Who would have thought that one of the first few episodic game series to actually stick to the formula would be about the adventures of a dog and a rabbit-like thing named Sam and Max. Now that the second episode is out just a mere two months after the first one, fans who enjoyed the comedy shtick between the two main characters will be perfectly satisfied with Situation: Comedy. Along with adding new characters, appearances from old ones and a whole new slew of zany conversations, Situation: Comedy is a solid pick-up for folks who are looking for an adventure filled with hilarity.
Situation: Comedy picks up with, where else, Sam and Max getting another mission from their office. This time, talk show host Myra Stump has gone crazy and taken her audience hostage. So it’s up to the two pals to figure out what’s up. Familiarity will immediately strike you once you look around the office again and also when you venture outside. Sybil’s place is still up at one end of the street, albeit with a change from psychotherapy to journalist of the "Alien Love Triangle" (which is pretty self-explanatory). On the other end, you still got Bosco’s store, who adopted a hilarious new moniker to keep the heat off his back. Trotting to the TV station where Stump holds her show, you’ll have to convince the studio director that the duo are suitable to appear on Stump’s show. In other words, ol’ Sam & Max will have to humiliate themselves on low-brow TV shows before jumping to Stump’s show. It’s pretty obvious where these TV shows get their ideas from and its the laid back, satirical humor that makes the duo’s appearance on them that much more hilarious.
For example, Max can act as one of the judges on "Embarrassing Idol", which is full of painfully hilarious acts and rather horrendous insults from the rabbit himself, such as "His singing sounds like a cat being dragged through rusty machinery." Poor Sam can only act as one of the contestants. In "Who Doesn’t Want to Be a Millionaire" Sam stumbles on absolutely random questions and, unfortunately, doesn’t win a million bucks despite his best effort. New characters include Hugh Bliss, famous "magician" and Prismatologist, and Philo Pennyworth, the unfortunate prize-winning actor who’s stuck on some crappy TV sitcom. Bliss’ overly exaggerated happiness and Pennyworth’s acting skills are all great additions to Situation: Comedy.
The puzzles are not hard at all, just like the first episode, and they are all adopted into the game rather tastefully. One early puzzle has the duo trying to track down Bosco’s last can of shaving cream, which has been captured by a group of rather dubious, and skinless, rats on little motorcycles. The rats can easily dodge Sam’s revolver shots so you have to figure out how to use the road to slow-down the rats.
The audio is still one of the main points. The voice acting of not only Sam & Max but also the rest of the characters is still top-notch. Also, the accompanied jazz-influenced soundtrack is absolutely superb. All in all, the humor is still offbeat and hilarious and the various quips from Max are still absolutely random. Like the first episode, expect the gameplay to range from 4-6 hours, depending on how long you decide to look at everything and listen to what the duo have to say. Situation: Comedy is currently available on GameTap and will be available from Telltale’s website on January 5th for $8.95. The machinima shorts that bridge the gaps in-between each episode are released somewhat weekly on Telltale’s site, too, so check them out.
