14 DAY TRIAL // 
There was a time, long ago - back in the 1990's, when adventure games were at their peak. This kind of games made history because of their stories and fun gameplay. Character design resembled comic books and the main purpose was to be hilarious. These were the times when American illustrator and writer Steve Purcell became well known for his comic book characters Sam and Max. Simultaneously with the producing of four Sam & Max comic book titles, Purcell contributed to the background work and animation for several LucasArts adventure games. Among others he had the privilege of working on the first two Monkey Island games in the series (1990 and 1991) and, of course, Sam & Max Hit the Road (1993). Later he began working in Pixar Animation Studios' Story Development division. After the sudden cancellation of Sam & Max Freelance Police (in March 2004), September 2005 brought adventure fans a most wonderful news: a small company founded by ex-LucasArts employees, named Telltale Games, announces to be working in collaboration with Steve Purcell to create a new episodic Sam & Max game series.
Telltale Games have the advantage of a great collective experience on notable adventure games like Grim Fandango, Monkey Island and Sam & Max. They announced the series to have short, frequent (about one month apart), self - contained episodes. So they put the bases of the new series with Sam & Max: Culture Shock in November 2006. If you missed the golden ages of adventuring or you want to see two of the best known heroes back in action, than you cannot miss out this series.
Story Continuing the tradition of previous adventures Sam, the 6-foot anthropomorphic dog in detective clothing, and Max, the "hyperkinetic rabbity thing", are once again called to save the world. Not even hypnosis can damage their unique, bright, optimistic and fun to be around personalities. The white rabbit is still the craziest (in a good sense of way) creature I've ever seen in a game and the dog is the most attentive, understanding, calm detective.
Episode one puts the two characters face to face with three former child stars of the Soda Poppers TV show and an evil mastermind underachieving actor (I can't spoil the whole story so be a little patient until you get your hands on the game). From a simple "phone-knapping" to a series of vandalism acts in the neighborhood and a possible world takeover, the furry detectives have to solve all mysteries while also having fun by doing some more "gratuitous violence" (as Max likes to say).
Concept We are presented with an easy to play point and click game. It's one of those games that only make use of your eyes' vigilance in spotting the interactive things in the picture while driving your mouse through the screen. With no worries whatsoever in regard to the camera movement (you'll always be presented with a good view of the stuff you need to use) you are to discover useful objects along with memories reviving tools such as pictures and a 20 years old file cabinet filled with electric bills (yeap, they have quite an experience in the field).
Although the player can take control of what Max says during some dialogs, the star character of this episode is Sam. He's the one that will obey your every command and start the conversation on any clickable thing there is in the game. Max will always reply however with his charmingly innocent remarks (that hide a joyful, pranks oriented personality). The producers offer a wide variety of replies to the actions done by the player so be sure to try out every possibility there is - you're not going to be sorry.
For the sake of practical jokes (and a short main quest needed action) the player is allowed to take the freelance police detectives for a ride in their DeSoto Chrysler (the old car that holds a special place in their hearts). Keep in mind it's a point and click game so don't try to use your keypad - just click more to the right or left and you'll soon get a chance of abusing your powers as police detectives.
Gameplay Making up for the short simple story behind the vandalistic acts, the game offers tons of hilarious moments. Max is constantly up to mischief and Sam is sometimes giving the tone (he couldn't possibly let his little friend have all the fun). All through the game there are comical situations accompanied with accordingly funny animations. Some of these situations include making use of the small inventory box Sam carries around. He is very fond of his "big gun" that he uses to make a lasting impression in as many situations as possible. He is however forced sometimes to rely on his persuasive communicative abilities (especially since there are some characters he got fond of and at some point the villain gets a hold of his shooting piece).
The gameplay is fluid as the puzzles involved have logical solutions that pop up to your mind as naturally as possible the minute you get a little bit acquainted with the unique personalities of the two main characters. As I mentioned before the game is all about having lots of fun while solving a short detective case so be prepared for a 3 to 4 hours session of laughter.
Video Being a comic book inspired game it was only natural that the graphical aspect would resemble a cartoon film like experience. I mean really guys - we're dealing with a dog wearing a business suit and a small (too small for his head) hat (no, no shoes) and a white (undressed) restless rabbit. They may have been granted with anthropomorphic features, but they couldn't possibly fit into a more realistic looking game. It's only fair to admire the courage of the producers to present a cartoonish game in a time when games tend to try to offer the best visual aspect modern technologies made possible. You're right, the look of the game is nothing like what we're used to nowadays, but it's a most appropriate choice for wrapping the concept in.
Sound I'm extremely sorry that I cannot post voice samples of the dialogs in the game. These are absolutely outstanding. Sam barrows a calm, serious voice that goes wonderfully with his appearance (actually completing the overall image of the detective). On the other hand Max is granted with a childish towards teenage voice (wasn't it the obvious choice?) that you could swear from the first second that is a naughty little being that is just waiting for the next opportunity to do another crazy stuff. The same way all the rest of the characters that appear in Culture Shock are granted with appropriate voice acting. As the cherry on top, the music is a perfect reminder of the old days when the two spooks were "born".
Multiplayer You're more than welcome to call in a friend to help you out or just take a look at the story, but there is no multiplayer option in the game.
Conclusion Despite the fact that the game often makes references to past adventures (from Sam & Max Hit the Road and the comic books) it was not intended for the player to have a well documented background knowledge of the two detectives previous deeds. However if you are aware of their work, than the game is a must as it grants the paper drawings with the voice acting and real time movement they deserve. The only downside of the game is that only after four hours of playing you'll be already on the internet looking for clues as when the next episode releases (January 2007 Telltale Games says). Other than that everything is smooth with our furry detective friends.
