Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
System requirements: Windows XP / Vista / Windows 7, 2.0 GHz CPU, 1 GB RAM, DirectX 8.1-compatible sound card, 128 MB DirectX 8.1-compliant video card, DirectX 9.0c or better
Genre: Adventure
Release date: April 15, 2010

There’s a limited number of ways to run a railroad, so it’s always a welcome treat when someone comes up with a new wrinkle that works. Publisher/developer Telltale has found that wrinkle in their brand of point-and-click adventure games with Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Episode 1—The Penal Zone. Nothing earth-shattering, but different enough to breath new life into a rapidly aging genre.

Freelance Police officers Sam (the dog wearing the slick suit) and Max (the naked rabbit with the sawtooth smile) have been locked out of their office, which sits near a nasty crack in the pavement. Max wanders around a corner and discovers a Viewmaster (those of a certain age will remember this toy picture viewer) that gives him the ability to focus on nearby objects and people and see their futures. Not long afterward, a menacing spaceship captained by an alien gorilla named Gen. Skun-ka’pe lands next door, offering the world “a message of peace and love.” But what he’s really after is a cache of magic toys that he plans to use to conquer Earth, and it’s up to our fuzzy heroes to stop him.

All of the basic elements of the Telltale adventure playbook are here. You control Sam with the WASD keys when moving within a scene, and with the left mouse button when going from one location to another. You can also control Max, but only to use the Toys of Power, which include the aforementioned Viewmaster, a plastic phone that teleports you and whoever might be touching you to the location of the phone number you dial, and a toy that transforms you into a copy of any picture you choose. Items you discover are placed in a cardboard box that serves as your inventory screen. Dialogue choices are set up in a rotary menu at the bottom of the screen; conversations are initiated by clicking on the character with whom you want to speak. The cartoon hand-shaped cursor changes color when it passes over items with which you can interact or destinations you can go. And if you should get stuck, hints are available at several levels of frequency, should you decide to enable them.

The wrinkle of which I spoke earlier? It’s in the storytelling. Penal Zone begins with Sam and Max in Skun-ka’pe’s brig. During this first scene you are introduced to the Toys of Power and how they are used, while a rather curious, smooth-talking narrator dressed in black gives you hints as to how to escape and foil the general’s evil plans. But once the scenario is completed, the game shifts back in time to before the alien ape arrives and starts you on the journey that eventually leads back to where you began. Movies and TV shows frequently use this device, and normally I hate knowing how a story ends; it’s like reading the last page of a book first. But the writers have managed to insert a clever twist in the plot that keeps things fresh. Telltale has also made some general improvements on their previous episodic series. The graphics in Penal Zone are brighter, more colorful and more detailed, conversation threads are greyed out when all possible responses have been heard (you can still click on them if you need a refresher), and a notebook in the game menu is automatically updated to help you remember what you’re doing should real life intrude on your gaming time. But thankfully, one thing hasn’t changed: the sharp and witty dialogue that has become the hallmark of Telltale’s adventure games.

This is my first Sam and Max game, so it took me a few minutes to get up to speed on the dog-and-rabbit thing, but there are references to characters and events from previous seasons that had me scratching my head for a moment. Also, there were obvious problems in the review build that I played that I hope will be fixed for the final release, such as the occasional time when Sam walks straight through Max instead of around him or swatting him up in the air (what’s up with that, anyway?). There’s also the disappearing and reappearing badge worn by one of the supporting characters, and the hand cursor that turns green inches away from the object it’s meant to indicate. And I still wish that Telltale would go to the pure point-and-click movement interface; using the keyboard keys to get around can sometimes be annoying, but they’ve stuck with it through the Strongbad and Monkey Island series, so I’m probably in the minority about that.

The third season of Sam and Max episodes is off to a very pleasant start with The Penal Zone. The game looks better than any Telltale game I’ve played thus far, the story is typical for the genre but it’s told in a welcome new way, and the game’s filled with off-beat, colorful characters. The developer only has a few bugs to exterminate to make this a good beginning to what could be a very entertaining new season of episodes.

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