Thoughts on 201
"Did someone say birthday?"
Maybe not, but it certainly felt like my birthday getting to play this release. I thought I could hammer it out in a couple hours, but it took me somewhere between 3 and 4 hours to complete... and I have the feeling I missed some dialog choices along the way.
So how does this episode stack up against previous episodes? It isn't my favorite episode, but it is still highly enjoyable. The game play style is familiar, but there are some new elements that threw me for a loop... and made the game feel fresh and new. I even got stuck on some of the puzzles, which is a S&M Episodes first... however, I felt I got stuck because I didn't have enough direction. Luckily, the new hint system gave me a little push in the right direction without spoiling the solution for me... great implementation, TTG! Also, certain elements which I thought were red herrings were later utilized in a fun-to-solve puzzle... which truly made me smile. A malevolent smile, yes... but a smile nonetheless.
Oh, and get ready for a "mini-game" that I never knew was possible with the Telltale tool. It will be a sure-fire knockout with some fans.
What is most exciting about this release, however, is that the new style and gameplay elements show great potential for the coming games. I am actually almost giddy with excitement to see what Telltale has in store for us in the episodes to come. Sorry, I will never use the word "giddy" ever again.
Thanks for another great release Telltale, and keep up with the good work. I couldn't have asked for a much better first episode of the season, and I will probably be playing through it again this weekend to see all that I might have missed.
Technical Highlights: Double Click to run in outdoor areas (I don't remember this from last season, although I don't remember what I ate for lunch yesterday either); ability to match any resolution your monitor can support; seemingly faster load times; smoother framerate on my rig. However, I can't tell any increase in sound quality. At least it didn't decrease!
Maybe not, but it certainly felt like my birthday getting to play this release. I thought I could hammer it out in a couple hours, but it took me somewhere between 3 and 4 hours to complete... and I have the feeling I missed some dialog choices along the way.
So how does this episode stack up against previous episodes? It isn't my favorite episode, but it is still highly enjoyable. The game play style is familiar, but there are some new elements that threw me for a loop... and made the game feel fresh and new. I even got stuck on some of the puzzles, which is a S&M Episodes first... however, I felt I got stuck because I didn't have enough direction. Luckily, the new hint system gave me a little push in the right direction without spoiling the solution for me... great implementation, TTG! Also, certain elements which I thought were red herrings were later utilized in a fun-to-solve puzzle... which truly made me smile. A malevolent smile, yes... but a smile nonetheless.
Oh, and get ready for a "mini-game" that I never knew was possible with the Telltale tool. It will be a sure-fire knockout with some fans.
What is most exciting about this release, however, is that the new style and gameplay elements show great potential for the coming games. I am actually almost giddy with excitement to see what Telltale has in store for us in the episodes to come. Sorry, I will never use the word "giddy" ever again.
Thanks for another great release Telltale, and keep up with the good work. I couldn't have asked for a much better first episode of the season, and I will probably be playing through it again this weekend to see all that I might have missed.
Technical Highlights: Double Click to run in outdoor areas (I don't remember this from last season, although I don't remember what I ate for lunch yesterday either); ability to match any resolution your monitor can support; seemingly faster load times; smoother framerate on my rig. However, I can't tell any increase in sound quality. At least it didn't decrease!
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Comments
oh, and who knew how entertaining a hole in a wall could be...
i also liked the way they made the episode zaney, and brought in some of the old famous sam and max random destruction, and they even threw in
Highly agreed
*question!*
Do you actually get to see Flint in this episode? Do you get to go in his office or the hallway or lobby of the building also?
I can honestly say that this episode had the funniest opening sequence yet, in my opinion.
The dialogue seemed much less inhibited, and more like "classic" Sam & Max.
The music was really good in the North Pole areas, almost Nightmare Before Christmas-like.
And, of course, the gameplay itself is great as always, with long-awaited keyboard control for the minigames.
I didn't get stuck once and thought the puzzles made a load of sense, but maybe that's just after having played last season (I got stuck a couple of times in S1). That's not to say it was easy at all. There was minimal running back and forth, plenty of anticipating the solutions, yet it wasn't short by any stretch of the imagination and overall, I found it possibly the most satisfying episode yet from a gameplay standpoint.
The dialog was of the usual high quality humor. Not quite up to S1E4's, but somewhere in the top 3 or 4.
The old characters seemed underutilized, though I appreciated the attempt to not rely so heavily on their dialog for explicit answers and enjoyed the new locations. I hope Telltale continues to mix it up more location-wise on a per-episode basis this season.
It's obvious that Telltale fully absorbed the feedback from their stellar first season of Sam and Max and responded successfully, building on the form of content delivery that they've pretty much defined. The real test will be with this next episode, if they can refine it further, on an episode-to-episode basis, rather than season-to-season, they'll go down as legends. Even if they don't, I'll consume it with glee and much wearing of T-shirts, framing of signed prints, and quite literal LOLs.
Favorites:
1) Sam and Max's
2)
3)
4) The inclusion of optional "bonus" content.
6) The new characters are funny, well-acted, and well-animated. I liked seeing the
Not-so-favorites:
1) The old characters are present only to serve up in-reference jokes and do not deliver (m)any funny stand-alone lines or game-play purpose. The players gain no new insight into the existing characters, excepting
2) The inclusion of more clunky arcade game scenarios. They're more humorous compared to last season, but still just not fun IMO. It's nice that you get
...and on that line of thought...
Maybe I'm dumb and missed it, but I haven't seen it in any of the episodes. Can we have some secret, hidden content with voice acting from our favorite characters that isn't revealed through requisite main-storyline puzzles or meandering, ultimately meaningless conversations? Side quest puzzles would be great. Multiple solutions to even a single puzzle would be great to see this season.
well... you will just have to wait a few hours and see for yourself, cause i aint talking... and to anyone who does talk... *gets axe out and starts cleaning the old blood off it from last time*
1. Nice plot twist
2. Nice length, IMO.
3.
4. Flint Paper
I've just finished the game and it took me a total of around four hours - that is really solid and I hope this length remains throughout the whole season.
The tutorial was a bit disapointing, as I was hoping for some new content by pretending I've never played an adventure game before - instead I got some recycled content from the first game - ah well, at least it had some new lines in it!
The start of the game was simply awesome. All the song lines that the robot kept 'singing' was just gold. I also thought that the title sequence was great, but I only realised that I could shoot things just as the last object was going off the screen... Hit the Road reference, anyone?
The animation in this game was by far better than any other episode in the previous season... infact, I'm going to let you get away with not having Sam put his hands in his pockets. The animation really stood out so much for me in the last sequence (with all the Soda Poppers and elfs) - the Soda Poppers facial and body movements was top notch.
I do like the new layout of the street and how quickly you can now move about it, but I've got to say right out that if nothing in it changes from episode to episode, it is "going to get old, fast" like it did last time. I'm hoping that in each episode Bosco and Stinky's will undergo slight changes - I'm also hoping that the rubble than now replaces Sybil's isn't just going to remain as rubble throughout the whole season.
I liked the use of the red herrings, even if they weren't intentional. What I mean is the bomber flying around Santa's grotto (can I call it that?), the trampoline and the canon. I was convinced I had to use these to get into Santa's room... alas, these items came into use later in the game.
The loading times were slightly longer for me than that in season one, but only by a couple of seconds - nothing that I'd complain about. Music was superb as always, humour was hilarious (more rude jokes than last time)...
Great work guys. I'll be posting my review of it on Gamespot in the next week.
...ohh, I also liked the brand new launcher.
ohh, ohh, the COPS option changer? *thumbs up*
And as for why they're connected... you haven't actually played episode two yet, you've just seen a single screenshot, so I don't know what you're expecting? We're not going to telescope the overall arc in the first episode. If you ever find yourself in the Telltale offices when no one's around, go to the conference room in the back and look for a huge strip of butcher paper covered in post-its taped up right below the whiteboard. It will spoil many things for you, but also prove that things are well planned out
Its true. I still haven't looked at it. I like remaining as ignorant as I can until I get to play.
Found an error, though - Sam incorrectly stated that the burnt Hypnobear was a memento of taking down the Toy Mafia.
I thought it was...?
Or was that Culture Shock's memento? If so, what did they get from 103?
Review:
Loved the enhanced graphics, extended story line, red-herrings, etc. Telltale really outdid themselves from last season. Can't wait for Ep. 2!
Also, the tutorial isn't really meant to be new content... it's meant to be a tutorial!
You guys are just that damn popular :P Feel that wondrous celebrity rush.
*shakes fist* Feel it! [/homer]
doesn't mean it doesn't remind them of it
ya... gotta love those new graphics...
Also, on that note, if Santa's not possessed, why is he so trigger-happy?
Whoa, where's that from?
Anyway, just beat it, and loved it. Can't wait to see what's next.
(Although I daresay our dear member Mel, for instance, wouldn't get the joke.)
Huh?! Me? :eek:
I can't download the game for a couple of days. Now I can't wait to see what the joke is.
The tutorial is a great way to introduce people to the world of adventure games, and I also find it funny how you guys ultimately are using the opening scene from Season 1 as your tutorial.
As far as the actual game goes, you've outdone yourselves!
The upgrades to the Desoto were kind of a let down, and that sticker you win is barely noticible. The COPS re-intro was nicely done, as well as the name of their body shop.
Speaking of which, I love that set-up screen! Especially all the commentary the COPS make when you set things up. Because my machine was slowing down, I apparently appealed to their sense of comradory... or something...
I can't wait to see what else is in store for the season. I'll be playing this again, and for the first time I was able to figure out all the problems on my own! Without hints or visiting the forums because I got stuck!! (Yeah, I know, I'm pathetic...)
By the way, best puzzle in the episode? Has to go to Stinky's Trivia. That one took me a while to figure out what was going on.
Best easter egg I found?
Best Mini-Game? Definately the Boxing game, though I'm rather disappointed you can only play it once.
I really enjoy the new music, Flint Paper of course, new gameplay features and whatnot.
Also, the addition of detail makes the game MUCH more Purcellesque - the banana pinned to the dartboard, the shorts on the heater, the little rat in the little alley between the office and bosco....you guys are getting there. Don't stop though, just built up and add plenty more detail.
It would also be cool to add some NPCs, kinda like the fat dude in Hit the Road at Snuckeys eating icecream, you could have an anonymous guy / couple reluctantly eating at Stinky's or something. That would make the world seem a lot more populated.
ALSO, the way most of the characters are brought back every single episode really gets tiring. Not that I didn't enjoy the characters, but besides the regulars that you can't avoid, bosco, jimmy two-teeth and flint, the soda poppers are just plain obnoxious at this point.
You might also consider having guest characters that only show up literally once in the season/series.
Keeping leonard in the closet is a good idea though. Haha.
Go Telltale.