Sam & Max: Freelance Police Preview

LucasArts, a publishing team distinguished for dishing out several admirable PC adventure games, are now in the process of breathing life back into two of the industry's favorite characters. LucasArts is probably the only publisher insisting on adding that special dash of off-the-wall humor and wackiness to most of their game characters - basically, everything from oldies like the Indiana Jones series and Maniac Mansion II: Day of the Tentacle, to the Monkey Islands series, Grim Fandango and the recently unleashed action game, Armed & Dangerous. Sam & Max, the world's top investigating team, rightly sit on top of the throne with their hilarious remarks and freakish behavior often leading them to (inadvertently) solved crimes. Well, now they're coming back. In the middle of the last year's E3 pandemonium, LucasArts unveiled Sam & Max: Freelance Police, a new PC game based on Sam & Max Hit the Road.

That’s one way to interrogate your witness.

It’s good to be home! Wanna arm-wrestle, Max?

In its time Sam & Max Hit the Road was a popular and highly amusing point & click adventure game with enough hilarity and absurd jokes to enthrall any gamer. In spite of a generally light-hearted motif present through practically every scene, Sam & Max was a serious adventure game with challenging puzzles and shrewdly conceived cases just waiting to be cracked. The cheerful atmosphere of the old game and the same gags from the two main characters should once again represent the pinnacle of gameplay. Ever since the game's initial announcement at the E3 2003, LucasArts refused to divulge additional info and media. Lately, word around the campfire is that Sam & Max: Freelance Police is being targeted for a release in May 2004.

Talented groups of artist, programmers, animators, and designers have been assembled to handle the project. Hiding within this crowd is none other than Steve Purcell, the dude who brought Sam & Max to life back in the early 90's (I think it was 1993). Right now, his duty is to work on story concepts, characterization and dialogue. Of course, apart from that, he's involved in creative input when it comes to stuff like character art and animation. Steve's expertise also goes beyond gaming. In the past few years, he was involved with the creation of certain comic books and contributed to several projects for animation studios Pixar and Industrial Light & Magic. Those of you who have enjoyed playing the original Sam & Max will definitely appreciate Steve's comeback and contribution to its development. Well, if nothing else, it's a good sign. It shows LucasArts is serious about the project.

Well, clearly not all of you are 25 year old geeks, still sitting behind a 386 PC and playing PC oldies like Sam & Max Hit the Road. (No, that's just you. - Ed.) So, I'll assume there's a majority of our readers who never got a chance to meet the heroes of this game. Therefore, I'd like to introduce you to Sam, a charming canine shamus in a classy blue suit and his devoted side-kick, Max, a naked rabbit with an attitude (and exceptionally large teeth). Sam has been known to play the banjo. He also enjoys singing from time to time, whereas Max thinks singing is for wusses. Together they became an unbeatable private eye duo. Now they are back to unravel mysteries and solve more cases. When it comes to storytelling Sam & Max: Freelance Police steers away from what you'd normally find in conventional PC games (which are becoming so darn predictable and mind-numbing these days).

Hey, look Max! We’re on TV!

I told you, I took a shower last month! Now let go!

At present, the developers remain tight-lipped on specific plot details, so we're not quite sure what mischief Sam & Max will come across this time around. The one thing we do know, however, is that events will unfold through six unique tales tied together into a comprehensive main storyline. Basically, the plot structure is closely related to several different cases Sam & Max will get to handle along the way. Whatever it is they got themselves into, I'm pretty sure it involves a plethora of bizarre gags, exotic scenery, and a ton of screwball remarks. Among the two stars we're really keen to see in action once again, this sequel sees the comeback of other characters. One of these is Flint Paper, Sam and Max's closest neighbor, who apparently plays a major role in S&M: Freelance Police.

As before, there will be a few additional gameplay elements next to completing certain tasks and solving a number of challenging puzzles. As players progress through the game, they are going to unlock a wide variety of mini-games (another nostalgic moment taken from the original). At this point, it has been revealed that the game will contain more than a dozen mini-games for your enjoyment. Controlling characters will be handled almost as simply as in the previous title. This means that the controls won't deviate much from the usual point-and-click routine.

The first concern during the development was to make the transition from 2D to 3D, with a reflective devotion to capturing the uplifting spirit of the original. For this project, the developers settled on fusing a number of technologies currently used in several LucasArts titles; such as Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels, RTX, Gladius, and others. Looking at what the technology has done for the abovementioned games we have every reason to believe that it will do justice for Freelance Police.