The Undead Are The Fun Dead
A dark castle stronghold in foreign lands is churning out an army of the walking dead which turn up at the doorstep of everyone’s favorite anthropomorphic freelance police duo, and this time the furry detectives find themselves in mortal peril, the soul sucking kind.
Sam & Max Episode 203: Night of the Raving Dead is gloriously packed full of horror-related staples from a spooky castle setting, scores of brain-eating disco zombies, and a Frankenstein-like abomination looking for love to an emotive, masochistic vampire who also happens to be the your typical goth wanker. Apparently, Telltale’s top-notch wit knows no bounds as season two continues on strong in this latest installment laden with zombie goodness. Needless to say, the fun ramps up when holy water, garlic flavored clove cigarettes, and 40 oz. of Gut-smack Malt Liquor are involved.
To change things up a bit, most of the story and gameplay in Night of the Raving Dead is actually a flashback. The episode kicks off with Sam and Max in the clutches of Jurgen, a vampiric creature obsessed with his own popularity among the zombie hordes (who also happens to run a posh dance club at his lair in Stuttengart). As the duo is precariously trapped in a spike encrusted diabolical machine poised to consume their souls, they pause to ponder exactly how they ended up in such a mess to begin with. The answers reside in a tale full of zombie shenanigans that unfolds over the course of several hours in what easily ranks as one of the best episodes in the series to date.
Sam & Max first take notice of the undead invasion when a zombie bursts into their office and makes off with the dismembered hand of Jesse James that’s mounted on a plaque above their closet. Outside, there are zombies roaming freely, and the duo follows a trail of clues leading them to the distant land of Stuttengart where the crazed Jurgen is running a techno dance club for the undead. Detective skills alone are not enough to best this bloodsucker, and the duo must utilize fancy footwork, return from un-death, and prevail in a Goth rap contest (among other bizarre activities) to succeed in this supernatural face-off.
The sudden appearance of zombies is not the only oddball situation the detective duo will have to deal with. Following her recent falling out with the giant talking statue head of Abe Lincoln, Sybil is in the market for a new boyfriend, but her prospects are slim. Sybil’s plans to interview and select a candidate before joining with them using a recently acquired (and consequently insidious looking) Soul Mater orb give rise to a few laughs and tie-in well to the plot later in the episode. Something is awry with Bluster Blaster over at the garage where the COPS enlist Sam and Max to help them distribute their newly developed internet service for zombies (which results in a hilarious Paperboy-style mini-game). At Stinky’s, a run-in with the reanimated hand of Jesse James’ leads to a gun slinging shootout, and a return to the TV studios lets Sam and Max set unique influences on the viewing audience.
Fortunately, the undead theme in episode 203 is given the same absurdly hilarious and thorough treatment as almost every other subject to appear in a Sam & Max episode. Players can readily expect an abundance of jokes about eating brains and zombie-speak alongside other gags poking fun at raver and goth subcultures with glow sticks and clove cigarettes respectively. A few well-placed nods to zombie pop culture are nicely worked into the game. Horror film and video game enthusiasts should enjoy references to George A. Romero and Resident Evil, among others. It’s funny as hell when Sam turns up an old typewriter ink ribbon lying on the table in the Zombie Factory and even later on when the bloody phrase “you are dead” splashes across the screen.
The cast in Night of the Raving Dead features a good balance between recycled characters from past episodes and interesting new additions. Aside from being fairly irritating, Jurgen is perhaps one of the more odd villains to be concocted in season two. Agent Superball makes a surprise return (both as a potential love interest for Sybil and as a bouncer for the castle at Stuttengart); Flint Paper gets to kick some undead behind; and the moon hamster guy is truly vile. Otherwise, players will see a few new faces and a few old ones, including the COPS, Stinky, Abe, and the pretentious acting chicken from season one, among others. Bosco is noticeably absent (his store is padlocked) from the episode, but the cliffhanger ending of Night of the Raving Dead insinuates this topic will be explored in a future episode.
While areas like controls, gameplay, graphical style, and the quality voice acting found in the Sam and Max series are largely the same from episode to episode, the puzzles do fluctuate occasionally. Some are tough while others are more obvious; the hint system will keep you on track in a pinch. Each episode continues to provide a surprisingly consistent level of charm and humor in how the puzzles are implement which is a big part of what makes Sam and Max titles so enjoyable. Overall, the challenges continue to be interesting this time around, and it’s fun to see the return of the multiple choice musical selection puzzle when it comes to the rap-off between the detectives and Jurgen.
A zombie episode is perfectly fitting for the series, and it’s a refreshing change of pace from past themes. Telltale once again pulls it off with buckets of style in Night of the Raving Dead, making it hard not to recommend for newcomers to the series or seasoned Sam and Max fans.
RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.2 Graphics
Little has changed from one episode to the next; that’s not a bad thing. 4.1 Control
Point-and-click interface is intuitive and easy to use. 4.9 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The voice-overs continue to be hilarious. 4.3 Play Value
It a brief adventure that’s 100 percent fun all the way. 4.6 Overall Rating – Must Buy
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.
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