Replaying Telltale's Game Catalog
Jennifer
Moderator
I'm going to replay Telltale's game catalog, starting with their first game (Telltale Texas Hold'Em) and up to The Walking Dead (episode whatever is out when I'm done 
).
I'm mostly doing this to fill in the reviews on my blog that haven't been done yet, but I thought it would be fun to do for even the games that I've already reviewed and for the games that aren't adventures (which my blog doesn't cover).
I'm going to start Telltale Texas Hold'Em now and I'll post my thoughts about it once I've played through enough that I've heard the majority of the dialog.
If anyone wants to play along, and/or add your own comments about the games feel free.
).I'm mostly doing this to fill in the reviews on my blog that haven't been done yet, but I thought it would be fun to do for even the games that I've already reviewed and for the games that aren't adventures (which my blog doesn't cover).
I'm going to start Telltale Texas Hold'Em now and I'll post my thoughts about it once I've played through enough that I've heard the majority of the dialog.
If anyone wants to play along, and/or add your own comments about the games feel free.
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Comments
OK, so I just replayed Telltale Texas Hold'Em. When I first played this game, I didn't know Poker well, so I was never able to win. When Poker Night at the Inventory came out, I forced myself to learn Poker and now I can play Telltale Texas Hold'Em well enough to hear a lot of the comments in one play through (and I actually managed to win a few times! Yay!).
I was actually pleasantly surprised that it's still fun to play, considering it was Telltale's first product and it was initially only meant as a test of the Telltale Tool.
I'll get the bad out of the way first:
I noticed audio problems. Some of the lines of speech would crackle at the end of the sentence, and some lines seemed to cut off prematurely. Although, the latter is barely noticable, and the former doesn't happen too often.
There isn't an option in the menu to change your screen resolution. I personally didn't mind this, but I know some might, especially with a widescreen monitor as the image stretches to fit the screen.
Also, it shows it's age graphically. The parts of the characters that are supposed to be rounded are somewhat jagged, especially on Harry's and Boris Krinkle's bald heads. I don't mind this personally, since I've never worried about graphics in games. I've always believed in graphic design over graphic pizazz, and the design of the characters in this game is fittingly cartoony and charming (and besides, the "jaggies" are nowhere near as bad, as say something from the late 90's or early 2000's like Escape from Monkey Island), but if you're the kind that worries about that kind of thing, you can tell it's an older game (it was released in 2005).
And the good:
It's really funny. I read the rules for the first time, and was pleasantly surprised at how hilarious they are. I'm glad that Telltale put humor into something that would otherwise be tedious. The line about
The characters were great. Boris Krinkle (
The music is also wonderful,
While the facial animation was just average, the animation of the characters themselves was great considering this was Telltale's first product (and was only originally intended as an internal test project). Boris Krinkle, especially, had a lot of fun movement in his arms. And I especially liked how
If I were to score this on my website, I'd give it a 3½ out of 5 (or a 7 out of 10). Despite it's age (and it's lack of graphic options), it's still fun to play (it seems to play the same as Poker Night at the Inventory), and it's still funny (and I'm sure I haven't heard all of the dialog yet).
I bought Telltale Texas Hold'Em in its Bold Games retail CD for $10 from Wal-Mart in 2007 (and I later got it from Telltale's website so I could play the updated version). Today, I'd say it's well worth buying if you can get it during a sale when it's around $5US. It's worth that especially if you haven't yet played Poker Night at the Inventory. Even if you have played Poker Night, you may still find some fun with the game as there are a lot of good jokes here.
I'm going to take a break before I tackle Bone: Out from Boneville. I'll get to it either later tonight or tomorrow.
Feel free to jump in at anytime if you want to play along or just want to share your thoughts about the games (or both
EDIT: I just realized I still have the Telltale Texas Hold'Em page on my blog from when it used to be called Telltale Fan, along with an injoke (which is the image of the game at the top of this post)
The marathon idea sounds fun. I've done a Sam & Max marathon before, and Telltale provided a big part of my recent Monkey Island marathon of course, but I never thought of doing one of the whole catalogue. Might have to give it shot sometime.
I first got into Telltale with Out from Boneville too. I skipped Telltale Texas Hold'Em because I (wrongly) assumed I wouldn't find a poker game fun. I'm glad I made the impulse buy when I saw it in the store a few years later.
Feel free to join in on this thread whenever you want. I'm going to be playing all of the titles, including the CSI games, so it's going to take a while.
So, now we get to the meat and potatoes: Telltale's first adventure game, Bone: Out From Boneville. Unlike my first few playthroughs, I now have the advantage of having read the entire Bone comic collection. So, I know how well the game stands up to the comic. And, the answer is: remarkably well.
There are some hiccups though, so I'll do this like my last write-up. The bad:
Some of the audio problems present in Telltale Texas Hold'Em are still here in Out From Boneville. I didn't notice the crackling of the speech this time, thankfully, but some lines still did seem to cut off prematurely. It was a much rarer occurance this time though. The only obvious one was one of Fone Bone's lines in an optional selection in a dialog tree. And even then, the sentence was still spoken fully, the last word just cut off unnaturally.
Like Telltale Texas Hold'Em, it shows it's age graphically with "jaggies" around character's features that are supposed to be rounded. And, also like Telltale Texas Hold'Em, I don't mind personally. It captures the look of the comic it's based on wonderfully. That's all that really matters to me.
Some of the puzzles require you to do something exactly as the programmers wrote it, and what seems to be a natural solution to a puzzle won't work. The most obvious puzzle where this happens is
It's a little desolate in some areas. It fits with the comic perfectly, but a little more Fone Bone dialog (and some extra puzzles) in the scenes when he's alone wouldn't have hurt at all.
It is too short, and too lacking in puzzles (
Now, on to the good:
The game is extremely faithful to the original source material. The most memorable lines are all there, either by default, or through the optional dialog trees.
The game captured the look of the characters wonderfully. They also managed to capture the more cartoony moments of the book well (
You can see Telltale's ambitions to be cinematic with their games already. The scene near the beginning of the game with
I also really liked the voices. I know they have their detractors, but the voices all fit the characters personalities. And I especially have to give credit to Andrew Chaikin as Phoney Bone. He captures the character so well, I'll have a hard time watching Phoney Bone in the feature film adaptation if he's not in it (or at the very least someone who sounds remarkably like him).
Jared Emerson-Johnson and Bay Area Sound! The music is one of the best parts of Telltale's games, and this is Jared's first time composing the music for a Telltale game. The music in the Bone games are still among my favorites of those that Jared has done for Telltale.
The director's cut additions really did a lot to help the flow of the games. I played it before the additions, and after playing them with them, I have to say the game is much better for it. The new opening really helps to set the mood of the games (and really makes me wish Telltale had been able to complete their take on the series). I also didn't mind Thorne's original model and actress, but I can see why Telltale went with the new ones. Thorne does look more like she does in the comic, and the voice actress does a good job capturing the spirit of the character.
I also have to say I really miss the right click to look option in Telltale's games. There was a lot of extra dialog to be had from looking at objects multiple times, and it's a shame Telltale can't put that to use nowadays. I'd love to see the funny lines today's Telltale would come up with when you look at stuff you can normally only interact with.
I enjoyed this game despite the technical hiccups and the desolate feeling in the beginning. Once the game gets to the second act, the game becomes quite enjoyable. It's just a shame the game ends so soon. Thankfully, the length and the sparseness of the surroundings were addressed in the second game, and the price has since been lowered since it's original release. There is a bundle pack available for both games that definitely makes this relatively simple game much more worth it for the price.
I gave it a 3 out of 5 on my blog, but on a 10 point scoring system, I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10.
Me too. I really liked how the episodes got better as the series went on.
Understandable. It's a really solitary experience, and the game's main selling point was the humor. Even people who like Poker might not like the fact that it's a one player only game.
I'm off for bed now. When I wake up: CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder!
Now it's time for the first of Telltale's most often overlooked series: CSI, with CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder. I, personally, enjoyed watching CSI: Las Vegas (especially during the time Gil Grissom was on the show, a time in which 3DoM certainly fits), so I do happen to like this game.
Now, onto my re-play through. The bad:
The audio crackle is back, and more prevalent than it was in Bone:Out From Boneville. Also, sometimes the dialog a character says starts before a clip starts, stops, and then starts over again after the clip ends.
Moreso than either game before it, this game really shows it's age graphically. Texas Telltale Hold'Em and the Bone games still look nice because of the cartoon style they employed. CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder went for a realistic approach with motion captured 3D. Since the game was released in 2005, it has PS2-era graphics (and there was even a PS2 port by Ubisoft in the days when Telltale didn't handle their own ports to other platforms [The Mac port of the Bone: Out from Boneville was also handled by a different company than Telltale]). This means that, while the characters do resemble their characters enough to be recognizable, there's definitely some uncanny valley going on here.
The "way to be thorough" line when you check an area with no evidence available is used way too often. It would have been nice to have some variety in the responses.
Some of the characters sound too much like they are "phoning it in" by just reading the script. Although the acting is meant to be dry, as in the show, it shouldn't be completely devoid of emotion. The voice actress of Catherine, in particular, is guilty of this.
The good:
Although it was a commercial boxed game, this is the first game to use Telltale's now-standard practice of five episodes (cases in this instance) per game (there were six cases in Ubisoft's PS2 port, although the sixth case was just a renamed version of case 2 in CSI: Hard Evidence). The multiple cases worked well here, as it felt like you were playing five episodes of the show. If they made it all into one long mystery, it would have become old fast.
The game really feels like the CSI: Las Vegas show. You are presented as a rookie CSI who has to learn the ropes at the CSI: Las Vegas crime lab. Unlike most of Telltale's other games, the view is presented in first person mode. In the Windows version, your movement is limited to the areas which present themselves via clickable hotspots while looking for clues. In the PlayStation 2 version, your movement around crime scene areas is free. This actually makes the PS2 version more confusing, as Telltale intended the limited movement to improve ease of use (and it certainly doesn't detract from the game).
As you progress in the game, there are scenes taken from the show of shots of Las Vegas (complete with music from the show) when you move to a new location. The music in other shots is by Jared Emerson-Johnson All of the Hollywood-style CSI technology from the show is available for you to use in the lab, and the famous in your face shots when evidence is discovered are also present in the game.
They got most of the original voices to do the voices of the characters here. That really helps to give it the feel of playing five episodes of the show. The voices of the suspects are also well done, and include some Telltale regulars like Andrew Chaikin (voice of Phoney Bone, Max in Culture Shock, Bugeye in Tales of Monkey Island, among others).
The writing is excellent as well. The cases are interesting, as were the personalities of the subjects. The best part of the episode though, was the second case. The case, titled First Person Shooter, was a parody of
Although it's not quite the "season arc" of the later CSI games, the final episode does manage to tie itself into two previous cases. It's nice to have a bit of a continuity in episodic-styled games, as it helps to make the five cases feel like part of a whole product, rather than just a bunch of separate mini-games that happen to share characters.
I still like this game despite it's age, and despite some audio hiccups. It's well written, most of the cast comes back to reprise their roles, and the game successfully uses music from the show, as well as low-key, but well-fitting additional music by Jared Emerson-Johnson of Bay Area Sound.
That said, I do know exactly why people don't take to this. The dialog delivery is very dry. The gameplay is slow paced, and it's all about talking to suspects, meticulously searching through each scene looking for clues, testing those clues in the lab, and then repeating. But, all of these things actually fit perfectly within the mold of CSI: Vegas. To like this game you have to like the CSI franchise to begin with, or at the very least, if you haven't seen it, enjoy Hollywood's dramatization of crime scene investigation procedure. Because if you don't like these kind of shows, there's no way you're going to like this game.
I'd give it a 3½ out of 5 (or a 7 out of 10).
Bone: The Great Cow Race is up next. It's a much smaller game than the five cases of CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder, so I might get to it before I go to bed. But, most likely, I'll get to it after I wake up.
I took a break for a few days. But, now I'm back in the swing of things.
I just re-played Bone: The Great Cow Race. My thoughts:
The bad:
There's still a problem with the audio. The voices stopping before the end of a line returns, but I only noticed it in one instance this time.
This still uses the same character models as the first Bone game (it was only released a few months apart). Like I said before in my Out of Boneville look-back, I don't mind it personally, because Telltale managed to capture the look of the comics very well. But for those who do care, the "jaggies" around character's features that are supposed to be rounded are still here.
Now, on to the good:
Like Out from Boneville, the game is extremely faithful to the original source material. This time though, Telltale did manage to squeeze in additional material to fill out the episode beyond the comic it was based on, and it still fit within the Bone universe.
The wonderful character models returned, and the new models fit their comic counterparts just as well. The new scenes are bright and full of life, and most importantly, filled with wonderful details. Unlike Out From Boneville, this game didn't feel sparse or desolate at all.
The voices of the new characters are excellent, and of course the voices of the characters from the original game who return here are excellent as well. I especially liked the voice actor
Once again Jared Emerson-Johnson and Bay Area Sound shines. Like I said when I played Out From Boneville, the music in the Bone games are still among my favorites of those that Jared has done for Telltale. He really managed to captured the feel of the universe of Bone through the music. It just fits so well.
The puzzles are more fun this time. Plus, Telltale listened to the fans and removed the tedious action sequences and replaced it with a clever puzzle
Since this game had material written for it which was exclusive to the game, the designers at Telltale were able to slip some injokes in. There was a really fun reference to
I gave this game a 3½ out of 5 on my blog (and would give it a 7/10 on a 10 point scale). It's worth playing, especially if you get the bundle deal that packages the two Bone games together. It's a shame we'll likely never see a sequel to the Bone games made by Telltale.
It's just too sad they lost the license and a sequel never came.
Also it's the birth of the classic cow model that has been used in so many of their Episodes.
It would indeed be very cool if Telltale ever got back to Bone. I don't think early Telltale could have done justice to the last books in that series because it all plays out on such a large scale, but they could do a great job with them now. They might want to remake the first two though, as they do show their age a bit.
I might start replaying Sam & Max season 1 soon too. It's been a while, and I'm actually looking forward to seeing some of my favorite scenes again. Reality 2.0 (especially the ending) blew me away at the time.
Anyway, keep going with this Jennifer, it's very enjoyable to read your impressions!
The reason that I took so long between Bone: The Great Cow Race and Culture Shock is that I decided to play it on Xbox 360 so I could get the added bonus of widescreen visuals (and a Sam & Max Hit the Road style pointer
So, now, without further adieu, my opinions on my latest playthrough of Sam & Max Save the World: Episode 1: Culture Shock.
The bad:
I experienced the scratchy sound people from these forums have experienced in Telltale's games. I never noticed them when I played Culture Shock on my computer speaker, but they were quite noticeable through my television speaker.
The Soda Poppers. I'm among the group that didn't like them. I like the characters and the personalities. The voices are awful though. The only one that doesn't grate on me is Specs, because his voice is more subdued. The other two sound like Urkel or Screech when they were trying to do their character's voices after puberty. I know that's the point, but it's not fun to listen to.
The good:
Telltale managed to make the Sam & Max models look good in 3D. They look much better than the trailer of the cancelled LucasArts adventure Sam & Max: Freelance Police. The other characters look good as well. They managed to capture the general look of Steve Purcell's art pretty well (although without most of the dirt and grime from the comics, but none of the other adaptations ever truly captured that either).
The humor is pretty good here. There are some good Sam lines here, and David Nowlin does a pretty good job delivering the oddball lines in deadpan (although he hasn't yet got the knack down for the character yet. Some of the lines are delivered a bit too dry, even for Sam).
Max seems like he would be fun to write for, and there are some fun Max lines here. Andrew Chaikin also does a good job as Max. It's too bad we never got to see how Andrew's Max would have evolved. He's a bit rough here (though as I mentioned before David Nowlin's Sam is as well), but he managed to capture the essence of the character well.
I like Bosco as just plain Bosco here. It was a good set up for the character, and
I'm also a big fan of Brady Culture.
They also included a lot of injokes about the comics and Hit the Road (as well as Freelance Police) here. And, some of them are foreshadowing too, which was unexpected when I first played this way back when, but greatly appreciated.
Jared Emerson-Johnson and Bay Area Sound really shine here. I really like the opening song. It's got a hint of the vibe of the Hit the Road theme, but it's original enough that it stands on it's own. I also love the Soda Poppers song that plays over the end credits (and the instrumental version that plays in the street mini-game). I'm not a Soda Poppers fan, but their theme song is great.
On the subject of the minigames, controlling the DeSoto was so much easier with the Xbox 360 controller than with a mouse. I never liked the minigames when I played them on my computer, but I found them fun in my XBLA playthrough.
The puzzles are also great here. The puzzles in the Sam & Max series have been among Telltale's best, from day one. My favorite puzzle is
I gave this episode a 4 out of 5 on my blog. It's a great start to Sam & Max's return at the hands of Telltale, and is just a fun experience even if looked as a single episode rather than part of a package.
So, here's my thoughts on episode 2 of Sam & Max Season One, Situation Comedy.
The bad:
Scratchy sound problems again (but since a lot of the voice files are reused, this is expected).
Sam (and Max) comment exactly the same on the objects as they did in the last episode.
With the exception of the closet in Sam & Max's office and Sybil's sign, everything in the previously visited areas are decorated the same.
I do like the Soda Poppers as characters, but their voices seem even more obnoxious here than they did last episode. They are given a lot more dialog, and the actors deliver it in even whinier tones than they did in Culture Shock. The voice of Specs still isn't too bad though.
The TV studio has a lot of sets to choose from, which should make it feel like multiple locations rather than one. But the humor only resonated with me on the first set (the sitcom). The rest of them were kind of a let down.
The new characters weren't that interesting. They seemed too one dimensional, only to home in the fact that they worked at a television station. There is one standout though, who I'll talk about in the good section.
The good:
William Kasten does an excellent job replacing Andrew Chaikin as Max. I'll admit that the first time I played this game I didn't notice the difference. I didn't even know that Max's lines when he commented on objects were rerecorded with William Kasten until someone pointed it out on the forums.
With the exception of the Soda Poppers, all of the previously shown characters are voiced excellently in this new episode. Sam's delivery is still a little too dry, but David Nowlin is handling Sam's notoriously long-winded lines of dialog quite well.
Bosco's disguise. This is the first time we see Bosco in disguise, and even though I've seen them before, they're still funny in later playthroughs. Bosco's accents are ridiculous, and that's part of what makes them appealing. Sam & Max's comments about the disguise are funny too.
The store in general has some really funny lines. I played through all of the dialog again even though I've heard them before, since Sam & Max's exchanges with Bosco are my favorite in the game.
I also really like Sybil's character. I like her first season portrayal the best, although I still like her character in later seasons, she's more fun when she's so adamant about her jobs even though she knows they'll only last for less than a month.
The one new character I liked that was introduced here was
The puzzles weren't as memorable this time around, but they were decent.
I gave this episode a 3 out of 5 on my blog. It's a slip in the quality from the first episode, but it still has enough redeeming qualities to make it worth playing. Especially as it's just a small part in an overarching story that is quite fulfilling on the whole.
So here's my thoughts on my replay of Sam & Max Season One: Episode 3: The Mole, The Mob, and The Meatball.
The Bad:
Still has scratchy sound problems (like last episode a lot of dialog is reused and what's reused still has problems, along with some new lines).
The comments on objects are still the same, and the visited locations still look exactly the same.
Repetition of character's gags feels a little same-old, same-old
The new location isn't that interesting. Although the new characters are, as I mention below.
The Good:
It takes a much needed break from the Soda Poppers.
The new characters are interesting.
A cameo of a character comes from
The voice acting is still very good. Max is excellent here. Lots of range. William Kasten is already getting a feel of the character. Sam is still a bit stiff, but sounds nice. Bosco's wonderfully crazy as usual. And the rest of the voices are great here. No irritating voice work in this episode.
The music! Jared Emerson-Johnson and Bay Area Sound always shine in Telltale's games. The music fits the atmosphere so well, and like the first episode, they have a great tie-in song with the Ted E. Bear's Mafia Free Playland and Casino song.
The jokes hit a lot of the right notes here, and they're getting a bit more risque which works well with Sam & Max. I laughed out loud at some of the scenes when I first played it and I still found myself laughing out loud in my replay
The puzzles are more memorable this time. They haven't quite reached the highs of the first episode, but there are some fun ones here. The final puzzle was much more satisfying than the last one as well.
I gave it 3½ out of 5 on my blog. This episode's a step in the right direction, and although it shares the flaws of the second episode, it was a much more satisfying play through.
Story-9/10
After finding out from Coach Z that it's too late to enter, Strong Bad gets another idea, He makes a Homestar costume by destorying Marzipan's Homestar float and Strong Bad destorys Marzipan's garden by mistake but when Strong Bad is hiding in a bush, Marzipan sees the Homestar head from the float and thinks Homestar destoryed her garden. So then Strong Bad tricks Homestar into taking a shower so Strong Bad can steal his clothes but as Strong Bad just lefts the track then Homestar being the idiot he is, runs out of the locker room naked and The King Of Town and Coach Z sees him.
So Strong Bad loses the race and finds enjoyment in the fact that he ruined Homestar but then Homestar is in Strong Bad's house saying that Strong Bad is his only friend and Homestar has to stay in Strong Bad's house for a few months or even years. So Strong Bad cheats once again to win the race (By tricking Coach Z to get rid of Pom-Pom and by destorying the tape with the race on it) He traps the King Of Town in a hole so the King of Town could not take sweets that were men't for Marzipan. He then sneaks into The King Of Town's castle so he can get Homestar's record.
So after showing Homestar the trophy that Strong Bad won so Homestar thinks he won it himself,Then Homestar sees the record Strong Bad got and someone on Strong Bad's T.V says that The King Of Town has no memory of Homestar doing what he did without the record, Then Strong Bad shows him the message Marzipan left for Homestar after Strong Bad managed to give her the sweets.
So you would think that Strong Bad won? Well you thought wrong because now Marzipan holds Homestar's party in Strong Bad's house and it's him to trick them so he can get them out. He uses a banana peel and tricks them into getting into a dancing line so he put's the banana peel down in front of the window and everyone slips though the window.
Good: It's a great first episode
It has a good amount of Homestar Runner characters
The jokes are very funny
It has replay value with collectible clothes,collecting pieces of Strong Bad's snake boxer 5 book, and making Teen Girl squad comics.
Good Story.
Bad:I played the PS3 Version and hardly got any glitches but i hear on the PC & Wii versions there are a lot of glitches.
Extended mode really does not got that much to do other than going back to get stuff you missed or just to talk to a few characters again.
So my rating is 8/10, It's a great start to the game!
OK... now to get back into this again. My interest keeps waning for reviewing rather than playing, I'll keep doing them because I really am enjoying playing the games again, and my interest in reviewing comes in waves (just see my blog to see that is true
The Bad:
Peepers' voice is still irritating. I made a Neutral section this time, since there were some things that were repeated more than I liked but I didn't mind as much. The other two Poppers are down there.
Neutral:
Whizzer's voice seems to have mellowed a bit (
The Sybil and Bosco gags are becoming more tiresome. The writing and acting made them a bit less tiresome than in the last episode though. Sybil is neutral for me here, see Bosco below in the good for my opinion on his character.
The Good:
Telltale started implementing advice from the press and from fans in this episode. The previously visited locations now have some new decorations and the things that Sam (and sometimes Max) say when you click on objects are different.
All the voice actors are really getting into their roles here. Sam and Max both are in top form (which will continue throughout the series' run). Bosco is hilarious with the poorly imitated accents as usual. The Bosco gags are running thin, but his voice actor really makes up for the tiredness with his enthusiasm.
The new characters and locations are really great here. The White House is my favorite set from the series (at least up to this point), and I really love agent Superball. I really like how
The irony and puns (a Sam & Max staple) here are great
The music really shines here.
The puzzles just keep getting better and better.
I gave it 4½ out of 5 on my blog. This episode's considered the best of the season by many people (not by me though, my favorite will be revealed later
"Don't feed the submarine."
"What do you feed a submarine?"
"Nothing, weren't you listening?"
Also Jennifer congratulations on becoming a mod
Thanks.
Since this is bumped, I'll use the opportunity to write up a look-back of Sam & Max Save the World Episode 5: Reality 2.0 (played on XBLA).
The Bad:
Honestly, just that the graphics are still a bit on the sharp "jaggie" side. Other than that, not much. I didn't hear any of sound problems here that were present in the earlier episodes.
The Good:
The locations really get a facelift here once you go inside Reality 2.0.
They used the plot to give a much needed shake up of Bosco and Sybil. Their digital versions are a lot of fun.
The new characters. All of them, especially the C.O.P.S. Jared did a great job voicing them.
The music, with special note towards the 8-bit style songs and the C.O.P.S theme song. It wasn't as grand as the War Song, nor was it meant to be. The full version over the credits is fantastic.
The puzzles were really good here. There was one puzzle that stumped me when I first played it, and was the first Telltale puzzle to do so.
The jokes were great here, and the video game parodies were fantastic. The
Reality 2.0 is my second favorite of the season. The finale is my personal favorite.
I gave it a 4 1/2 out of 5 on my blog.
Well i did like S&M Season 3 and it was my first TTG game i played.
Also good look back on Ep 5, Personally i'm looking forward for you doing Strong Bad,W&G and Monkey Island. I really enjoy this thread
I'm glad I wasn't the only one to get stumped by that puzzle! Still the only Telltale puzzle where I needed to look up a guide to get past.
This is still one of my favorite things that Telltale has ever done.
As I said, this one's my personal favorite. It's weird that the things I like most about this episode are the things I've most read as being people's least favorite (
The Bad:
The jagged edges on the objects that are supposed to be circular are still here (as to be expected).
The hint towards the identity of the villain is supposed to be obvious (
The good:
I thought
There are no new characters, but the returning cast is used well. I especially like the fact that Harry Moleman's character is fleshed out here since we didn't get to know him very well in his previous episode. The people that follow the cult of the villain are an unusual mix, but they're reasons for being there all fit their personality. I especially liked
The humor here is really great. I like
The villain was perfect. I like how Telltale did a bait-and-switch by having the first episode have a different villain than the rest of the season, but there are still clues throughout all the episodes as to who the real villain is. I always liked that character, but he was even more entertaining in when he acted villainous.
The puzzles are really fun here. Like I said above, they aren't for everybody, because they don't follow real life logic at all, but I felt they followed the logic of the Sam & Max universe (as little logic as is there at least) well. Plus, it let the Telltale team think outside of the box, and get really creative. I personally thought they were all really enjoyable.
Max
I really like the finale and the way that the plot carried over into the end credits, with even the credits song having plot points in the lyrics. The War Song may be my favorite musical number of the season, but World of Max is my favorite song. Jared Emerson-Johnson and Bay Area Sound did a great job with all of the music in this season, and they finished it off wonderfully in this episode.
The quality of the episodes in Season One kept improving since episode 4, and that trend continued here. Bright Side of the Moon was a great way to end the season.
I give it a 4 1/2 out of 5.
I'm doing them in order, so Strong Bad is... 2 games away (or really 7, considering I'm doing each episode (other than the CSI cases) seperately). So, CSI: Hard Evidence (and I just realized I never finished the final case in that one since I only played it on Xbox 360 and the disc was too scratched to finish the final case), and the 5 episodes of Sam & Max Season Two, then Strong Bad.
I'll try not to take 2 months between these look back reviews though.
I enjoy these reviews too, so keep 'em coming. I haven't played any of the CSI games even though I got one of them in a free shipping sale some years back. It will be interesting to read your review.
It's time to get to the games I haven't done replay retrospectives for before.
But first, a bonus thought for CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder (I read the first Fables trade paperback, and noticed one of the crimes uses the same plot device (regarding the case in both where there is a lot of blood and no body). So it looks like someone made a Fables story into a game over at Telltale even before The Wolf Among Us came out. ;)).
Here's my thoughts on CSI: Hard Evidence, played on the Xbox 360.
The bad:
Sometimes dialog cuts off early, particularly in the tutorial section.
Since it was made only a year after the last game, the graphics haven’t improved much. Like it’s predecessor, this game really shows it’s age graphically due to the realistic style chosen when the engine really wasn’t capable of that yet. Like 3 Dimensions of Murder, the characters do resemble their characters enough to be recognizable, but there’s definitely still some uncanny valley going on here.
The blatant product placement in the series really kicks into full gear here. The Hewlett Packard computers are subtle, but all of the Visa advertisements really stand out in a bad way.
There’s some obvious reuse of areas and character models. The areas aren’t bad, since it’s said to be different rooms in the same hotel, but the character models are distracting, especially in one case involving four victims.
Sometimes you can’t examine evidence, and you’re told you don’t have the warrant for that yet, when that reasoning makes no sense in context, other than for plot necessity.
Sometimes the camera pans in on an item. It’s not quite as bad as in Back to the Future, since it only happens after a line of questioning relating to the item, and close-up shots are a big part of the CSI franchise. However, the close-up shots still happen even if you already examined the evidence prior to questioning the witness about it, which makes the close-up shot feel redundant and unnecessary.
Neutral:
Your character is no longer a treated as a rookie CSI, but it’s left ambiguous as to whether you are the same character as before. Grissom sometimes asks if you met someone that he introduced you to in the previous game, but the question is never answered (he runs CSI though, and you only worked one case each with each of the CSIs last time, so it’s not implausible that he doesn’t remember exactly who you met before). So, you are treated as someone who is not completely new to the job, but are still new compared to the rest of the team. However, even if you are not a rookie CSI this time, since you still have your superiors, the format from the previous game still works here.
The good:
This is Telltale’s first game to incorporate a tutorial section, and here it is completely optional. It’s a silly, yet fun case where you train by using the tools of the CSI crime lab to learn who stole and ate Grissom’s donut.
The presentation still really feels like the show. Like before, as you progress in the game, there are scenes with music from the show and establishment shots of Las Vegas when you move to a new location. The music in other locations was once again composed by Jared Emerson-Johnson, and, while being quite low-key, fits the game well. Once again, all of the Hollywood-style CSI technology from the show is available for you to use in the lab, and the famous closeup shots when evidence is discovered are also once again present in the game.
This time though, the tools are more streamlined, and less confusing. You now have a PDA which can choose which location to visit, examine evidence, read the case file, and receive messages from supervisors. But the best improvement is in the tools themselves. When you choose the detection and collection menus, only the tools of a certain type are selectable based on your evidence. You still have to select the right tool for the job, based on the tool’s description, but since the only tools presented are the ones that can be used for what you’re trying to do, chances are you’ll hear the “that’s not the right tool for that” line less often than before. Computers now also flash when you are able to use a piece of evidence on them.
The repetitiveness of the “way to be thorough” line from the last game is solved in a clever way in this game. You can still check areas with no evidence, but rather than repeating the line, it’s only said once and the rest of the time an indicator comes up telling you that you got a thoroughness point. These points are counted up, along with how well you did investigating and questioning witnesses with your final performance review by Grissom at the end of each case.
The collectables make their first appearance in a Telltale game here. In the show, Grissom likes to collect bugs, so you can find bugs in the game. Finishing each case, collecting all the bugs, and achieving master ranking on all the cases gets you trailers, storyboards, and concept art. This is a precursor to things in later Telltale games like the stickers won in the bonus games in the Sam & Max seasons and the collectibles and awesomeness rankings in Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People.
Once again, they got most of the original voices to do the voices of the characters here, which again really helps to give it the feel of playing five episodes of the show. The deliveries here are a bit better than in the first game, as the lines said by the show’s cast are delivered in a slightly less dry manner than before, and they do seem more natural. The suspects are are again voiced well too, with some later Telltale regulars appearing such as Gavin Hammon (who delivers an excellent performance as the new age hippy Ed Freeborn).
The cases are interesting, and would fit right in with the show, though there's nothing quite as clever as the First Person Shooter case in the previous game.
There's still no overarching plot, but the last case again connects to previous cases.
Though none of the cases quite hit the high of the best case of the previous game, the cases are all still interesting in their own right, and the improvements in the game design over the original make up for the lack of a real standout case. The design is streamlined to make the game less confusing and more fun to play, the repetitive dialog is trimmed down, the original cast seems to be getting used to their voice roles, as they put in a more natural performance, and the supporting cast is good as well. The game successfully uses music from the show, and the additional music by Jared Emerson-Johnson, while low-key, fits the game perfectly.
Once again, this game isn't for anyone. All of the improvements did nothing to make this game more enticing to those who don't like the CSI franchise, or at least like Hollywood's style of exaggerated crime scene investigation techniques. If you do like these kind of shows, you'll most likely enjoy this game. If you don't like them, then you won't like this game either, since it follows the formula so closely.
I’d give it a 3½ out of 5 (or a 7 out of 10)
I updated the version of this thread I made over at Double Fine, so I figured I'd update this one too.
Now let's get the game train movin' again. I played Sam & Max: Season Two: Ice Station Santa on Xbox 360 (again so I could get the benefits of the port, namely widescreen and Sam's paw for a cursor). I later also played it on PlayStation 3. So, here's my breakdown on my replay.
The good:
Telltale changed things around on the street for a much needed break from the routine. Plus, the way they did it was a lot of fun.
Which brings me to: Maimtron 9000. He'd get annoying after a while, but he's definitely fun in short doses. The fact that he speaks in mostly song lyrics is actually pretty funny.
Flint Paper finally makes a cameo appearance (his story about what he did last year and Max's reaction was pretty funny)
Bosco's store gets an overhaul worthy of his paranoia, and he finally drops his disguise schtick (plus Sam and Max's comment about Bosco without a disguise was quite hilarious)
You have to love a rampaging Santa (there's a reason The Night Santa Went Crazy is a hit with Weird Al fans at his concerts
), and the explanation on why he was doing it was actually pretty good, in a bizarre Sam & Max universe kind of way.
The Punch-Out inspired boxing mini game (complete with a Punch-Out style theme song). This is really just QTE, but it's done in a much less invasive way than Telltale's current games, and the prompts for which button to hit are actually old-school visual cues from the characters (Punch-Out style) making it much more natural, and actually give the illusion of direct control.
The jumping between time streams (A Christmas Carol style), and the puzzles related to them. Telltale designed some pretty good puzzles here using the time stream mechanic.
I really like the bug. He was funny in season one, and he's funny here as well. Plus his setup was the first of the random birthday songs, which will make more sense as the season goes on.
Neutral:
Stinky. She's kind of annoying here, but that's the point of her character. Her voice actress actually handles the character pretty well, so it keeps the character from going into Soda Popper territory.
Most of the versions are presented with the same traditional point and click interface as the first season. The exception is the version for PlayStation 3, which is direct controlled. The interface in this game differs from that in their later direct controlled games, as movement is controlled with the left stick, and rather than having a cursor controlled by the right stick, objects are selected by toggling between them with the shoulder buttons. It's kind of cumbersome, but it's not too bad once you get used to it.
The bad:
Not a major upgrade in graphics style from the first season, so the jagged edges on the characters are still noticeable at times
Sam & Max's office is starting to really get stale by this point. For the change of the street, the same can't be said here as most of the office is the same, save for the extra addition to Sam & Max's closet full of souvenirs of their cases and the hole in the wall leading to Flint's office.
The Soda Poppers still have their annoying adult trying to sound like a kid voices. Last season showed they weren't too bad actually when their voices were toned down when they were sad. They actually aren't that bad when toned down, but they're at full force here.
It's actually a pretty good episode, as the puzzles are really fun, the story is fun (and inspired Tellale to re-edit the episode into a Sam & Max YouTube Christmas Special), and the characters are enjoyable (and the Soda Poppers have a really small role).
I'd give it a 4½ out of 5 (or a 9 out of 10)