Smiley's Life

A geek, gamer and programmer from Israel. I'm primarily a PC gamer with a few PS3 games. I usually post gaming-related content, music and my own thoughts on plenty of things.

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Review: Sam & Max - The Devil’s Playhouse

Note: This review was written right after playing episode 5, late at night, so it’s not particularly lengthy or descriptive. I may revise it or write an entirely new, longer one soon. (With the same score and opinion, obviously.)

Ever since I played episode 104 of Sam & Max, I liked this Freelance Police duo and wanted more. After playing The Devil’s Playhouse, Sam & Max has become a game series I love.

Season 3 brings action, top-notch comedy and difficult-yet-fun puzzles together to create a cinematic experience. It also introduces a five-chapter story, rather than five separate crimes like Telltale did in the previous two seasons. This makes The Devil’s Playhouse a complete, continued experience with a bright, big story arc.

The season starts off with a bang in The Penal Zone, in which a specific “space gorilla” named General Skun-ka’pe has escaped a dimensional prison called The Penal Zone and you have to imprison him once more. The game plays out well, with the new (optional) gamepad controls proving themselves to be very comfortable and intuitive.

The plot is very well-written, and each chapter’s own story is very interesting and blends in with the rest. This season had several twists, some major, some minor, some comical and all fit in with the rest of the story very nicely, in my opinion.

This season is very funny. While some parts made me laugh out loud, some also made me laugh my ass off. The various references to pop culture, jokes and sheer comic relief are great and fit in perfectly.

Finally, The Devil’s Playhouse deserves a score of 9/10 in my book.

# sam & max

# sam and max

# the devil's playhouse

# the penal zone

# the tomb of sammun-mak

# they stole max's brain

# the city that dares not sleep

# beyond the alley of the dolls

BioShock Infinite was recently announced by Irrational Games, the geniuses behind the first BioShock. Being a diehard BioShock fan, I acted how you would expect: I freaked out. (In the good way!)

Infinite is a prequel that takes place in Columbia, a steampunk city floating in the sky, at 1918. Yes, the BioShock franchise is leaving Rapture! As much as I loved Rapture, I do think it’s time to leave it. 2K Marin still managed to make great use of Rapture in BioShock 2, but they were squeezing the last drops. We all know Rapture already, using it once more will not do any good to the franchise. It was a genius move to replace Rapture with the entirely opposite Columbia: up in the sky versus down in the sea, visible to all and a symbol of humanity’s technological progress versus hidden to everyone and secret & brutal and harsh versus “calm” and bright. In addition, Infinite’s Columbia is just as amazing and exceptional as Rapture. It’s not as scary, but it’s seems like the best replacement.

In Infinite people don’t attack you unless you stir up trouble. They don’t just jump on you like they don’t like the shirt you’re wearing, as seen in the first game. In addition, the scuba-diving Big Daddies are replaced by much scarier, mechanical steampunk giants powered by what appears to be a human heart. Also, according to the story you are an agent sent to Columbia to track down Elizabeth, a woman who was kidnapped and is held prisoner in Columbia ever since she was a child. This brings me to the next point - in Infinite, you gain a companion: Elizabeth! The two of you combine your Plasmid powers to unleash devastating attacks on your enemies and progress through the game. The rest of these changes can be found on Shacknews’s (excellent) article “BioShock Infinite Reveal Preview”.

Being a diehard fan, there’s already a 90% chance I’ll pre-order this game. Sadly, we’ll have to wait until 2012 to get it. :-(

P.S.: I see a “Games for Windows” logo but I don’t see the “LIVE” logo! Yay!