Two loveable favorite characters from the past return in a new adventure filled with laughs.
Culture Shock is the return of Sam and Max, Freelance Police detectives that are brought in to solve the more bizarre cases. This time around, they have been assigned to find out more about a gentleman named Brady Culture and if he has been brainwashing the local populace. Along the way, you meet several supporting characters that help you with the case.
The game does not push the envelope in regards to the graphics, but it does give us very nice updated visuals for the game. Sam and Max look like polished versions of their earlier selves. The backgrounds are very detailed and have a lot of small but subtle touches that stand out and make the game a little more personal. The control system is rather nice and it works well for the game. Action sequences are not too difficult to use and you never feel like you can’t finish the game. I did notice that on a slower machine, I did have some response issues, but nothing that would kill the game.
Sound is top notch and everyone seems to be giving their all for the performances. While I am not totally sure that the same people that voiced Sam and Max back in the original game did it for this one, I can say that they did a fantastic job capturing the essence of the characters. They kept me interested in the performance and I truly wanted to find out what would happen next.
While the game has a lot going for it, length is not one of those things. The game can be finished in a relatively short amount of time. This is due to its episodic nature, which may also put some off of the game. Also, there is not a lot of replay value in the game. While you might want to go back and try some of the other dialog trees, it will not necessarily change the outcome of the game. These are big factors considering you are shelling out $10 for each episode.
So Sam and Max deliver on giving you a old school adventure game experience. The characters are solid and the story is very humorous. Episodic content may be the future for the adventure game genre and Sam and Max show us that the change can be quite entertaining.