Sam & Max Save The World - Reception

Reception

Sam & Max Save the World received positive critical reaction from reviewers. Aggregate review scores on GameRankings and Metacritic rank the fifth episode, "Reality 2.0", as the critical favorite, while the third episode, "The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball" received the lowest scores. The entire season holds a score of 88 percent on GameRankings. In addition to receiving several editor choice awards, the game has been recipient to publisher awards for the best adventure game of 2006. As Telltale Games had managed to release a steady stream content with only small time gaps, journalists in the video game industry had considered Sam & Max Save the World to be the first successful application of episodic gaming. Previous unsuccessful implementations of the distribution model included attempts by Valve Software with the Half-Life series, Ritual Entertainment with SiN Episodes and Telltale themselves with Bone.

The debut episode, "Culture Shock", was recipient to a mostly optimistic response from critics. The episode was thought to adequately follow 1993's Sam & Max Hit the Road, with the introduction of the new 3D engine and gameplay being positively received. Criticisms of "Culture Shock" focused on the story; while the humor in the writing was praised, the plot was seen as a "thin excuse for the jokes" and the episode's primary antagonist was described by IGN's Steve Butts as "a bit of a letdown". The second episode, "Situation: Comedy", was thought to produce a better antagonist than "Culture Shock", with the puzzles linking in well to the story. However, critics described the puzzles as too easy, and expressed disappointment at the reuse of lines from the first episode. The next episode, "The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball", was the lowest rated episode amongst reviewers. Although the episode received compliments for its dialogue and humor, it was criticised for its easy puzzles and short length.

The fourth episode, "Abe Lincoln Must Die!", was held by critics to be one of the series' best episodes, The episode's story of political satire was subject to praise, whilst the increased length was also appreciated. Puzzles were felt to be more difficult and satisfying to solve. Detractors of the episode, however, felt that the episode suffered from the need to constantly move between locations and from the reuse of old characters and locations. "Reality 2.0", the fifth episode, was the critical favorite of the series. The game's puzzles were cited as stronger than in "Abe Lincoln Must Die!", with a fitting tribute to text adventure games towards the end. However, the script was thought to be inferior to the preceding episode. The season finale "Bright Side of the Moon" received a more reserved response than the two previous episodes, with criticisms directed at the length of the game and the depth of character interaction. Nevertheless, reviewers felt that the episode had reasonable puzzle design and that it was a respectable end to the series.

Critics gave positive reviews towards the overall gameplay mechanics, although they often presented some reservations. Several reviews praised the simplicity of the game interface. Andre Thomas of GamePlasma described the game's learning curve as "incredibly simple" and the gameplay mechanics as logical extension of those from the adventure games of the 1990s, while GamingTrend reviewer Ron Burke praised Telltale's "intuitive" point-and-click system. Mark Smith of Game Chronicles, however, stated that the streamlined mechanics eliminated "a lot of the exploration and discovery we normally associate with these types of games". Some reviews directed criticism towards puzzle design; according to Smith, the game is "certainly accessible to kids and younger teens", but the adult audience "will find these games way too easy". Reviewing for Adventure Gamers, Evan Dickens felt that the puzzles took "a bit of thought and consideration, but never to a point of consternation", believing that the low difficulty was intended by Telltale to allow players to "proceed through the story with minimum frustration". Hyper's Tim Henderson commends the game for being "highly accessible almost as funny as the original". However, he criticises it for its episodic content being a "tease".

In relation to the story and writing, critics felt that the overall plot was ineffectual. Al Giovetti of JustAdventure felt the plot was lacking, while Burke considered the episodic nature to be detrimental to maintaining plot cohesion between the episodes, a point with which Dickens agreed. Despite this, several reviewers thought that the individual episode stories and the presentation and development of the characters were good. Reviewers considered the writing for each episode as one of the best features of the game; they also praised the level of humor in the game, although Dickens felt that it was not until the fourth episode that the writing properly established itself. In addition, they directed some skepticism towards the reuse of scenes and characters, with critical opinion divided on the degree of success in this regard. A point of contention rose between British and American reviewers over the story and setting, exemplified in PC Gamer; whilst positive towards the first and fourth episodes, the British edition of the magazine felt this repetition was a severe failing of Save the World, and that the writing did not work well. In contrast, the American edition rated each episode highly, stating that the quality of the series was "excellent".

Critics commended Sam & Max Save the World's graphics and art direction; Dickens commented that "the cartoonish, absurdist nature of Steve Purcell's characters is captured perfectly" within an "enthusiastically colorful world that is at its best the stranger it gets", while GameZone reviewer Anise Hollingshead praised Telltale for successfully upgrading the characters' graphics "without losing any of their cartoon appeal". Kristen Reed, writing for Eurogamer, felt that the graphics reflected a "great degree of care and attention to everything from the locations to the standard of character modelling and animation". They also praised the game for its sound, voice acting and music. In a review for The Entertainment Depot, Tim McGowan complimented Emerson-Johnson's soundtrack as "being quite excellent and listenable on its own", and IGN's Alex Van Zelfdendate described it as a "breath of fresh air". However, PC Gamer UK's Alec Meer felt that the opening theme tune was "so busy trying to hint at that it forgets to have a memorable melody of its own". Nowlin and Kasten's voicework also received a positive response.

The Wii version of the game garnered a more reserved view from critics than the PC version; GameRankings and Metacritic gave aggregate review scores of 75 percent and 74 percent, respectively. For better or worse, reviewers felt that the game had not changed much from the PC version in terms of gameplay, story or overall content. While Sam & Max was thought to be a "perfect, naturally cartoony fit for the Wii", the critics noted a number of technical issues with the release. Several critics cited minor issues with using the imprecise Wii Remote for puzzles requiring accuracy, while observations were made that lines of dialogue could be cut short and that the frame rate could slow significantly, especially in action sequences.