Taking a head start since I’m not confident I’ll have enough time in April!
I’ve played a couple of hours across a couple of nights. Turns out there’s a section that would’ve fit for the club August last year!
Random thoughts:
* lots of funny animations, many seem to be off the critical path and are just jokes and small rewards for poking around
* I got overwhelmed trying to “hoover” every corner and try every combination, there’s just so much detail in the game
* Giving up hoovering and just going with the flow -> enjoyment++
* voice acting works!
* I don’t recall laughing out loud yet
* a bit like with Toonstruck, should make a bingo card of things chosen as targets of jokes in the 90s comedy games and which now in 2020s feel like “really?”
* the map of the U.S.A. with its fast food restaurants and all makes for a really fun game world
* the UI really, really sucks
Give me Monkey 1’s honest verb list + inventory on the screen or Toonstruck’s practically “look / use” system. Everything in between seems to be worse, and this verb cycling on the right click is _the worst_. Additionally while I can get things done, I still after a couple of hours don’t know what / how I need to click when I want to do something with the inventory. It’s surprisingly bad.
What dulls the humour of the game for me the most, I think is: even though this is the first time I’m (finally!) playing the game, I’ve been marinated for literal decades in the idea that Sam & Max is reaaally anarchistic and craaazy – it no longer has any chance to surprise me with its strengths. But let’s see the game to the end and see how I feel.
So far I’d say this is clearly the lowest-ranking LucasArts adventure I’ve played (the two first Monkeys, Loom, Grim Fandango and Full Throttle) and I (so far) like Toonstruck and Beneath a Steel Sky a lot more. And after all this relative negativity: the game is quite good, and I’m enjoying playing it very much! I’m happy we have it on the club so that I’m finally getting around to it. (Need to catch up with Fate of Atlantis …)
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