• Format: PSN (version reviewed), PC, Mac, iPad (sigh)
  
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Telltale Games
  
• Developer: Telltale Games
  
• Players: 1
• Site: http://www.telltalegames.com/samandmax/thedevilsplayhouse

This latest season of Sam & Max got off to a great start, and then it got even better. In last month’s episode however, the quality of the jokes took a kamikaze nosedive – seriously affecting the overall experience in a Sam & Max adventure. It was with some trepidation, therefore, that we approached the penultimate instalment.

The episode starts out promisingly enough, with a great take on the stereotypical zombie movie siege scene. A most welcome bonus is that, for the first time in this season, the top quality jokes start a – comin’ right from the off. In fact, top quality jokes are to be found throughout the three hours or so you’ll spend playing. As with all well written adventures, we found ourselves purposefully leaving any sensible or logical – looking dialogue choice that might advance the plot until last, in order to fully explore the script. Much like the inane conversations we tend to conduct with family and friends, in fact.

The canine Al Jolson tribute band didn't go down too well.

In terms of plot, Alley of the Dolls sets things up nicely for the final episode. You finally come face to face with the mysterious Dr Norrington, and learn a little more about the true nature of the Devil’s Toybox, the Toys themselves, and Max’s powers. You also of course get to the bottom of all this ‘army of Sams’ malarkey. If you guess who’s behind the clones before his/her identity is revealed then you need the services of a good psychiatrist, as your thought processes clearly aren’t in sync with those of the rest of us. Nonetheless it almost makes sense, even if three important questions (why are the clones of Sam, where did the clone master get his DNA from, and when did he get a chance to do the cloning? Or design, build, and use all the relevant equipment for that matter?) are never answered.

Mind you, it ain’t got nothin’ on the plot holes in Heavy Rain.

Still, if you’re prepared to accept a giant anthropomorphic rabbit with incredible psychic powers and his fully dressed 6ft tall canine friend, you shouldn’t really be worried about such matters. Of more concern are a few minor blips in the gameplay. Generally speaking, Alley of the Dolls is a straightforward point – and – click (well, walk – and – click) adventure. That’s no criticism in itself; but after the effort Telltale put into giving previous episodes fresh ideas and clever puzzles, the ‘you know the drill by now’ attitude here is a tad disappointing.

Away from our keyboards, this is as sophisticated as our humour gets.

Ironically perhaps, it is the one time the episode tries something new and convoluted that stands out as the one disappointing, pace – breaking moment. The Cthonic Destroyer may sound like a 19^th century euphemism for a penis, but it is in fact a new Psychic Toy Max needs near the end. The puzzle you need to crack to grab it centres around a combination of setting four dials and – a little help for you here – two of Max’s existing abilities. It’s supposed to be a process of elimination but, whether you beat the puzzle on your first attempt or your tenth, it will almost certainly be down to luck.

Ultimately however a game of this kind lives or dies on its script and puzzles. The script is the best yet and the puzzles, while slightly less inventive than in previous episodes, are solid (the one mentioned above excepted). This is almost Sam and Max back on top form. We hope that for the final episode next month, we can take away the word ‘almost’.

4/5

In a bleak city, down an even bleaker alley, sat the bleakest bar in the world. Desperate glimmers of light slid under the gap between the old wooden door and the street outside, only to be swallowed and drowned in a mixture of darkness and rainwater. A slim figure wearing an ageing mud coloured trench-coat sloshed through puddle after puddle, eventually reaching the dull dark door to somewhere no one wanted to be and reached for the rusted handle. With an easy twist and an ear splitting creak, the door opened.

“You found your way back. That’s an Achievement,” someone remarked sarcastically upon his entrance.

A haze was forever present in that horrible place. A murky yellow and brown. It stunk of open beer bottles left in the sun, but there was no way that place had ever been graced by daylight. It was tiny; there were no more than four tables cast adrift in the visible stench, and the bar on the opposite side was manned by a barely visible barman who recreated the picture of Bigfoot to a tee.

The trench-coated figure glared at the source of the voice, finally working out from where it had come. Through the haze he went, to the source of this sarcastic, bloated voice. At the table in the corner, the dirtiest corner, the corner that somehow managed to smell even worse, was another man. The man at the table, wearing a white shirt with a green segmented circle decal, nursed a nearly empty bottle and silently toasted the success of finding him in that mire. A grunt came from the bulky barman, confirming the significance of the event at a level the trench-coated man didn’t care to comprehend.

With another gulp of the unfinished beer the man spoke again, “Don’t see you in here often…”

Taking the seat opposite him, the trench-coated man slid into a damaged looking wooden chair. It creaked almost as much as the door did, confirming the state of disrepair the place was in. Occupied it may be, but cared for it was not. In one smooth motion he let the coat slide down his broad shoulders, revealing his black shirt and matching trousers below. He regretted introducing his favourite coat to the floor – a floor that by the looks of it could tell a thousand stories, and none of them clean. He was left with little option though as the omnipresent stink carried a horrible heat behind it, reinforcing, defending and persisting.

“Felt like a change,” he said to the drinker.

“Got some money to spend now, right?” the drinker replied with amusement.

The animosity was obvious. It had always been there whenever they met. At some point, long before their first meeting in that disgusting abode, at a crossroad where they took opposing paths, a subdued dislike was conceived. That bar, that bar with the intimidating barman and post nuclear war décor, had become the incubator for their mutual dislike. The dislike was brewed, mixed, encouraged to grow and eventually gave birth to hatred. Yet they both kept coming back.

The drinker smirked with the bottle hanging out his mouth, “How does it feel? To stoop to my level, I mean.”

He glanced to the side of the table, to the pocket of his trench-coat filled with money. He looked back at the other man, to the beer bottle still hanging from his mouth despite clearly being empty. In the pit of his stomach he knew there was no retort to the accusation. There was no defence, no easy way to escape the obvious. For the first time in a while there was no counter argument. There was no support in that place either. The barman was neutral, an equal opportunity purveyor of liquid escapism. The bottle still hung in that mouth, an Achievement in itself given the slouched angle. Or should that be Trophy?

“It isn’t the same,” he managed to say at last.

A straw grasped at the last second was held tightly in his fist. The last one. The only one. Desperation epitomised. There was still a difference between them, they were not the same person. He looked at the drunk, the sloppily dressed drunk that stunk of that place, enjoying the filth his wealth had bought. He looked at his glazed-over eyes and smirk that could so easily morph into a sneer at any moment and knew; they were not the same.

The drunk leant across the table, “Really? People pay me for my services. Always have. It’s the best way to do things. No, you said. No, it isn’t. You need to offer the service for free. Yet here you are with your pockets full of guilt and broken promises.”

A sigh escaped so fast that there wasn’t time to try and stop it. A frightening chuckle came from the towering barman, now playing the part of the audience. The drunk, his enemy, his friend, confident that he had won this argument, the last argument setting them apart, lay back in his chair with his hands behind his head. A beaming smile appeared out of nowhere, a surprise attack, a Fatality waiting to happen. The money filling his pockets suddenly felt as dirty as everything else in that place. No wonder he felt at home.

“What choice did I have?”

It was a rhetorical question, signifying that he had given in. Surrendered to the obvious, the thing he could not retort, surrendered to the lure of money. It was one thing they had always had in common even when they were enemies. But now the line between them was as blurred as the drunk’s vision with anything distinguishing them from one another gone, lost, forgotten.

He turned to the barman. “Two beers.”

Two dirty brown bottles were opened, carried, and placed onto the dismal table they shared. The drunk eagerly took up a bottle, toasted once more, and started drinking. The other looked at the other bottle, at the plain label that could be any brand, at the foam dripping down the sides, at the fingerprints left on it by the barman’s unclean hands. The desire to drink was strong enough to stomach the horrible ale. He took a gulp and toasted back.

The drunk nodded towards the barman’s open palm. “Pay the man.”

A collection of coins, small parts of a greater evil, the proof that he had given in, were retrieved from the mud stained trench-coat’s pocket and given to the barman. There was no acknowledgement, no thanks and no appreciation. Still playing the part of the audience, the barman only scowled at them both with equal disdain and then returned to the safe haven of his bar, away from the stench, the haze and the two fools.

They drank together, they drank that horrible tasting ale, and shared stories for an hour. They weren’t happy stories, they were admissions of guilt more than anything else. It made him uncomfortable to think about it; but that was what the beer was for. He was new to this, the exploitation of people, but the drunkard was an old hand, he’d been doing it for years.

“Do you want some advice?” the drunkard slurred at the end of the evening.

The man was too tired to turn the offer down. He’d been treading water since he entered that place, but now he was drowning. He’d sunk and at the bottom he had found this person sitting across from him, the person wanting to help him, to help him sink even lower.

“…Go ahead,” he said with the second accidental sigh of the night.

The drunk smiled and leant forward, filling the air between them with the putrid smell of his breath escaping through the gaps in his rotting teeth. The barman, pretending to clean a glass with an equally dirty cloth, smirked and shook his head, predicting what would be said.

“Give the people what they want.”

The drunkard laughed out loud.

“And then charge them for it.”

• Format: PSN (version reviewed), PC, Mac, iPad (sigh)
  
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Telltale Games
  
• Developer: Telltale Games
  
• Players: 1
• Site: http://www.telltalegames.com/samandmax/thedevilsplayhouse

The latest season of Sam & Max is now in full swing with this, episode 3, marking the halfway point. It’s been a triumphant return for the dysfunctional duo so far – can Telltale Games keep it up?

As suggested by the end of episode 2, you start off here with Max’s pedigree chum Sam going solo. This is used as an excuse for a slightly different style of gameplay; rather than directly controlling Sam’s movement and exploring the environment, each time you visit an area Sam automatically jumps into interrogating the NPC lurking around there. With the emphasis on dialogue, you’re prompted to interrupt the story your NPC is giving at the right moment – and with the right technique, such as a threat or an accusation of lying – to glean more information from them. In this way you pick holes in the witness accounts you’re given, and go back and forth between interrogations until you work out what to do next.

"Put the doggie treats in a bag! DO IT!"

It’s yet another way The Devil’s Playhouse prevents the experience from becoming stale, and is a welcome example of something completely new. Unfortunately however, the humour of the whole of this first act’s script is dead on arrival. You can see where the jokes are, but they just don’t work. After the slow starting but ultimately hilarious first two episodes, it’s like being given the keys to your local sweet shop – which you then find has been turned into a very small Jehovah’s Witness hall.

The second act returns to traditional Sam & Max gameplay. Although you find Max, most of your time here will be spent with SammunMak at your side and, frankly, we wish it wasn’t. As a character, he’s fine; but he has a typically irritating Saturday morning cartoon kid’s voice. You know, one of those ones where a woman in her late thirties supposedly sounds just like a ten year old boy?

At least the puzzles remain enjoyable and clever.

Max remains at your side for the whole of the third act and perhaps because of this, the comedy finally threatens to stutter into life. Threatens to; it occasionally stands up before collapsing again, like a rotting zombie. The episode is enjoyable from start to finish thanks to the ever – enjoyable puzzles and solid game design, but a Sam & Max game without a tidal wave of successful jokes is like a simile without… you know… one of those things at the end that makes it… never mind.

Poor Max, he accidentally watched five seconds of Big Brother.

Episodic games always seem to suffer from dips in quality. We believed that the latest season of Sam & Max would be different, but we’re sorry to say we were mistaken. As previously mentioned, the game design is as excellent as ever – but if the quality of the script doesn’t climb back up to match it again (and stay there), this is one season that will go out with a fizzle rather than a bang.

3/5

• Format : PSP (version reviewed), PS3, iPhone
• Unleashed : Out Now
• Publisher : StormBASIC
• Developer : StormBASIC
• Players : 1
• Site : http://www.stormbasic.com/

Sony’s answer to the iPhone/Touch has been a strange and twisted “yelp”, like a griffin getting his foot jammed in a doorway. Instead of releasing a new all-singing all-dancing PSP, they took the current one they had and ripped bits out of it. Then they flattened it with a steamroller (or maybe even a rolling pin, the jury’s still out on that) and sold it for even more than the one with its bits still attached! The PSPGo’s apparent saving grace and Sony’s answer to the games in the iTunes store is the minis series. It’s here that you will find Tehra Dark Warrior.

Dragons; no fantasy adventure would be complete without them

The opening story reads much like an old text adventure which seems rather strange, unless you’re under 25 and think a ‘text adventure’ is something you do with your latest lover. As the game opens up it becomes instantly reminiscent of the N64 era in its lighting, colours and shadow which (for a mini) is quite a pleasant surprise. What you get on-screen are fairly chunky and solid looking graphics; a tad too ugly for the big screen but rather pleasant on the PSP and let’s be fair, that’s where you’re going to be playing it. Less of a surprise is Tehra herself, a tattooed warrior-goddess type who thought the most suitable armour to fight hoards of Orcs in would be the string from her morning mail package delivery. The music, it must be said, is done with panache and sets the tone for the huge undertaking of Tehra’s job, to destroy the dark forces; you know the deal. Crescendos of orchestral magnitude conjure the feeling of battles that belong in Lord of the Rings, and when combined with some of the artwork within the storytelling text screens it really makes you want to kick some medieval fantasy ass. That, sadly, is where the promise ends because once you start playing there will be a shadow of darkness so big that no sheepskin-G-string can turn your attention away from it.

Going on dates with Tehra was always difficult

Tehra’s little trick throughout the game is being able to turn herself into a demon which means a nastier, meaner and more unpleasant version of herself (and also blue-er!). What this boils down to is a few seconds of unblockable attacks and almost invincibility by pressing the left shoulder button. Sounds good? Well, apart from those mentioned above there aren’t any other up-shots. No extra moves or magic, just the same basic slash, slash, slashing that you do as-per-normal and believe us; there’s a lot of slashing. There are a few set moves for her slashfest which are: up high slashing, down low slashing, and a general in-your-face slashing. There is magic to try and mix it up a bit and although the fire/electric magic moves are upgradeable, they still feel underwhelming and even unresponsive to use.

Keep slashing, keep slashing, keep slashing....

Unresponsive; that’s really the best word for the controls on the whole, as you’ll notice when trying to block incoming attacks. The timing window you have to deflect attacks is so minimal you’re best off putting your hope into your dodge button. If only that worked. The camera puts itself in such awkward places that when faced with multiple enemies, just seeing who’s attacking can be hard, let alone dodging projectile attacks at the same time as fighting. Tehra Dark Warrior has a lot of nice ideas, even if they are mostly found in every other fantasy RPG. Its biggest shortcomings though are in its fight mechanics. Clunky and slow controls combined with awkward camera moments really let this down, lord knows how this plays on the iPhone!

2/5

And maybe we should. A 2.5D fighting game, Deadliest Warrior throws legendary fighters from every era of human history against one another, in the fashion of the TV show of the same name.

The Deadliest Warrior won’t be the prettiest title available for download on either the PS3 or Xbox 360, but it is still impressive. Attack animations appear smooth and articulated, while character reactions to damage are haphazard and jarring. The animations being critiqued do not manage to remove you from the excitement, however, because the game prides itself on fast, furious, arcade-like action. In fact, it is mostly reminiscent of Bushido Blade in that regard. While not one hit kills, it isn’t impossible to land a 3 or 4 hit combo to finish off an opponent. Yeah. People die pretty easily in “realistic” situations.

Much like the TV show, players will find their fighters switching between weapons in the midst of combat. If your katana isn’t working against a blunderbuss, break out your long range shuriken and show that pirate what-for.

The combatants available for play are the the Apache, Knight, Ninja, Pirate, Samurai, Spartan and the Viking; all of which are warriors from season 1 of the show. Since season 2 has not fully aired, characters will be made available for download as they are revealed on television.

Look for the Deadliest Warrior to hit both Xbox Live and the PSN come the 4th quarter of 2010.

• Format: PSN
  
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Hello Games
  
• Developer: Hello Games
  
• Players: 1 – 2
  
• Site: www.hellogames.org

Joe Danger is the videogame equivalent of bubblewrap. At first glance it doesn’t look like something that will take up much of your time – but you can tell there’s something special about it. And once you pick up and play, you won’t want to stop.

Joe himself, despite looking like a young Bruce Forsyth (as seen playing a knife wielding killer in Bedknobs & Broomsticks – seriously, go look) is a stuntman looking to make a career comeback. This is an excuse for dozens of bitesized levels where you drive from left to right on a bike, collecting items while you jump and perform stunts on the way to the finish line. The phrase ‘easy to learn, difficult to master’ may be seen and heard more than the phrase ‘I hate James Blunt’, but it’s perfectly appropriate here.

Pulling off tricks is nice and easy; lean Joe forwards or backwards for stunts such as flips and wheelies, and play around with L1 and R1 to find out what other aerial tricks are available. As well as looking flashy (when you don’t time the landing wrong and crash) and earning you points, stunts are used to refill your boost meter, which must be full before you can use it. Later in the game, you also realise just how much of an effect aerial stunts have on the trajectory and speed of your descent thanks to the semi – realistic physics. By this point however, the learning process for the deceptively simple controls will be well behind you.

Collectables have a star theme, which is the first hint of the Mario influence; most levels feature small blue stars to be collected, some have one or two larger yellow stars hidden in out of the way places, and beating one of the stage’s challenges – such as finding and collecting said stars, or all six letters of the word ‘DANGER’, or finishing within a time limit – rewards you with a gold star. These are a sort of currency used in the main menu as, while some stages are automatically unlocked, most require 1 – 6 stars to ‘buy’ access.

Try telling us this looks nothing like Mario. Okay, now with a straight face.

With hazards to be leapt over and springs providing greater height for ground jumps, Mario continues to make its presence felt in the times when Joe Danger plays like a platformer – which is often. You’re free to take your time rather than race through the stages if you wish and in some sections, it’s actually the most sensible approach. Not, however, during the handful of races scattered throughout the career.

There are also a few human bowling sections (think Pain) and some very clever, for wont of a better phrase, stunt puzzles. You’re also introduced to the level editor in a few stages when you’re required to delete, add, or move objects in order to progress.

The (excellent) editor for making your own stages isn’t quite as powerful as we’d like however, mainly due to the limit placed on how much you can drop into a level; and level sharing is limited to friends. Multiplayer is offline only, and the framerate in splitscreen dips slightly. Despite these moans, both playing and creating in this game are hideously addictive. Hideously, as some gold star challenges are evil incarnate.

"Who's the bar steward in the black..."

Until it makes the inevitable multiplatform jump however, Joe Danger is one of the best PS3 exclusives, right up there with the Uncharted games and LittleBigPlanet. Remember the game you tried to imagine when it was first announced that Mario and Sonic were teaming up? This is it.

5/5

Photo: Berliner Photography

Sir Richard Branson – you know, the guy who looks like all three BeeGees at once who could buy your home town with his loose change – has launched Virgin Gaming. He decided to ram the announcement home by pulling up at E3 in an armoured truck which, it turned out, was carrying one million dollars in cash. This represents the total amount of money Virgin Gaming will pay out over the next twelve months in prize tournaments.

“Gamers want something new, something interactive and something fun. Virgin Gaming is just that – access to play the best games in super competitive tournaments with anyone in the world and win the biggest prizes and the most rewards,” said Noel Edmonds – er, we mean, Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group, and gamer-in-training. “Giving away over $1 million in cash and prizes this year is proof. We’ve had great success with Virgin Games and Virgin Interactive Entertainment and recognized the enormous potential of an online community of 40 million daily users. I welcome gamers from novice to expert to join the online Virgin Gaming community.” He said, with dollar signs appearing in a thought bubble rising from his head. Possibly.

Virgin Gaming essentially involves gambling on your skill, so it’s very much a case of having to spend money in order to make money. That said, Virgin Gaming will be running free – to – enter contests for Madden NFL 10, FIFA 10, Halo 3, and ModNation Racers. Qualifications for all of these contest begins on June 22^nd so if you’re interested, prepare yourself quickly.

So if you think you’re good enough to earn some cash from your gaming skills, head over to www.virgingaming.com to see how it works.

Each game will feature improved resolution, surround sound, and achievement/trophy support. It’s unclear if these re-releases will include 16:9 support or improved graphics, but potentially leaked footage that surfaced a few months ago suggested otherwise. In addition, Sega’s press release shows screenshots of Sonic in 4:3 with a border, and Crazy Taxi stretched to fit 16:9. Either way, Sega plans to show both games at the upcoming E3 Expo, so it should be clear what we’re getting soon.

Pricing, a definitive release date, and additional titles are still unannounced. In fact, it’s not entirely clear whether this is a one-off experiment or an on-going plan. Hopefully we’ll get more information at Sega’s E3 booth.

To be honest, with Rez, Soul Calibur, and Ikaruga already available on XBLA, the addition of Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi almost feels like business as usual. If Sega tells us they’re following up with Chu Chu Rocket Online and Jet Set Radio, then we’ll have something to talk about.

Hello Games have finally announced the release date of their first game, Joe Danger. The DLC title – currently a PSN exclusive – will launch on June 8^th in America, and June 9^th “everywhere else”. The game will cost £9.99 in the UK, and $14.99 in the US.

Joe Danger puts you into the decidedly unsafe seat of the eponymous stunt bike rider, and actually has more in common with Super Mario than Excitebike. With several different game modes, a level editor, and a design philosophy that firmly puts the emphasis on fun, this is most definitely one to look forward to. If you want to know why we’re bouncing around the CG offices with excitement like we’re whacked out on gummiberry juice, check out our hands – on preview from last year’s Eurogamer Expo. Or perhaps you’d like to read an interview with one of the developers, conducted at the same event.

After you’ve basked in the proverbial sunshine of our writing, why not head over to http://www.hellogames.org/ where the announcement was first made.

• Format: PSN (version reviewed), PC, Mac, iPad (sigh)
  
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Telltale Games
  
• Developer: Telltale Games
  
• Players: 1
• Site: http://www.telltalegames.com/samandmax/thedevilsplayhouse

The latest season of Sam & Max got off to a good start with ‘The Penal Zone’ (ahem). The quality of episodic games can vary wildly however, and Telltale Games have often been afflicted with this problem themselves. So does The Tomb Of Sammunmak grab onto one of Max’s lucky rabbit feet, or does it smell like dog’s… dinner?

The story picks up exactly where episode one left off, With Sam and Max confronted with what seem to be their own skeletons. An unexplained yet terribly convenient projector and roll of film reveals what’s going on.. to an extent. The whole story behind the skeletons, and a little more information about the mysterious Devil’s Toybox, is then pieced together over the course of the episode.

"He's just projecting his anger." "What an interesting project." "To project and serve." FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GET A NEW CAPTIONIST!!!

There are a total of four reels for the projector, each one playing a different chunk of the chain of events leading up to the skeletons. Sam and Max can take direct control of their ancestors in the movie reels via Max’s new power of astral projection (ho ho). ‘Sameth’ has a moustache and ‘Maximus’ will on a few occasions turn into a cow, but apart from that it’s business as usual. Sameth and Maximus even sound exactly the same as our heroes, which is convenient for a) character empathy, and b) the Telltale Games budget.

It’s possible to complete the four reels in chronological order – there’s a trophy for doing so in the PS3 version – but you don’t have to. You will have to switch between reels several times though, in a vague approximation of the use of ‘future vision’ in the first episode. For example, at one point in the first reel, you need to give an idea for a brilliant new toy. In order to find out what this idea is however, you must progress far into the third reel where the toy is already being developed.

As in The Penal Zone, the script gets off to a slow start in terms of good jokes. Once it gets going however it’s far more hit than miss, and is undeniably Sam & Max. One of the highlights is surely the brief yet hilarious description of the board game Monopoly, which we shan’t spoil by repeating here. The sharp script works in an unholy alliance with very smart gameplay and gameplay design. Each of the areas in the four reels is quite small; but by making the player switch between reels on a regular basis (which in turn unlocks new characters, dialogue choices and rooms) Telltale Games have grabbed repetition and boredom, smashed their heads together, and thrown the lifeless corpses into a gigantic blender. And allowed the player to help.

That, sadly, is not Mr Bean.

You will most likely find that, even if you switch the hint system off altogether, the solution to virtually every puzzle will present itself to you straight away. That isn’t important. What’s important is that the puzzles are funny, they’re clever, and the whole episode is damn fun. This is a game to be played with, laughed at, and enjoyed.

The Tomb Of Sammunmak will last you approximately three hours, which isn’t very long. However, that’s three hours packed full of great jokes, clever game design, and a proudly displayed love for joy and laughter.

And, now and again, very childish humour.

5/5