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| Sam and Max having a conversation with Grnadpa Stinky. The player always several choices of dialogue when talking to someone. |
Sam and Max, Freelance Police, discover that Max has developed psychic powers, powers that react when Max encounters a toy from the Devil’s Toy Chest. Unfortunately for the duo they are not the only ones who want the toys, as the two have to deal with a space gorilla overlord, an evil museum curator, and the Elder Gods, all while trying to unravel the mystery of the Devil’s Toy Chest.
The Devil’s Playhouse is divided into five chapters. In each chapter the player controls Sam (who Max follows around) as they try to deal with some overarching problem. To solve the problem, the two have to overcome various silly obstacles and people. Like most adventure games, the obstacles and people are puzzles, and to solve the puzzle the player has to find or receive an object and use it in a not entirely sensible or usual way.
The team also has to spend a lot of time talking to people, either to advance the plot or find out what the puzzle is.
New to the Sam and Max series are Max’s psychic powers. Powers like mind reading, ventriloquism, or precognition, which the Sam and Max also use to solve puzzles. For example: using the ventriloquism to cause a distraction so they can sneak into somewhere.
The puzzles are a little challenging, but never too frustrating or too obtuse to figure out. It is all a matter of thinking what would make the most sense to use without worrying about common sense.
The graphics are problematic. The game is set up with 3D models that walk around confined areas. The characters have a limited number of programmed movements, which often do not line up with what the characters are saying, most noticeably with the lip synch. Characters also sometimes disappear. This may have something to do with the game being installed by downloading off the internet. Hopefully this does not happen with the version that can be bought retail.
The art design is okay, the designers opted for a cartoon look, but it works well with the setting.
The voice acting is all very good. Not a single voice is annoying. At times the voices in general sound like they are all talking with a lisp.
The story is very interesting and funny. The writers deserve credit for breaking away from the more formulaic storytelling of the first two seasons and doing different things with the story. The story picks up right where the last chapter left off instead of starting in the same place every time and moving from there. Anyone who has not played the first two seasons will not know what is going on or who anybody is, but fans of the series should be happy to see their characters developed. The only bad part is some of chapter four where Sam and Max do not have clear motivations for what they are doing, but the rest of the story is fine. There is also a small part in the third chapter where the style of the game changes, but thankfully it does not last very long.
The best part of this series has always been its humor, and this game does not disappoint. Every other line of dialogue is very funny, relying on lighthearted parody of culture, or people just people acting weird, or crazy. And there is a lot of dialogue, so players will be entertained the whole way through.
There is one problem with the stories and the puzzles, and that involves Max’s psychic powers. Several times a puzzle is solved by Max using his mind reading or precognition ability which will simply say what the answer is, or the story will advance because Sam and Max used the precognition ability to see what will happen then do it instead of a clever reason. It comes off as really lazy storytelling.
Sam and Max: the Devil’s Playhouse is a very fun and funny adventure game that anyone who enjoys adventures games and humor should like. Anybody who did not play the first two seasons will be completely lost, but that is all the more reason to go play the first two seasons as well.
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