Sam & Max Season 3 Episode 1: The Penal Zone Review (PC)

You have just entered ‘The Penal Zone!’

It seems hard to believe that it’s been 2 years since Season 2 of the Sam & Max episodic game format came to an end, but apparently it has! For those not familiar with the series’, Telltale produce adventure games released in an episodic format over the course of 6 (or more recently 5) months. In the Sam & Max series’ the episodes are all self-contained stories, but build towards a greater story arc at the same time, usually revealed in the last episode. This series seems to be no different at first glance, but Telltale have included a few new features, which keep the games from getting stale.

This episode begins in a rather unusual place for a game, at the end. This is fairly confusing at first, but it acts as something of a tutorial for using Max’s newly acquired psychic powers (although where he acquired them remains a mystery). A space ape is tearing through the streets in a space ship, blowing up everything in his path, and Sam & Max are tasked with putting a badge on his back & opening a portal to “The Penal Zone”, an intergalactic prison from which the ape (General Skunkap’e) escaped.

Don’t expect to understand the story completely from the off

This sets the scene for a particularly confusing & disjointed episode, with a rather strange story, which makes very little sense, but isn’t that fairly normal for a Sam & Max game? While the non-linear narrative did add to the story, it left me scratching my head, as it’s not explained particularly well. A twilight zone styled narrator adds to the mood, but through all of the confusion the story is reasonably interesting, if a little on the thin side.

The game’s graphics have improved a little from the previous series, but the style will be familiar to anyone who has played Telltale’s games before. Cartoon styled graphics suit the stylised story & gameplay, and the new features are all animated really well. All of the characters sound as you would expect, and the voices & music are well recorded and add a lot of atmosphere to the game.

There’s not an awful lot more I can say about this game, I found it a little confusing in places but generally enjoyable. I’m expecting a lot from this series, as the 2 previous series’ seem to have got better and better as they progressed. Telltale have managed to keep the franchise fresh – this is definitely a game you should play if you played the previous series’, and even if you didn’t it’s fairly easily accessible, just don’t expect to understand the story completely from the off.