Sam & Max aren’t your regular police force…they’re the Freelance Police. Sam is a no-nonsense dog detective and his pal Max is a hyperkinetic rabbity thing. For more than 20 years they’ve been serving their brand of justice on the pages of underground comic books, on a Saturday morning cartoon, and in some popular computer adventure games. Now they’re ready for their third season of crazy madcap episodic point and click adventures! (PC version reviewed here)

In their last episode, Sam & Max thwarted one of the psychic evil toys of power: a wooden dummy ventriloquist doll with a mind of his own. But just after the duo stopped the dummy and his army of Sam clones, Max was possessed by the demon who played with the evil toys in the Devil’s Toybox. And now Max is a giant, lumbering Godzilla-like monster, and it’s up to Sam to rescue his buddy and save the city!

In the final episode of this five-part point and click series, you must first help Sam get inside giant monster Max by making their DeSoto car into a huge corn dog for Max to eat. Once inside, Sam discovers Max’s organs look like rooms of a house (the stomach is a kitchen, for instance). Now you must help Sam gain control of monster Max’s arms and legs and find his brain before Max is lost forever. If all this sounds pretty nonsensical, don’t worry, it’s just how Sam & Max roll.

The point and click riddles are wacky and fun, but feel a little bit easier this time around, which makes the final episode seem shorter. Since Max is now a giant monster, you don’t get to use the fun psychic toys to solve puzzles like in the past episodes. Instead, monster Max will use psychic powers to stump you! And since Max isn’t really around much, you’ll miss his usual crazy quips. The writing is still witty and clever, and the play control is easy to learn. Except controlling Monster Max can be a little cumbersome. It does help a little to play the past episodes in the Sam & Max series so you’ll know who all the crazy characters are! All in all, The Devil’s Playhouse is another fine Sam & Max adventure with lots of laughs and surprises. Can’t wait to see what they do next!

Kid Factor:

The City That Dares Not Sleep is rated E-10 for Everyone 10 and up with ESRB descriptors of Alcohol Reference, Comic Mischief, Language, Mild Cartoon Violence, and Suggestive Themes. Most of these are just referred to in text only. Sam & Max do use guns, but mostly to solve puzzles, they don’t shoot anyone. If you’re OK with your kids watching satirical TV shows like The Simpsons, they’ll be fine here, too.

Tags: Game Reviews