Blast to Gaming’s Past: Sam and Max Hit the Road!
By Jason Nawara
It’s November 1993, and LucasArts is on fire creatively. They’re a few years removed from the Indiana Jones graphic adventures, Maniac Mansion and other SCUMM classics Day of the Tentacle is released just months prior to this), and Sam and Max Hit the Road is about to wallop the unsuspecting world upside the head with a violent, anthropomorphic naked bunny thing.
It’s November 1993, and LucasArts is on fire creatively. They’re a few years removed from the Indiana Jones graphic adventures, Maniac Mansion and other SCUMM classics Day of the Tentacle is released just months prior to this), and Sam and Max Hit the Road is about to wallop the unsuspecting world upside the head with a violent, anthropomorphic naked bunny thing.
Sam and Max Hit the Road is the graphic adventure recreation starring the titular characters created by Steve Purcell for the comic page. Growing from a joke on his brother, to a cult classic, Sam and Max carved a niche of their own with their overly-aware slapstick brand of comedy and morally-void heroes saving the day (kinda) again and again. Somehow, they smashed their way into the consciousness of a completely unsuspecting PC gaming public, and redefined adventure gaming with aplomb.
For years we had to run programs like DOSBox or simply not play these older games, but with the purchase of LucasArts properties by Disney, Mickey Mouse could no longer sit by idly and look at classics collect dust. And so, a handful of great games have emerged on GoG.com and cheap. Yes, for $5.99, you too can own a piece of adventure gaming’s golden age, and it will work perfectly on your PC OS of choice.
It feels so good.
Yes, I could go on and on about Sam and Max’s greatness just in the intro of this article, but I won’t. I will mention that games like Monkey Island (past and future) would directly be affected by Steve Purcell and his genius. I think you’re getting it now. This game is a big deal for multiple reasons.
In 1993, with Full Throttle and The Dig still a year or two off the release charts, Lucasarts would subtly release Sam and Max and change how adventure games were played.
While most games that weren’t worked on by Tim Schaefer lacked comedy, Sam and Max was hilarious and still something completely different. Sam and Max were antiheroes that wouldn’t be learning a lesson on their journey, they’re just a 6-foot tall dog in a sharp fedora and a weird naked rabbit thing that did whatever it took to get the job done.
In Sam and Max Hit the Road, freelance police Sam and Max have to find a long-necked woman who disappeared from a freakshow carnival with her recently-thawed (from a block of ice) bigfoot lover. Naturally, the Chief calls up Sam and Max and they’re on the case.
Adventure games operate on basically the same mechanics and have for nearly the last 30 years. Point, click, choose a verb to make your character interact and get to the bottom of the mystery. The early 90’s were full of quips and observations from adventure game leads, but Sam and Max’s new interface in which a player would guide Sam (and sometimes throw Max into danger) with an interface that was so elegant it’s barely been improved on twenty years later. They navigate the backwards US of A from the streets of their apartment to the World’s Largest Ball of Twine and back, and it’s oh so smooth.
That’s the main takeaway from this – the game still plays brilliantly well. This comes from an era in which not everyone has a left mouse button. This game changed things, man and the gameplay is still simple, but it works nearly flawlessly. As Max said, I’d bee peeing my pants if I wore any.
Yes, the actual traditional “gaming” moments that feature Max jumping on the duo’s car on the highway is tiresome and doesn’t really add much, and the puzzles themselves are somewhat obnoxious and arbitrary, but still necessary. These days, TellTale Games have proved that you don’t need to arrange a certain puzzle to get a clue, or a piece of a clue, or to open a door which will let you move on to the next classic scene full of goofy exposition. This is where the pacing of yesteryear’s games are a little herky-jerky. If I could skip every puzzle, I would. Not because I didn’t like them or anything, but because they keep me from the moments I LOVE, which is just walking around with Sam and Max and hearing the great music and clever dialogue.
This is a pinnacle of writing for the videogame medium, and still stays on top of that peak with a sadism that is a credit to the game. Of course, this wouldn’t work without the absolutely amazing voice work by Nick Jameson and Bill Farmer. Many have replaced the Max voice, but no one brought life to the crazed bunny voice sounding like Woody Allen at his most sadistic like him. The jokes never stop and like an expensive potpourri, or maybe plug-in wall freshener, you inhale new wafts of comedy as the game goes on, and as your life goes on. I loved the brand of humor when I was 12, I love it even more now.
Sam and Max is not for kids. Yes, there was a cartoon series that was made for the children a few years after this, but this game is most certainly subversive enough to entertain the dark recesses of the mind, while jokes will fly over little Billy’s head. He’ll still like the wanton violence. And let’s face it, gratuitous acts of senseless violence ARE Max’s forte.
Sam and Max is an absolute classic from top to bottom, and is fresh as ever today with a solid soundtrack, gorgeous hand-animated art from Steve Purcell, writing and voice acting. It’s almost the entire package. Actually, it is the entire package. An enjoyable romp through America that only the twisted mind of Steve Purcell could imagine, and a place that makes me with I were Canadian.
For $5.99, you have to get this game. If you’ve never played it before, or if it’s been twenty years. You owe it to yourself, man.