourites!
Keep up the good work, guys!
Kord
I have no idea if this has been discussed before (taking my chances, I am sure it has...) but as I have seen some messages around the forum about how people loved the old S&M adventure game Hit The Road, are there some people around here who didn't like it really (like me)?
To me, I was really one of the biggest fans of the LEC adventures at the time, having played MI2 and Indy4 and DOTT in succession and having been etremely proud the I could solve them without any outside hints etc. (I was only 14/15 at the time), but when Hit the Road came out, I was quite frustrated because I was really stuck a lot and had no idea what to do in the game...
Maybe it was the new Sierra-style interface that made the game harder. Because I played a lot of the Sierra games too at that time, I was quite used to that kind of interface, but in S&M I missed a lot of essential places to click on just because you would only notice an object existed when you pointed the "walk" icon on it, as the "eye" icon for example didn't react to it (the door in the back of the Bigfoot convention, anyone?).
Don't get me wrong, I really liked the Dott-style graphics, the humour and the great and wacky dialogues, but in terms of overall enjoyment, (maybe just because of the new inteface) it was and is one of the weaker LEC adventure games to me.
I even prefer "The Dig" to it, because of its great atmosphere, music, and inventive puzzles, and , I guess, intuitive interface.
Having said all that, I really enjoy the simply interface of the S&M games, the great diaolgues, and especially the new episodic format which makes you come back to this world every month and re-meet all the characters we are all growing fond of at a fast pace. Sybil's one my favourites!
Keep up the good work, guys!
Kord
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funniest.game.ever
This Retronauts podcast on Sam and Max, which Telltale linked to earlier last year says a lot of the same things you mentioned, about items in the scene that look like they're just part of the background and whatnot. So your sentiments aren't exactly singular.
Me personally, I think I played it maybe around when I was 12-13. I don't remember as much and I've lost my CD and I can't recall having played it since, so this is what I recall, for what it's worth: I was a real flagrant walkthrough abuser at the time, but I didn't have access to a full walkthrough initially, so I often ended up stuck for hours (the mini-games helped, of course). In the end I think I gave up and followed the walkthrough a lot--which really sucked a lot of the enjoyment away. Still think it's probably the most insane and funny game out there though.
I think I enjoyed DOTT more, I got through more of it without hints--mainly because, if you got stuck on one location, you could just switch to another character. Might also be Tim Schafer's knack at creating empathetic characters, since I also love Full Throttle and Grim Fandango.
I also enjoy this episodic approach. I think Sam and Max is almost the perfect license to take this sitcom-like episodic gaming approach--they've already taken that form in their TV series and comic books, so they're not alien to it. Were episodic applied to some other game, like The Dig, I'd say those episodes should be more like Lost and less like the Simpsons.
I'm finding these episodes a lot tighter in the narrative, more snappy in the pacing and the puzzles make a lot more sense. And yes, that IS a good thing.
Funny to actually hear people talk about some old games I liked. In recent years I felt as if I was the only one around who ever played and enjoyed those games. I would like to talk about those games with some fellow-minded indivuals, too. (Did that a bit yesterday over a bottle of wine, when I told some acquaintances of mine about this great new computer serial, Sam and Max!)
So again, and thanks for the info, I think next month I will join the funny forum threats when waiting for episode four... and I will try to work the work glockenspiel into the conversation!
But like you, I'm really enjoying Telltale's Sam and Max episodes.
EDIT: I should amend that to say that Hit the Road is one of my least favorite LucasArts ADVENTURE gamers. Lord knows they've had a lot of crap titles that were way worse than Hit the Road.
That aside, I used to know many people who didn't like Sam & Max as much as, say, DOTT or other titles. I think it was due to the puzzles being illogical at parts (I disagree - it just needs a certain kind of logic to solve them. It helps if you're 12 years old and have a vivid imagination).
--Erwin
The new Sam and Max games aren't quite to the level of comedic quality of the first game, but it's a funnier game overall, simply because the pacing is nice and tight. Puzzles in the game actually make sense, so you can go through the puzzles pretty quickly. Judging by the aspects of Hit the Road that you liked, and the problems you had, the new games should be right up your alley.
I second that.
Both are still games I love and cherish, even though I don't actually have my copy of S&M anymore.
--Erwin
But when all that is said. I never laughed so much during a game, and the voices of sam & max are just hillarious. I laughed so much that I'll never forget that game. Also, the illogical and absurd puzzles kind of matched with the mad world of sam & max... so in a way it became logical in an insane way, lol.
I remember there being a slight hint for that one tho, where Max says something like "Maybe I can help". So that puzzle in particular made sense. Most of the other puzzles that involved using Max stumped me to no end back in the day.. wonder how I'd fare now that I'm older and wiser to the ways.. ...
It was nice of them to tell you so early in the game that the puzzles were terrible, yes.
You've got to be kidding.. thats one of my favorite puzzles.. I still remember that moment using Max on the cat and seeing what happened.. pure joy for a 13 year old.. To each his own I guess.
Agreed. ALl the differnet little jokes an solution payoffs in Hit the Road are top notch, at least in my book. I just got to a point where I had discovered dozens of rooms, and had about that many inventory items as well, but for the life of me I couldn't find anything to do with any of them.
Sounds like a great party joke opener. "So, what did you do?" *takes a sip*
The puzzles... yeah, some of them werre a little ludicrous, but on the other hand, I solved almost all of them without assistance, and I was really pleased with myself. There's something to be said for that. Still, I would NOT call for a return to the difficulty of puzzles those days.
The main asset of the game, of course, was its humor, but I don't think anyone here disagrees with that.
I can't remember exactly, but wasn't Sean Clark involved in Hit The Road? That guys penchant for adding manic 'random result' puzzles that change every time you start the game (i.e. the random rocks in HtR, Monkey Kombat in MI4 and 90% of the puzzles in The Dig) annoys me no end.
There were a couple puzzles where, while they make sense in retrospect, had no hints or anything to lead you to the correct conclusion.
Overall it's a fun game and absolutley hilarious, but denying it suffered from many of the same hangups as other adventure games of the time is just being silly.
(At least there wasn't anything quite as bad as PUT BRIDLE ON SNAKE)
Hear Hear!
It didn't help that I was playing it on ScummVM for the PSP either, seeing how I tend to button mash any non-mouse controller I get.
I didn't have any problem with the puzzles themselves though, but the ones I got stuck on most were the more logical ones for some reason, which probably says quite a lot about me.
Exactly the yardstick I use to judge a puzzle. When somebody tells you the solution, if you say, "oh, of course!" then that's good, but if you say "how did they expect me to think of that?" then it's not so good, it just makes you frustrated and possibly angry.
Like many of you, I thought Hit the Road was really funny, but too many of the puzzles had that problem of being arbitrary and unfair.
Left and right click on the control thingie.