Sam & Max 304: Beyond the Alley of the Dolls

smam an macks freelamnce polees

is go9od

Yet again, another amazing episode.
This episode turns you on your head on what you thought some character motives were, whilst also introducing characters you would have never even thought to be a thing in the first place.
The ending of this episode felt like an entire arc conclusion in itself, yet it subverts and setups for the next episode meticulously. Amazing, need the soundtrack for the ending sequence.
Also why is there a Team Fortress 2 Dispenser what.

A good game if your a fan of funny games

this is the best game ever

This season gets really bizarre because it involves clones and Lovecraftian horrors, which is a very different path from the beginning of the season.

I liked the ending but it was more of a prelude to the finale so this episode isn't quite as strong as the earlier ones.

Fantastic as ever, what can I say.

The final act of this episode alone makes it worth playing. And I won't spoil any of it now.

I love Sam & Max.

Very fun! Season 3 is the best season for sure.

Sam and Max Season One, Sam and Max Season Two,
Sam and Max Season Three, Tales of Monkey Island
and Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures are hands down the best Point and Click Adventure games that original Telltale has ever done.

If Telltale did work on more games like this and didn't go into a path of garbage Walking Dead Season 1 clones with fake "choices matters" while taking tons of license deals over the past 6 years they would not need to be shut down and their games removed from stores.

I mean WHO could predict that?
Oh right..... anyone beside Telltale.

So.... good job Telltale!
You had everything and then you decided to throw it away into a thrash for fake "choices matters" screen and brain dead gameplay.

Congratulation!
You won an award for the most promising yet dumbest indie studio thus far.
I hope you all and other studios will learn from that.

Best one out of all the episodes I've played so far. Also has a neat TF2 Reference that I just love.

This is a review of the entire season, with attention paid to individual episodes throughout. Placing it in every episode of the season since there is no page for a 'complete' package where this review would fit better.

Sam & Max Season 3 is the first season initially released outside of the GameTap subscription service (now defunct), which funded the first two seasons of the point and click adventure games. It's weird thinking about it now, but this series was an ambassador for that service. A powerful one at that. It's almost melancholic seeing the newest season on Steam; this must be what Sonic fans felt when they saw the games on Nintendo consoles.

Seasons 1 and 2 were comprised of episodes that contained their own plotlines, which were seperate from every other episode. But there would always be an overarching storyline that connected all the episodes, which was always the plot of the final episode. Still, that storyline generally had a weak narrative and served as a wrap up rather than any serious attempt at an intricate plot. The games instead concerned themselves more with humor, characterization, and premise. The actual substance of the storys was as intricate as any cartoon. Which is to say, not intricate at all.

Season 3 sets out to remedy (or ruin, depending on who you ask) this. Each episode in S3 follows directly after the last, with some episodes serving as nothing more than stepping stones for the following episodes. Gone is the simplicity of simple storylines that are just vehicles for the humor and characters. S3 is much more involved in its larger narrative, going as far as to include ancient lore in its tale.

Whether this is good or bad depends on who you ask. The charm of the previous seasons were that they were basically cartoon episodes. There were environmental changes and character introductions, but you could still realistically play all episodes out of order and have no issue. Because the games didn't take themselves seriously enough to go beyond vehicles for comedic characters and situations. Even the larger plots for the season finales were still simple enough to escape the complexities of story over comedy. Which isn't to say you can't have an intricate comedy, but that's a realm that would introduce complexities to the franchise that its unadjusted to. It changes the tone somewhat.

I will say this in defense to this critique: this game is Sam and Max through and through. From episode to episode, all the jokes and characters would fit into any other season. While the credited writers are mostly new to the series, they kept the writing and characterization the same as every other game. They managed an extensive narrative in a more serious direction, whilst keeping the entire ride feeling like Sam and Max.

I'll give a brief run down through the episodes before dissecting the plot further at the end:

1. Episode 1-The Penal Zone.
   A decent start to the new season, but the villain (whom becomes a recurring character) is a weak offering. Thankfully, the writing is still perfectly on-point and hits every check box required of the series. Some of the puzzles were weird and had that 'illogical adventure game rationale', like (spoiler alert) feeding a cell phone to a bird so he can cough it up on the roof. But some of the ingenious puzzles dealing with teleportation make up for it. A stronger start than season 2, but nothing you'll remember in the series as a whole.
   
   
2. Episode 2-The Tomb of Sammun-Mak
   An absolute winner. What makes point and click adventure games is the writing, and this one hits the hardest of the entire season. The episode stars Sam and Max's ancestors, and their quest to attain a Pharaoh's ancient heirloom. Their quest is divided into 4 parts, and you're able to hop around the parts with items or knowledge gained from one part helping to move the other parts along. It owuld be easy to screw up the narrative here and confuse the player, but the develpers did a fantastic job at keeping everything in order. The crowning achievement of season 3 by far.
   
   
3. Episode 3-They Stole Max's Brain!
   The episode with the most jarring transitions in the entire season. It's as if they had some rough ideas and wanted to implement them all at once, but couldn't adequately piece it together in time. I'm not just talking about narrative: introduced is what is essentially the cross-examination aspects of the Phoenix Wright series, whereby you interject during testimony at the right times to move the plot along. But just as quickly as this is introduced, it is immediately tossed aside after the introduction. And just when you think the episode proper is beginning, we get another transition to an alternate reality. I'll stop short of calling this a bad episode, though, as it has its moments despite the rough exterior. It's the final episode in the season before it shifts to its much more serious tone.
   
   
4. Episode 4-Beyond the Alley of the Dolls
   I liked the idea of a Sam clone army, and it's insanely ripe with potential. Sadly, nothing truly happens in the episode. We get a throw-away villain that's been there since episode 1. but he lacks the lead-up that you would expect, which makes it feel contrived. The character has been scheming away for a plan that had no relation to any other plan and merely serves as a prologue to the next episode. There's also a fair amount of exposition by a newly introduced character. This episode is really just a set-up for the finale and plot-dumping to explain aspects of the season's story. Quite possibly the worst episode in the season.
   
   
[*]Episode 5-The City that Dares not Sleep.
A dynamic episode which pushes the game engine to its greatest graphical lengths (it was a generation behind by this point). Also pushes the narrative strongly into the serious, with the [MINOR SPOILER] villain essentially being a neglected child. There's no attempts at world domination here, just revenge borne out of exasperation. The main plot and villain here are of tertiary importance to the main plot of the season, which is a little weird. Usually you build up to the finale, but the finale here is only casually linked to everything else. Despite all of this, what we get here is an affirmation of the bond Sam and Max have, and I'm ok with that. Even if there is very little, if any, comedy here. I wouldn't call it bad, just...different.

I want to address a glaring plot atrocity that occurs here. Throughout the game there's a subplot building with Girl Stinky, but never fully delved into. In the most disgusting sort of laziness, the game just dumps it in the middle of a completely unrelated story. It's as if the developers completely forgot about it, realized the game was almost at its end, and decided to regurgitate it here. Why was it in the game if it served no purpose.

Season 3 tries its crack at a stronger story, but it ironically comes to an end early on in the season. The final 2 episodes always felt tacked on because they continue on with new villains whilst relegating the first 2 as side characters despite their tales being much more involved than anything else. We go back to villain of the day, even though the new villains have always been around in the story. Episode 4 could have easily been the ending, even though it would have done nothing more than explain some lore and wrap up loose ends. While episode 5 raised the stakes and brought about a strong end, it held little connection to everything else. Its ironic that in an attempt at serious writing, the game flounders at the end and goes back to an almost episodic format.

When stacked up against previous seasons, S&M is the weaker entry, but it attempts a lot of premises that are infinitely more unique. It's placing in the franchise speaks more to the quality of the previous seasons rather than any flaws with this. EZ recommend.

Not a fan of the series, if you did not like 1 or 2, you wont like this either.

Point and Click at its very best. Great writing and voice acting.

A gem from the past from when TellTales were actually making good games and had good writers instead of making weird 3d movies where your input doesn't matter. The whole Sam & Max TT's games saga is pretty much at Monkey Island level at many times.

Things start to get a lot more exilirating in this episode. There are only a few twists that left me getting extremely shocked in the end. More great writing awaits. Overall, one of my favourite episodes of the Devil's Playhouse.

[spoiler] Also, in the cloning chamber, you can find a Blu Dispenser from Team Fortress 2 which contains none other than Banang! [/spoilers]

Ludicrously logical!
LOVE IT!

Sam and Max, Freelance Police! ... are back in SEASON THREE.

Note: You really need to play these games in order. The story builds, characters are introduced, and if you haven't played previous games, you won't understand the backstory.

You can never have enough Sam And Max. However, I will say that Season 3 is the weakest of the 3 seasons. Its still good, it just isn't as good as 1 and 2.

That being said, Season3 boasts a large improvement to the game graphics engine. Better models, clearer graphics, more animations and cut sequences, help the story along.

I do feel like the addition of the "Devil's Toybox" mechanic was a bit annoying. You essentially end up with two different inventory systems - one for Sam and one for Max. It does add some depth, but can also be really annoying, since a lot of Max's abilities are PoV and it really took me out of the Adventure sort-of game when this happens.

Even so, its still very funny, and if you're into adventure comedy games, it doesn't get much better. Recommended! 9.0/10

just as good as the other Episodes
(played in offlinemode)