Sam & Max: Culture Shock - Impressions
 

The game is almost out but I didn't see a thread for it yet. Evan posted his review today. It's a great review and I almost entirely agree with it, at least based on the hour or-so I have played it so far. I'll probably end up pre-purchasing the entire season on November 1.

Culture Shock is really quite good. It's not an epic globe-trotting tour-de-force, but it's a fun and funny Sam & Max game. I haven't been this steadily entertained by a PC adventure game in a long time (by which I mean Sam & Max seems to be fun at a consistent rate instead of fun for brief periods of time in between lots of aggravating puzzles and/or boring exposition).

Possibly the best thing about this game is the little details. There's a lot of completely nonessential stuff you can find. You can also tell there's a lot of potential for changing some of those small details in each following episode, which I hope Telltale will do.

Anyway, post links to reviews or your own impressions here.

I only have an hour (or two) impression as well, from when I visited the TTG office two weeks ago. My opinion, based on this summery experience, is that Evan's review is pretty much how I feel about the game too. (Good to see him back, by the way. He's a great writer!)

I wonder why he brought up the music, though. It wasn't al all intrusive, and adds a lot to the atmosphere. I didn't even notice that it was continuously playing. It just blends in very well.

I also fear that people will have an unforgiving attitude against the voice acting. There was a lot of complaining when some footage was released. Personally I agree with Evan about the lack of depth in Sam's delivery of his lines. I also agree that Max sounds much better. I didn't really notice anything wrong with the supporting characters, so I don't entirely agree with his 'hit-and-miss' assessment.

That's all. I'm looking very, very much forward to the world-wide release date, so I can finally play it.

--Erwin

Finally
 

I'll try to keep spoiler talk at a minimum for you people who don't/can't get Gametap, or are waiting for the Telltale release. I've been wanting to talk about this for the past week and a half, but didn't want to get in trouble with Gametap or Telltale (or remove my access to future games!). I pretty much agree with the review here, as well as with Chris Kohler's over at Wired.

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/ga...ulture_games_1

The voice actors can be hit and miss. One of the Soda Poppers was way too high-pitched for me, and the Tattoo artist/Psychoanalyst only seemed to click half the time. Brady Culture needs to actually become a villain. Max is dead on, but Sam is a little softer than the last game and the TV show.

As far as the gameplay, I wasn't too upset with the length. I actually spaced it out over the course of three days, playing about an hour each time (not counting when I had to start from scratch when a patch was applied). I might have gotten upset if I played it through in one sitting, but it felt right at the pace I used.

The puzzles are on the easy side, as you'd expect from the opening game. I was only stumped a bit at the end, and actually accidentally solved the puzzle (though afterwards, it was apparent why I solved it).

Definitely follow all the dialog trees to the end, it's worth it. I loved pulling people over and interrogating them. I hope Telltale expands on that portion of the game in future episodes, and gives Max a chance to be more sadistic.

All in all, I can't wait for next month.

Yeah - and interact with all the objects that are available. If you don't, you're missing half the fun.

You could probably rush through the game in 2 hours, but why would you? I played for two hours at a very relaxed pace, and when I managed to pull myself away from the screen I had finished about a half of the game. (So I was told)

--Erwin

Ha! I almost started a thread like this last night, but figured it was cruel and unusual punishment before the game was actually out. :D

I also quite agree with the review, which leaves not a whole lot more to say. Besides the hilarious driving sequences, if anything left a lasting impression on me, it was the absolutely fantastic repeat use of a particular location (which I won't specify). Small budgets may indeed mean fewer original assets to work with, but that doesn't mean you can't be creative with the ones you have. It was playing through these where it really struck me how well these guys know how to design games.

Erwin, the music did bother me after a while (which I didn't force Evan to say, but probably prompted it. :P) The tunes themselves are great, but over time I found them too repetitive and too noticeable at the default volume. Easily solved with the volume control, but personally I'd give people a break from it once in a while anyway. If you use music all the time, then where's its effect when you really need it?

Anyway, should be a no-brainer at $9. :)

I'm starting to believe that I'm the only person among the damn staff who hasn't played the game yet (and won't get to for another two weeks). :(

I don't think the janitor has.

My own review was slightly more positive, if not quite a rave:
http://www.got-next.com/reviews_read.php?id=476

I really think that they should be commended for creating something genuinely worthy of Sam and Max. It's only 3 hours long and it was probably responsible for more good hardy bursts of laughter than any game I've played in years.

Nah, I share your frustration. :( Roll on November 1st!

Well, the first thing I always do is adjusting the settings. I don't remember, but I might as well have adjusted the volume settings in Sam and Max to match my preference.

Another point is, didn't adventure games (especially the LucasArts ones) always have looping music back in the day?

--Erwin

I'll just clarify this, but I don't want to keep harping on a tiny little niggle when there are so many other things (most of them positive) to discuss instead. :)

Thing is, I left the sound at the default levels because it's good. No reason to turn something down you're enjoying. Only later did I realize it was starting to grate on my nerves to hear it over and over. As I said, easily solved, so anything but a biggie.

*picks up the broom and gets back to sweeping the floor*

I know, I know :)

Speaking of details, the details in character animation are awesome! Little things like Sybil tilting her glasses during a conversation, and the expressions on the faces of the characters. It grants a polished look and feel that I miss in many of todays games.

--Erwin

How did you beat the system and get a GameTap subscription outside the US/Canada, Marek?

The game exists in not-yet-public standalone form (available for press purposes). Marek obviously knows people in high places. ;)

Just saw that Eurogamer give Sam and max a whopping 9/10 :D

(http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=68766)

I love the humor in the game. Very well done.

Not much to say here, except...

http://www.smileyarena.com/emoticons...Kids/horny.gif http://www.philevans.com/forum/smilies/drool.gif http://strifeworld.kicks-ass.net/ube...s/GB_DROOL.gif

And so on...

I have seen only one bad review for the game today and I have seen many, many positive reviews today. :)

Bring on 1st November indeed!

I played it last week (but there was a review embargo so I didn't want to break any rules by discussing it in public forums), and it was very enjoyable. It felt very much like a LucasArts production, and it's definitely the most fun adventure I've played in years.

I loved the humour, the visual presentation (very, very professional), and I thought the voices were mostly spot-on. The puzzles were pretty logical (in a surreal kind of way), and I never got stuck for very long. I was also pleasantly surprised by the amount of interactivity, and had a great time just clicking on things to hear the comments.

As far as I'm concerned, this is a must-buy for every fan of point & click adventures.

Yeah, that was one of the highlights of the game. At first I didn't know what I was supposed to do, so I just messed around with things (with hilarious results). Definitely something I'll remember for years. :)

I was a bit disappointed by the game and by the review on AG.com.
The game was way too easy, much easier then Bone 2. The puzzles are so straightforward (almost non-existent), that I just wonder, what audience did Telltale had in mind? Casual gamers aged 6-10 who played arcades all their life? And Max.. He always gave hints. Who needs hints in such game?
And about the length of the game.. 3.5-4 hours?? Huh? I clicked on every single spot, chose every dialog option, and the playtime was under 2 hours (somewhat about 1.45). I didn't spent 30 minutes on road arcade, though - it becomes repetative pretty quickly.
I also didn't like the simplified cursor. There are even no ceparate options for "look" and "use". Laziness of designers?
Too little locations, even for shareware game.
And too short, of course. I know, there will be more episodes soon. But I just can't stand a two-hour adventure. The story has no time to develop.

Rather then that, I enjoyed humor, characters (despite Sams' voice.. it's bad) and graphics. Those are really great. Music and the whole atmosphere are also wonderful.
But the concept of "interactice movie/sitcom" seems to me as a dead-end for adventure genre. Ah well.

I'd be curious to know where that was.

Also Erwin: thanks for the kind words. I hope now you've forgiven me for BeTrapped. ;)

AGA: Marek likely did as I've not suggested to people in the past (many times not ever) and avoided the temptation to acquire a sub-account from a US friend which cannot be used outside of the US, in any country that the user may live in. ... so there you have it.

And egads, that was a blast, genuinely funny. Though if my mind doesn't stop going "Doo-dah!" soon, I might be forced to drop something heavy on my own head. Max is the very font of delightful evil, he is.

I honestly want to say more and to quote my favourite lines and bits but I won't ruin such a genuinely enjoyable experience for those whom haven't yet had the chance to partake of it.

As a footnote, I respectfully disagree, Ariel. I found that in pursuing every avenue of every branch of every dialog tree, and interacting with every object in almost every way, I easily stretched it out to three hours. And I had a blast the entire time. It was great fun. And I only spent about fifteen minutes tracking down a traffic fine victim.

Rowne
That's true, I didn't interact with every object in every possible way (I guess it means using other objects on surroundings? I usually got the same responces, so I didn't practice that much. Other then that, there's only one option - smart cursor at its best :shifty: ).
Emm.. It took me about 10 sec and two shots :crazy:

i don't know, from the screenshots i've seen, the graphics looks a bit poor to me. are the background pre-rendered or real time. if its real time, i can understand.
a bit more detail? eg, http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthre...hreadid=417798
characters also seems a bit rushed.

oh boy . . .:pan:

Real-time graphics.

Hokay then! I'll reiterate ...

It took me fifteen minutes -- with the consideration that I was derailed by my obsession with hitting the 'just kidding' option to ensure I'd heard every line there and pulling over people with fake violations to ensure I'd heard every line there, too -- to track down a traffic fine victim. :7

---

The real-time provides for some really nice pans, too. I just wish they'd taken advantage of it to provide more odd angles. Though the close-ups on Sam & Max as they conversed with each other were really quite nice.

This was an enjoyable game, and it's worth the $8.95 or getting a GameTap membership (since GameTap is awesome anyhow). I beat the game twice today. The first time I really explored and took everything in...I think it took me somewhere between 2 hours 15 minutes and 2 and a half hours. The second time was purely for speed (already knowing solutions to everything, etc.), and I finished it in 37 minutes. So I got about 3 hours out of Sam And Max today, and that's well worth the movie ticket price.

The game has good production values, including graphics that look better than the screenshots suggest (I played at 1600x1200 resolution), some very fitting music, and solid voice acting. I agree with all the people whining about the game being a bit too easy, that's true. There were really only 5 locations in the game, but there still could have been more to do within them on the puzzle front. Don't get me wrong, as I've said twice already, I feel that I got my money's worth even had I paid $8.95 instead of just being a member of GameTap. Still, I wish there had been more than 6 or 7 items in the whole game, and maybe at least one or two puzzles that weren't inventory or dialogue tree based. I also wouldn't have minded being able to combine items.

Oh well, overall a fun game and I really enjoyed some of the humor. Off the top of my head, I remember really liking some of the movie references. Go figure. Heh.

Like:

Spoiler:

"I like my coffee green. Like my men." LOVED THAT! Any Airplane! fan would enjoy that one. In Airplane! a little white girl on the plane says of coffee, "I like it black. Like my men." Ha ha.

and

I personally thought I saw an Ed Wood reference here. If anyone can let me know for sure if that's what it was, let me know...

In Plan 9 From Outer Space a guy says: "Future events such as these will affect you, in the future." Ha ha, horrible.

Then in Sam and Max Brady Culture says: "I will be universally known, throught the universe!" LOL.

I'm on what is probably the last scene in the game and so far I've been playing for 3 hours and 40 minutes. Game runs a little sluggish on my computer unless I put it on medium or lower settings.

IGN has given Culture Shock a score of 8.7.

8.7 is a very nice start to the series :D

IGN's and EuroGamer's scores are pretty interesting. I think there have been a few cases where those sites graded adventure games too low, but in this case I think they are slightly too high. I'm not sure Culture Shock is worth a 9/10, even though it's a very good game. But I won't complain about it.

Ariel Type: if you were expecting really hardcore puzzles and a billion locations then you probably should have been smart enough to avoid buying Culture Shock. There are tons of other adventure games out there that offer more quantity and are way harder. But if you're looking for some good solid quality fun, Culture Shock is probably the best money can buy right now.

(Also, in my opinion, to describe this kind of game as a "dead-end for adventure genre" could not be more wrong. :crazy: )

I never felt IGN was unfairly harsh towards adventures - and in the last year or so they seem to start being (at times) overenthusiastic if anything. See the reviews and scores of CSI 3 or Barrow Hill.

Yeah I haven't kept up with their most recent scores. I was thinking of a few past reviews.

Marek
I wasn't expecting anything like that from Telltale. I was expecting something of the Bone 2 quality (which, in my opinion, is the best shareware adventure so far). But while the game succeeded in graphics and humor (which are better then those in Bone), it felt short on story, puzzles and overall gameplay. It is too casual for my taste.
I wouldn't be complaining if it was "some game from some company". But it is Sam & Max! There was S&M Hit the Road, wonderful adventure that succeeded in every way (both story, puzzles, length, gameplay etc.). There was ment to be Freelance Police, one of the most anticipated adventures of XXI century. I can't judge Cultural Shock without taking in mind those two.
So, even if I didn't have to play it for review purposes, I'd still buy it, just to see Sam & Max rise again.

By the way, here's a quote from Eurogamers review:
If this is "the best adventure game" in their opinion, it means the game should be perfect in every aspect (not just "fun" factor), which is a lie.

I felt the puzzles were really lacking in number and the difficulty was too low.

Not best adventure game, best adventure game SINCE Grim which came out in 1998.

The story in S&M: Hit the Road sucked. Obviously the plot had to be Sam & Max fare absurdity, but the narrative structure wasn't exactly top notch either. Where Hit the Road succeeded was excellently acted hilarious dialogue and wonderful invidual scenes. I think episodes are the right way to go for Sam & Max. This way we can have the good sides of Hit the Road without being stuck in a largely pointless storyline for 15 hours.

custard
I know, I just excluded the "Grim" part from quote. I don't see how many of the adventures that came out in the last 7 years could be worse then this little episode. There were Gabriel Knight 3, Escape from MI, Discworld Noir, Dark Fall, Scratches, Voyage.. All of them were so much better, especially from adventure point of view. It's absurd.

Or maybe - just maybe - Culture Shock just captured what they felt was important in Grim Fandango and all adventure games before, which the games you just listed didn't.

It's obvious you didn't like it, but their opinion isn't a lie!