If you’ve been following along with my reviews of these episodes of The Devil’s Playhouse, the third season in Sam & Max’s recent point and click adventure games, you know it’s my first foray into these episodic games. You also know that, on the whole, I’m enjoying it. The length of the episodes is pretty satisfactory for the money, and it’s all culminating into a broad story with enough mystery, suspense, and humor that keeps it interesting. Here, with episode 3, that trend continues. But while things kick off in a funny and fresh way, I have to say that the pace feels like it’s slowing down a bit with this one. The excitement is waning ever so slightly; so while I am indeed looking forward to next month, I don’t sit with bated breath or chewed up nails. In other words: it’s the middle.
In this episode, the title says it all. It starts with Max’s brain being stolen. This leads Sam to turn, literally and figuratively, into a grizzled no-nonsense detective who will grill and threaten any and all who can tell him who stole his little buddy’s brain. His hunt has him interrogating three characters before dealing with an ancient forgotten Pharaoh, an alternate reality, and eventually being saved by Max, who is still lacking in a brain. I don’t want to spoil things, but if this incredibly vague description indicates anything, it should be that it’s just getting plain old silly now. Luckily, this works with these characters and this game. It’s still fun, and returning characters make it interesting. One drawback this time, though, is that some events feel like padding to the overall story. The first two episodes feel like pieces to a puzzle were being filled, and this one just doesn’t have that same feeling by the end of it. I’m almost certain the next one will go right back to that, though.
The beginning, where Max is in grizzled interrogation mode, is probably the most fun you’ll have in this episode. You go back and forth between three characters, and the objective is to sap as much information out of them as possible. To do this, you have to time when you jump in with dialogue, interrupting them with threatening accusations of their lying, threatening them at gunpoint, or even clicking the “Noir” button where Sam spews pulpy lines of ennui and dreariness in an effort to break spirits. It’s a lot of fun, and really satisfying when you make a suspect crack.
Another thing that stands out at this part, and reminds me to commend pretty much the series up to this point, is that the music is usually pitch perfect. During these interrogations, you’ll be hearing music that’d fit comfortably into Taxi Driver. In previous episodes, the tone always fit the events on screen, from early 1920′s vaudeville in The Tomb of Sammunmack to the “Something’s awry”-toned vibes of the first, it all sounds great.
After the interrogations, the game reverts back to its more familiar adventure gaming, with lots of puzzle solving, talking to weed out hints as to what to do next, and just overall strange interactions. It’s still fun, and it’s still good, but it also felt a little easier this time. There was only one point where I felt truly stumped, and the game had to drop a few hints before I really pieced it together. Other than that, I managed to beat this one in one rather short sitting. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and may just be me getting a feel for the thinking behind this game as I move along.
Overall, it’s a solid episode with a stellar start and a somewhat-middling remainder. It’s recommended, as it’s part of the whole, but I do get a feeling that the last two episodes are going to feel a bit more significant to the story. Then again, this is Sam & Max we’re talking about, and it may come to be that this is the most crucial one story wise? As I said at the start, I’m still eager to see what’s up next.
A review code was provided and did not affect the outcome of this review. This is a review of the PC build.
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