Sam & Max Episode 6: Bright Side of the Moon Review

Time to wrap this puppy (and rabbit) up.

The Moon's not so peaceful and quiet as it used to be.

Making Abe Lincoln vomit... now there's a challenge.

Sam & Max finally arrived to a long-awaited conclusion of a wacky six-episode long journey that started in October 2006. The sixth installment in Sam & Max: Season 1 rockets our two crime fighting heroes straight to the Moon. While Max was enjoying another average day of his strong-minded, but hardly subtle, presidency, Sam came to a startling discovery, linking many of their old cases to a new problem at hand. Conveniently enough, the phone rings and now the dog/rabbit detective duo comes face to face with a new (yet all-too-familiar) adversary.

As before, players are greeted with many well-known characters that kept Sam & Max company during the entire series. The most pleasing thing about this game, or indeed any episode in Season 1, is that all the jokes and gags make you smile and giggle regardless if you've played other episodes. It also comes to my attention that some of our readers inquired if it's possible to enjoy some of the episodes individually. Again, the whole idea of Season 1 is to make you feel like you're watching a really funny sitcom and the cool thing is that you can have fun with each story independently. Of course, at the end of the day, I'd sooner recommend trying out the episodes consecutively, because that's the way they're meant to be played. And, it definitely gives you a clearer picture on how Sam & Max solve problems - in completely uncommon fashion, to say the least. The simple fact is, you don't have to play through the entire fourth episode to know your way around, say, the fifth episode.

Another plus is that the developers did take into account some of the feedback garnered after the release of previous installments. This time around, there's an increased number of locations to visit and most of them are quite large (when compared to earlier episodes, that is). This is a step-up, but it's a great shame they didn't consider this earlier on in the series.

As much as I enjoyed the humor, all the ever-imaginative characters and the fine background art, it seems impossible to rate this game any higher that we did. Essentially, this game doesn't introduce anything innovative to a somewhat waning market of PC games. Regretfully, the developers never really showed the nerve to go back to the traditional play style of classic adventure games. In reference to the puzzles, Sam & Max Season 1, sadly, feels like it was targeted for slightly younger audiences. Puzzles on offer aren't half as inventive or challenging like those I remember from Sam & Max Hit the Road. The funny dialogue and general silliness of the main characters are, of course, still there and each discussion in the game makes you chuckle. Other than that, there's really nothing much to be had with this one.

Weeeee!

Where's our office again?

Still, good humor and decent artwork are in short supply these days. Even with the mentioned drawbacks, Sam & Max Episode 6: Bright Side of the Moon carries the familiar spirit of our two heroes, which was successfully conveyed throughout the whole series. Character witticisms and conversing with NPCs is the main attraction here and it's probably the only reason why I feel this game should be worth anybody's time.

It's not about the gameplay, it's not about making an impact with episodic content (although the series did do a decent job of that, as well) and it most definitely isn't about setting new visual standards. If you pick up any of the episodes, you'll surely have a laugh, which is always a nice change from the generic crap we're used to these days.

In any event, come May 10, gamers will finally be able to get their hands on all six episodes, for 35 bucks. And when it comes down to it, it's not much to give for the amount of entertainment the series brings.