Sam & Max - Freelance Police Previewed

tabacco writes "Adventuregamers.com is running a preview of the new Sam and Max game, titled Sam & Max: Freelance Police. Those who didn't enjoy Escape From Monkey Island's keyboard interface should be happy to know that LucasArts is making its sequel to Sam & Max Hit the Road a traditional point-and-click adventure. According to Adventure Gamers, Sam & Max: Freelance Police will have mini-games like the first one, and the same weird humor. Check out the official site for more info." S : We first spotted this title a couple of weeks back, but this new preview confirms point and click gameplay and Steve Purcell's involvement.

Oooh, does this mean...

[Wuukie]

Oooh, does this mean I get to kick some mad white scientist's butt? -Can't think of reason not to.

Seriously though, at this point, the little graphics seen so far, I don't know what to say about them. But at least the animation looks really, really good. Very cartoony like it should! And sounds like they got the original sound actors - right on!

Better read the Sam & Max collection comic book once again while waiting for this game.

Re:Keyboard interface??

[layte100]

If you had played MI4 you would know that the game was completely keyboard driven.

Re:Keyboard interface??

[Wuukie]

Yeah, I don't think it played out too well. Altough, I did play only the demo. It just didn't seem as good a game as the earlier ones in the series.

Re:Keyboard interface??

[Echnin]

Er... I don't know whether that's a joke, or what the "SCI-engine" is, but EFMI was controlled with the keyboard. Tt played pretty much like Zelda except that instead of Z-targetting and stuff, you switched what you were looking on with some button... tab I think and performed actions like "look" and "use" with different keyboard buttons. Same as Grim Fandango.

I didn't like the keyboard interface much, so I'm glad to see the point&click stuff back.

Re:Keyboard interface??

[Acts of Attrition]

Speaking of Grim Fandango, it'd be so great to see a sequel to that. Even if not an adventure game that world, and it's style, is ripe for other genres as well. Mainly, I miss playing games and actually having them make me laugh, purposefully anyway.

Re:Keyboard interface??

[pebsmith]

As great as Grim Fandango was, I'd hate to see a sequel. I don't think it can be improved upon (interface excepted). Of course, if Tim Schafer ever gets his excellent new game Psychonauts out there, we might be playing it instead of making these posts.

Re:Keyboard interface??

[etherlad]

The SCI Engine was the Sierra Creative Interpreter, used for most games by Sierra from King's Quest 4 onward.

The first versions were still a parser interface, but they soon moved to the point-and-click system. It had a vanishing "toolbar" at the top, from which one could typically select walk, get/use, talk, inventory, options, and help. There were some variations (Space Quest 1 VGA and Space Quest 4 had "smell" and "taste," Quest for Glory had a submenu for run/sneak, sleeping, and viewing your characte

Re:Keyboard interface??

[tabacco]

Guess what? Neither EMI or Grim use the SCUMM engine. Both had fully keyboard-based controls. Play the game before you say stupid stuff.

Re:Keyboard interface??

[tabacco]

Not true. Grim and EMI are both written in LUA [lua.org], not SCUMM [cowlark.com].

Other sources on S&M 2

[The Moving Shadow]

For the people who want to know more information on the upcoming Sam & Max title, check out

http://www.samandmax.net/

It's the number one source on everything related to Sam & Max. Keep an eye out for that site!

I'm just hoping that...

[Badge 17]

They'll have some way to better skip some of the factors I found most tedious about the original...

For instance, some of the cut-scences (after the first or second time through)... or just walking, walking, walking...

The original Monkey Island had a way to change the walking speed of a character (double-click on an exit point is my memory). I don't remember anything like that for Sam and Max, and it made it very frustrating...

Re:I'm just hoping that...

[tabacco]

I think the biggest thing was waiting for Max to catch up with you. The worst part for that that I remember was outside the twine ball.

This place reeks of adventure and excitement, Sam!

[saladpuncher]

Well first I need to say that having Steve Purcell back for the sequel is a step in the right direction. All of his stuff for Sam and Max (comics and games) is brilliant and shouldn't be done without him. Look at Monkey Island to see what happens when the original creator doesn't return. The Curse of Monkey Island and Escape from Monkey Island were good games but when you compare them to the original 2 they come up lacking.
The new Sam and Max is also being produced by Dan Connors who worked on the original game (which is great), Day of the Tentacle (very good), The Dig (pretty darn good), The Curse of Monkey Island (good), and the big one itself: Grim Fandango (friggen awesome!). Looks like the new Sam and Max should be great...in my own very subjective opinion of course :)

PIRATE: We're going to bury you with our extra stash!
MAX: BURIED ALIVE? I'm alarmed!
PIRATE: We're going to shoot you first.
MAX: Oh, thank God!

Re:This place reeks of adventure and excitement, S

[tabacco]

Plus of course the trailer is awesome, and the original voice cast is back for Sam and Max.

Uselesss trivia: Bill Farmer, the voice of Sam, also does work for Disney as the voice of Goofy. Nick Jameson, the voice of Max, was the voice of Vlada (the restaurant owner) on The Critic :)

Why is this not cel-shaded?

[stickb0y]

Why is this game not cel-shaded?

There are many other games out there that use cel-shading inappropriately, just as a gimmick; why does one of the few games where it's actually appropriate not take advantage of it?

The original?

[Man of E]

Is it possible to buy/download the original game (Sam and Max Hit the Road) and play it under some current version of Windows? Older games tend not to work so well ... perhaps you know of a site that gives information on getting old games to work properly on current hardware/software?

Re:The original?

[tabacco]

Download no, but it's available on eBay and in some of the LucasArts Entertainment Packs. As for new versions of windows, check out ScummVM [scummvm.com], which should take care of all your worries along those lines. Plus it comes with some nice graphic smoothing filters. And, it's free :)