The Tomb of Sammun-Mak Review
It’s that time of month again. No, not that time of month, weirdos. It’s Sam and Max time, and after a layoff where I kind of just let the malaise I felt overall about “The Penal Zone” sink in, I was really looking forward to the next episode of this season.
There are some new powers on display, “Astral Projection” an actual projector that runs clips that send you through time and space, and a bunch of mole people that dole out seemingly useless abilities that when used in the right situation or in the right combination, help you solve some of the game’s trickier puzzles. The projector is very dull, sort of a crutch to push you from point to point, but the mole people and their lame powers are the highlight of the game.
The writing, as usual, is extremely well done. The Egyptian setting has been so overdone in so many ways, but Telltale finds little ins and outs everywhere that will get you chuckling. Some of the puzzles are very stiff and awkwardly executed, but they’re few and far between. Most of the more difficult ones can be solved after a few minutes of serious thinking, and leave you feeling pretty good about your puzzle solving abilities.
Extra Features:
No special features to speak of as of yet.
Technical:
The review copy had a list of known bugs attached to it, mostly minor graphical glitches that have already been corrected for the retail version.
Graphics:
Not much new to report on the character front. Most of the new models have a little more visual flair than we’ve seen in the past games, especially over Monkey Island where they seemed to recycle textures way too often. Sam and Max never gets too flashy, but the character hit all the right points, especially the “new” models for Sam and Max themesleves.
Maybe I’m too harsh a critic on this, but I was kind of underwhelmed by the set pieces here. They’re all very well put together in the TellTale style, but they’re not really as eye catching as some of the older sets are. It’s intentially spartan, as a matter of course, but everything feels a little too dry.
Sound:
The Dialog is, as always, very well delivered. The joke writing has always been the cornerstone of the series’ run at Telltale, and the actors really help with their pitch perfect delivery. The new characters (mostly moles and a few villains) are all well performed, though the mole talk gets to be a little much once in a while, mostly because you’re with them for a good chunk of the game.
Once again, the music is atmospherically very good. Telltale’s done a great job of putting together a musical score for their games, though it still feels like it’s missing some of the wit and whimsy of the previous titles. I don’t want to harp on a point, though, really. The music from “The Tomb of Sammun-Mak” is very well done.
Replay Value:
No real reason to go back through unless you think you missed a joke or two in your first playthrough.
Final Score: 7/10
Historically, Telltale’s series usually don’t take off until the third episode, so it sort of does feel like we’re treading a little water from time to time. The jokes are all hilliarious and the game is worth the price of admission just on the strength of the writing and performances, but a lot of the puzzles fall a little flat, and the whole episode has kind of a blah tone to it.
I’ll mention once again that this might be a better pickup for the X-Box or PS3 (or even the iPad, and it’s not like there’s much out for that right now anyway). The control scheme on the PC feels much too rigid and unintuitive for classic adventure gamers, who are the big audience for these games, and it all feels like a bad console port, which is unfortunate because this is supposed to be a PC-first title.
If you’re interested in taking a look at the game, you can download a copy of the PC Demo at the TellTale Website.