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Sam & Max 205: What's New Beelzebub?

Score: 90%
ESRB: Not Rated
Publisher: GameTap
Developer: Telltale Games
Media: Download/1
Players: 1
Genre: Adventure

Graphics & Sound:

Sam & Max 205: What's New Beelzebub? concludes the second season of this episodic series in an adventure that nicely ties up the season's antics.

As always, the overly-exaggerated style that is Sam & Max helps to give this series its unique and comical appearance. With the inclusion of characters (both new and old) like Satan, Maimtron, the Soda Poppers, Stinky (both old and young) and Shambling Corporate Presence, you can expect a ton of cartoon violence and antics that is fitting of the series.

As always, sound and vocals are pretty good. Both Sam and Max play their parts well, while the Maimtron's constant desire to sing and Jurgen's Monster's constant lamenting just add to the overall comedy of the situation.


Gameplay:

Sam & Max 205: What's New Beelzebub? starts off where the previous episode ended. Sam and Max had found Bosco on a spaceship piloted by mariachis who travel through time in order to sing to people on their birthday. While they had returned Bosco's body to its rightful shape, they inadvertently sent him to hell, and now Sam and Max must travel there in order to get their local store clerk's soul back.

When our duo awaken, they find themselves in the subway under their office where Harry Moleman (longtime Sam & Max fans should remember him) is Death and won't let anyone onto the Soul Train who doesn't have a token.

When you do get to hell, you will see that it is a corporate office where every day is Monday and it is always one minute to quitting time. The cubes are populated by characters from past episodes like Hugh Bliss and Brady, but the real treat is the back room where victims of our heroes' antics get their own personal Hell. Before the end of the adventure, you will have to free Stinkey (the old one, not the girl), Bosco, Santa, his elf and the Desoto. You will also, inadvertently, be responsible for Satan's firing and subsequent re-hiring.


Difficulty:

Sam & Max 205: What's New Beelzebub? had a few tough spots in it, but for the most part, the puzzles seemed to be laid out in a very logical manner, at least as logical as this series tends to get. There is a point in the game where Satan has been ousted and he is standing on the street corner begging for food. He has a box of random stuff, so of course you go digging in it. For some reason, Max feels that the items he can best use are a chain of paperclips, a grocery list on Hell letterhead, and a bag of pork rinds. This random assortment of items of course comes in handy and everything falls together because they exist. This bit just seemed to tickle me since it seemed to be making fun of the adventure genre in general.

Game Mechanics:

The episodic Sam & Max games in general and What's New Beelzebub? specifically always seem to do a good job of dividing individual episode stories into manageable chunks that don't take an exceptional amount of time to get through. Here, there is the section of the episode before the opening credits, when you are trying to get into Hell, followed by your attempts to free your various friends from Hell and then your attempt to depose the new rulers of Hell. While the overall episode take about four or so hours to get through, this one story fits nicely into the season's overall arch and wraps up most loose ends without much worry.

Sam & Max 205: What's New Beelzebub? is the perfect way to wrap up the season. If you've gotten the first four episodes, then definitely grab this one, else you might want to wait a bit and get the whole thing in one fell swoop when the complete season comes out.


-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications
AKA Chris Meyer

Minimum System Requirements:



Windows XP/Vista, 800MHz Processor (if using a video card with hardware T & L); 1.5GHz processor (if using a video card without hardware T & L), 256 MB RAM, 32MB 3D-accelerated video card
 

Test System:



Alienware Aurora m9700 Laptop, Windows XP Professional, AMD Turion 64 Mobile 2.41 GHz, 2 GB Ram, Duel NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS 256MB Video Cards, DirectX 9.0c

Sony PlayStation 3 Dark Sector Sony PlayStation 2 Silent Hill: Origins

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated