Sam & Max: Season 1 Episode 1: Culture Shock

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Developer
Publisher
Genre
ESRB Rating
Demo Release Date
Full Release Date
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Official Website
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Review Date

Sam & Max: Season 1 Episode 1: Culture Shock
Telltale Games
GameTap / Telltale Games
Adventure
Not Rated
17th October 2006
17th October 2006 Buy Now
PC (Reviewed)
http://www.telltalegames.com/samandmax
73MB
30th May 2008

What did I think before playing?
Sam & Max is a well known franchise that includes several point-and-click adventure games for PC along with cartoons and comic books. While I have seen some episodes of the cartoon, I haven't played one of their games and I don't recall ever playing any point-and-click adventure for anything more than a few minutes. Still, these episodic installments are close to wrapping up a second season in just a few months longer than it took Valve to get out just two episodes of Half Life 2.

What is included?
The worlds shortest demo ever! Essentially there is one puzzle to solve.

What did I think afterwards?
Hitting the icon on your desktop brings up a launcher which gives you the option of playing the trial or paying $8.95 for the full episode. There is also an ad in there for season two, with the first episode costing the same $8.95 or the full season for $34.95. Clicking the button to buy the full version of Culture Shock brings up a payment screen in the launcher. Clicking the season two ad launches your web browser and points it at a Tell Tale page. Well, I don't know if I want to buy it yet, so I'll stick with the trial for now.
The game starts out with a stylized intro which could be straight out of a cartoon version of the Sin City movie. The whole thing does feel very TV-show-esque. Nice start. The phone rings but has gone missing. Turns out there is a rat in the office holding it to ransom for some of the cheese Max has unfortunately mislaid. It is down to me to point-and-click my way around the room to find it. The puzzle's solution is as simple as opening a cupboard door and using an item in your inventory, but before I got to that I was more interested in clicking on everything in the room to see what would happen. The tone is set for the entire game with Sam's dryness countered by Max's irrational side which are both displayed through the conversation system and other interactions. Anyway, I find the cheese and get the phone back. It rings again and we have a case to solve! So it's off out the office door and...
The demo is over so I'm kicked back out to the launcher for another opportunity to fork over my money. Wow, that was quick!

Would I buy the full game?
Well I can see this being kinda fun and the presentation is great, but I have no indication of how long an episode will last so I can't make a good decision on whether it is worth the $8.95. So for now, no. In my opinion they should make the full first episode of the first season free now that season two is wrapping up. No need for demos of the other episodes then because you would fully understand what to expect from all of them. Tell Tale may end up with more sales that way by actually intriguing the player with the plot line and whatever cliff hanger you are left with, (hey, why else would I still be suffering through episodes of Lost other than to see the answers in the final episode?) rather than showing off how you mouse works.

Demo Pros
Clean, simple, cartoon graphical style complimented by enthused voice acting. Runs nice and smooth.

Demo Cons
So so short.

Demo Rating 5 / 10

Thoughts after playing the full game?
If I play the full game I will put comments here about whether I feel the demo was representative of the final product and if I am happy with the purchase.

Sales Figures
If I can find sales information about a game after it has been released I'll add that here. It may be useful to track demos to sales performance.