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Sam and Max in PC Gamer

AllenBAllenB
edited May 2008 in Sam & Max
So I've been following Chuck Osborn's page in PC Gamer the past few issues and I'm trying to collect them all for a... project I've been working on. It seems that Sam and Max has been a hit with him. This month's issue rates 203 at 88%, and last month's rated 202 at 78%. The April edition also has a whole page devoted to an interview with Dan Connors.
I'm currently missing the column from March's edition. If anyone owns this edition and would be able to scan it for me, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Comments

  • stemotstemot
    edited April 2008
    The UK edition of PCGamer hate the new episodes, using a tv show analogy to say that you wouldn`t find the same jokes used between episodes (clicking on the coat rack in the first few episodes in season 1 resulted in the same line from Sam being their complaint) then they throw that analogy out when they complain about used locations. Friends for example, almost always used the same sets with only a couple of new places per episode, so that`s why as far as I`m concerned their arguments don't hold any weight.
    You can`t complain it isn't enough like a tv show on the one hand, then complain when it is.
  • LinqueLinque
    edited April 2008
    While the analogies indeed seem to suck, the complaints do have some merit.
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited April 2008
    John Walker over at PCG UK really does love adventure games. It's too bad that he 1) simply doesn't seem to agree with the humor in our games, 2) seems to hold our puzzle design decisions up against a rose-tinted version of the games he puzzled his way through when he was fifteen years younger than he is now and/or 3) simply wants our games to be something they're not (full length adventures in the exact style of the 90s classics), and consistently rates them down because their core design goals are in fact not identical to those of games from that earlier era. Also, like many entertainment writers, he seems to enjoy his own grumpiness a lot. But what can you do? :)
  • EmilyEmily Telltale Alumni
    edited April 2008
    Allen, I'll check and see if we have the March issue of PC Gamer US. I try to archive them all but haven't been keeping up as well as I should this year... (Do you only want it if it has Sam & Max coverage, or are you specifically looking for Chuck's column?)
  • AllenBAllenB
    edited April 2008
    Emily wrote: »
    Allen, I'll check and see if we have the March issue of PC Gamer US. I try to archive them all but haven't been keeping up as well as I should this year... (Do you only want it if it has Sam & Max coverage, or are you specifically looking for Chuck's column?)

    I'm looking for Sam & Max coverage in general. Thanks! :D
  • ZeekZeek
    edited April 2008
    Jake wrote: »
    John Walker over at PCG UK really does love adventure games. It's too bad that he 1) simply doesn't seem to agree with the humor in our games, 2) seems to hold our puzzle design decisions up against a rose-tinted version of the games he puzzled his way through when he was fifteen years younger than he is now and/or 3) simply wants our games to be something they're not (full length adventures in the exact style of the 90s classics), and consistently rates them down because their core design goals are in fact not identical to those of games from that earlier era. Also, like many entertainment writers, he seems to enjoy his own grumpiness a lot. But what can you do? :)

    These are what we call "pure-ists." People that believe once they have found the perfect combination of something to the point where any and every change, no matter how much it makes sense, is blasphomy.

    The most rediculous one I've come across are with Disney Fans. Really, is the idea of changing an attraction that features Bill Nye the Science Guy to essentially the same attraction only with the Monsters Inc. characters in order to make renewable energy awareness relevent to this generation that is growing up with the Disney name that bad? To them? Yes.
  • LuigiHannLuigiHann
    edited April 2008
    Zeek wrote: »
    These are what we call "pure-ists." People that believe once they have found the perfect combination of something to the point where any and every change, no matter how much it makes sense, is blasphomy.

    The most rediculous one I've come across are with Disney Fans. Really, is the idea of changing an attraction that features Bill Nye the Science Guy to essentially the same attraction only with the Monsters Inc. characters in order to make renewable energy awareness relevent to this generation that is growing up with the Disney name that bad? To them? Yes.

    I didn't hear about it, but that makes me sad. Not because I'm a purist, but because Bill Nye is cool.
  • InvaderJim42InvaderJim42
    edited April 2008
    LuigiHann wrote: »
    I didn't hear about it, but that makes me sad. Not because I'm a purist, but because Bill Nye is cool.

    Aye, Bill Nye is cooler than the Monsters, Inc. characters.
  • DerwinDerwin
    edited April 2008
    I bet if you contacted one of the peeps at PCG, you could get them to send you scans... if they are not too busy right now. They are great... I visited their offices two summers back and they gave me a free issue, a Chuzzle, and a free game! I accidentally left the chuzzle and magazine, however... although the Chuzzle may have been on purpose. Sorry Kristen!
  • ZeekZeek
    edited April 2008
    LuigiHann wrote: »
    I didn't hear about it, but that makes me sad. Not because I'm a purist, but because Bill Nye is cool.
    InvaderJim42 wrote: »
    Aye, Bill Nye is cooler than the Monsters, Inc. characters.

    You'll be happy to know it's not going to happen... yet.
  • stemotstemot
    edited April 2008
    Jake wrote: »
    John Walker over at PCG UK really does love adventure games. It's too bad that he 1) simply doesn't seem to agree with the humor in our games, 2) seems to hold our puzzle design decisions up against a rose-tinted version of the games he puzzled his way through when he was fifteen years younger than he is now and/or 3) simply wants our games to be something they're not (full length adventures in the exact style of the 90s classics), and consistently rates them down because their core design goals are in fact not identical to those of games from that earlier era. Also, like many entertainment writers, he seems to enjoy his own grumpiness a lot. But what can you do? :)

    John Walker's review of the second best episode of season one:-

    "So we reach the climax of season one, the sixth instalment of dog/rabbit freelance police duo Sam and Max's episodic comeback. Has the series lived up to the famous charm and wit of the 1993 LucasArts classic?

    Well, there's the small matter of pointing out that this final episode is the worst of the lot.
    The first three episodes repeated the same gags, and worse, the same structure. Episodes 4 and 5 brought variety, but the gags still fell flat.

    Episode 6 manages to be exemplary of everything that has made this series so hair-pullingly frustrating. S&M are tasked with taking on the dreary baddy, hypnotist Hugh Bliss. This involves infiltrating his moonbase, then mindlessly acquiring any object that looks like it might move, just because it's there. Sam even mumbles that he's got no good reason for stealing a bent spoon, but wearily you must do so anyway. There's nothing else to do.
    There's no sense of direction. You're left aimlessly clicking on everything in the hope of stumbling on a puzzle the game hasn't told you to complete, all the while screwing your eyes up in horror at the ghastly gag-writing.

    The original game had a surprisingly cold disregard for humanity, our heroes smirking after blowing up a bus, or delightedly harming or maiming those in their path. This series, and most especially episode 6, replaces all this with straight silliness, or worse, random nonsense events. The banter is false, relying on alliteration rather than comedy; the backgrounds possess little to explore.

    This dry and tiresome ending to a mediocre series kills off any chance of the game as a whole being worth chugging through.

    John Walker PC Gamer Magazine"

    I see what you mean about the comparisons with rose tinted spectacles, and he really doesn't get the humor in the episodes at all, which I think are far better than the comedy in Hit The Road (well, from episode 3 onwards).

    Also, PCGamer have not even reviewed any of the second season yet, but move their deriding comments over to the demo section instead.

    Then again, when the episodes are getting excellent reviews from most sites on the net and other publications, just shows what John is full of. :D
  • Hero1Hero1
    edited April 2008
    episode 205 currently has a metacritic rating of 88! :D
  • EmilyEmily Telltale Alumni
    edited April 2008
    Let's try not to get personal, here. Reviewers are entitled to their opinions - even if we don't always agree with them. ;)

    Allen, I checked and we have the March issue. I'll try to scan the Sam & Max stuff for you later this week.
  • stemotstemot
    edited April 2008
    sure, sorry :)
  • AllenBAllenB
    edited April 2008
    Woo! Thanks, Emily!
  • QuuuxQuuux
    edited April 2008
    I'm hoping for a Zero Punctuation review of Sam & Max; however he almost universally pans the games he reviews, so maybe not having one is a good thing. :)
  • TelltaleToolTelltaleTool
    edited April 2008
    I think Psychonauts is the only game he's really liked so far :)
  • JaiJai
    edited April 2008
    I dunno, I think he just MAY have enjoyed Portal a very tiny amount.
  • Toast60Toast60
    edited April 2008
    He enjoyed CoD4 as well.
  • Sir LemmingSir Lemming
    edited April 2008
    I just saw in PC Gamer that episode 204 (Chariots of the Dogs) was rated 92%, making it the first Telltale Sam & Max game to receive the PCG Editor's Choice award! Congratulations.
  • DontEatRawHagisDontEatRawHagis
    edited May 2008
    He just had an article about Adventure games in general in the backspace in PCgamer about how he used to find Adventure games fun but now thinks their alittle bit childish.

    Beelzebub episode got a 90% in PCG
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