As is the nature with episodic gaming, it is difficult to discuss the newest instalment without a few spoilers for previous episodes creeping in. That would be the case if Episode 3 was subtitled anything else. But would you look at that, it isn’t. So by now you’ll know (whether you’ve played it or not) that Episode 2 ends with Sam discovering that somebody really has stolen Max’s brain. There is something a little endearing (in a macabre sort of way) in seeing Max’s lifeless body flopped on the floor with his cranium wide open. He looks, so… peaceful and cute with his tongue lolling to the side and his one eye twitching. Naturally, Sam doesn’t feel the same way and seeing his partner’s corpse sends him into a fit of rage – a fit of rage that drags his gasping psyche ever deeper into the swirling torrents of despair, filling him with a cynicism steeped in angst and self-loathing. Was that suitably noir enough for you? Yes? Well, the opening scenes of Episode 3 are a hilarious take on the noir film genre complete with anger-fuelled interrogations, persistent rain and moody narration by Sam. Sadly, it doesn’t last for very long and before you know it the game reverts back to the classic Sam & Max tone, which is not a bad thing but the diversion was welcome nonetheless.

After spending the opening scenes discovering who stole Max’s brain, the remainder of the episode sees Sam trying to rescue Max’s brain to reunite it with Max’s (cute but dead) body. Naturally, things don’t go according to plan and in the ensuing chaos the two manage to usher in an alternate reality, destroy the American credit card and banking system, and expunge all toasters from existence just so that Max can satiate his lust for snack time goodies (“all your corndogs are belong to Max”). Along the way they interact with a loveably loyal, six-foot cockroach security guard called Sal, form an alliance with a rebel group known as the Anti Sammun-Mak Society and Croquet League of West Nigeria (the acronym for which I’ll leave to you to ascertain), and discuss the ninja prowess of Milla Jovovich. I love these games; they are so unabashedly quirky that you can’t help giving sanity the finger for a few hours.

In episodic gaming it is natural to compare one episode to the other; as far as the puzzles in Episode 3 are concerned, they are not as good as those found in Episode 2 with its clever use of the film reel. The somewhat uninspired puzzles aside, this is still a good episode and the inclusion of the noir vibe at the beginning adds an additional layer to the humour. Voice-acting remains impeccable and the controls, while occasionally clunky, get the job done in a mostly unobtrusive manner.

When we last left our disconcerting duo in Episode 1, they had foiled a space-gorilla’s attempt to take over the galaxy by using psychic-power-producing toys from the Devil’s Toy Box. Before the credits started rolling however, Sam and Max were just in time to make a foreboding discovery. Now the two are tasked with delving in and out of their great grandparents’ history so they can learn the truth about their fateful discovery at the end of Episode 1.

After wrapping this dialogue scene, Sam and Max need to be on-set for Mass Effect 3.

Most of Episode 2 is played from the perspective of Sameth and Maximus, the great grandparents of Sam and Max. As the story begins, Sam and Max find a film projector with four reels of film. Each reel contains a different moment in an overarching tale of how their great grandparents discovered the Tomb of Sammun-Mak – the original resting place for the Devil’s Toy Box. With that in mind, Episode 2 is kind of like a prequel to Episode 1.

Don't make the bunny angry... you wouldn't like him when he's angry. No, really. You wouldn't.

It’s clear that Telltale Games is trying to give each episode a unique hook or feature; in Episode 1 it was being able to use Max’s new powers. In this episode, the film projector allows players to hop in and out of each of the four different moments captured on the film reels. Of course, this results in many of the puzzles throughout the episode being extra sneaky at times. You’ll be hopping from one film reel to the next (which can be done at any time) in order to solve puzzles in all four of them. Sometimes a new dialogue option won’t exist in a particular film reel until prior knowledge of the topic is gained from a different film reel. It sounds complicated in theory, but it is very, very well executed and does a thorough job of developing intrigue and a desire for plot progression, which are two elements often missing from modern point-and-click adventure games.

Of course, many Sam & Max fans play the series for one particular reason: the humour. This episode did not disappoint at all and the comedic timing is brilliantly executed, making this episode one of the funniest to date.  A particularly blasphemous quip from Max involving crucifixes and cloves of garlic had me crying with laughter. The more time you spend with the duo, the funnier they get, and this episode definitely deserves your time.

It’s the third season of freelance policing with the bizarre crime-fighting duo, Sam and Max. They’re back with a new story, some familiar characters and a whole lot of insanity – a quality that would leave any Sam & Max game feeling decidedly un-Sam-and-Max-ish were it missing. In fact, absurdity knows no bounds in this, the first episode of season three, which is collectively dubbed The Devil’s Playhouse. You don’t believe me? Let’s take a brief look at how Episode 1: The Penal Zone starts.

Sure, give the sociopathic bunny more psychic powers... what could possibly go wrong?

Sam and Max are imprisoned on board a giant gorilla-head spaceship that is bombarding the city and being piloted by General Skun’kape, an alien space gorilla bent on controlling the universe. Skun’kape plans to do this by acquiring a collection of toys that imbue “the chosen” with psychic powers. Max (he’s the sociopathic bunny in the duo, remember?) happens to be one of “the chosen” and is therefore capable of using the toys as well. Thanks to some inexplicable events which result in Max possessing a few of these psychic-power-producing toys from the get-go, and some tips from a camp, disembodied brain that controls the ship and floats in a vat of demon-broth, Sam and Max manage to escape captivity and send Skun’kape back through a portal that leads to The Penal Zone (an inter-stellar prison for the most dangerous of space criminals). They do this by transforming Max into a space-gorilla bazooka and a potted plant. And that is only the first five minutes of the insanity.

Teleportation and time-travel are a few of the plot devices that the game designers have at their disposal for this episode. As such, a portion of the game is unfathomably bizarre, but it all begins to make sense as you point and click your way through the collection of puzzles and situations. Max’s newfound psychic abilities lead to a variety of new game mechanics. At any point you can take control of Max and activate any of the powers he currently has at his disposal. Some of those powers include transformation, seeing the future and teleportation. The ability to see the future creates a neatly incorporated hint system that never reveals too much, but manages to point you in the general direction. The teleportation obviously creates some interesting solutions to many of the puzzles.

Yeah, I don't know which part of the screen to click next either.

There are some slight control annoyances to be found, and what is particularly infuriating is that your active inventory item is cleared whenever you attempt to combine it with an incorrect in-game object. You then have to re-open your inventory and re-equip the item to try it with something else – minor but annoying.

As ever, it is the humour and absurdity that carries the Sam & Max franchise, and this new episode is definitely void of neither. However, the series’ greatest strength is also its biggest weakness as the humour and bizarre scenarios do not appeal to everyone, which is the case I found being confirmed by people watching me play: I would roar with laughter and they’d look at me as if my mind had become as detached from reality as Max’s.

After many months of item-hunting, pox-spreading and monkey-bothering, the brilliant Tales of Monkey Island series finally comes to a close with Episode 5, Rise of the Pirate God (ROTPG). Be warned, if you haven’t played the previous episodes the following will contain spoilers. So do yourself a large favour — go play them and then come back.

Subsequent to the dramatic conclusion of Episode 4, Guybrush Threepwood finds himself betrayed and murdered by the previously-friendly LeChuck. After his death our now-ghostly hero awakens in the Pirate Afterlife. This spooky realm contains all a dead pirate could wish for – endless Sword Mastery, Thievery and Treasure Hunting-ery (all the Xs you can dig!). However, the rezombified monstrous maggot mating ground LeChuck is running amok in the living world, slaughtering and pillaging with abandon. Worse yet, Elaine is LeChuck’s prisoner and doomed to become his demon bride unless Guybrush can find a way back to the land of the not-so-dead and give his nemesis a swift kick in the buoys.

In his efforts to defeat LeChuck once and for all, Threepwood will travel between realms numerous times in both ethereal and zombie forms, with the benefits and limitations of each form determining what he can or cannot do. The new areas in ROTPG are a little empty compared to earlier episodes, but happily, the design and layout more than makes up for this, and is full of the usual Monkey Island charm. The Afterlife is suitably sepulchral, complete with gloomy mood lighting, while the living world is aflame with LeChuck’s destructive activities. Several acquaintances from other episodes make an appearance, as well as some all-new faces (thankfully with new models too, the bony baritone Boatman is brilliant). Characterisation is very good indeed — all the main players are convincing with oodles of personality and greater emotion than earlier episodes.

The laughs aren’t as abundant in this chapter (although there is some great genre-denigration), and overall the story is a little thin. Puzzles are generally simple throughout with the exception of the final confrontation which is tricky bordering on maddening. One of the highlights is a brief return to insult sword fighting from the original game with the added bonus of being a 3-way duel between Guybrush, LeFlay and a headless swordsman. There is a lot of going back-and-forth which can become tiresome (despite cruising around in a creepy heavy metal album cover longboat), and is a departure from the well-structured challenges in previous chapters.

Despite having many good points, ROTPG does not quite provide the epic climax to the series that it should have. The quality is good, but just not up to the standard of the other episodes. It still makes for a great time though, especially when seen as part of an excellent whole. We won’t take “please stop stabbing me!” for an answer — go out and get the series. At $35 for all 5 episodes (around R260 at time of writing), it’s sheer plunder. As a whole, Tales of Monkey Island is a ridiculous amount of fun.

Wallace and Gromit: The Fright Of The Bumblebees (W&G: TFOTB) is the first episode in Telltale Games’ latest series. For those not familiar with the clay-animated shorts: Wallace is a well-meaning but bumbling inventor, Gromit is his long-suffering pooch, and together they have some grand adventures in their sleepy English village. Telltale is well-known for their Sam & Max episodic games (numbering a full 2 seasons) and the successful formula laid out in these has been applied again in Wallace & Gromit.

The story begins with Wallace facing the repercussions of a contraption run amok, causing chaos in a local produce shop. In order to placate Mr Paneer, the victim of this malfunction, you will have to supply him with 50 gallons of honey on short notice. Wallace comes up with a suitably dodgy plan which results in yet more bedlam for the town…

The brek-o-tron 5000.

You play alternately as Wallace or Gromit, as the situation requires, and their respective approaches to the game world are different. Wallace, by virtue of being able to speak, handles all dialogue with the village’s other inhabitants, while Gromit undertakes most of the item collection and interaction (where he keeps his inventory is unknown, however). There are numerous puzzles to overcome, from preparing breakfast, tricking a barmy pensioner out of his rations, to ultimately saving the village from giant angry bees. These are generally fun and well thought-out but fairly straightforward – while it’s a good thing there are no utterly obtuse Lucasarts-style obstacles, none of them will have you scratching your head for very long. It would also have been nice to build some complex cockamamie invention, as this is a big part of the franchise’s charm, but this is sadly lacking.

Come on guys, there's nothing to bee angry about.

The graphics engine is the same as used in earlier Telltale games, and unfortunately it shows its age. None of the environments are particularly detailed, and they lack the depth of content found in Sam & Max. But since this is a casual adventure game, it doesn’t really matter. Characters are lovingly rendered with convincing clay textures (complete with the occasional “fingerprint”) that capture the characters well. Mouth animations are a bit jerky, which can be distracting (although this might be intentional to match the show’s claymation style), but Gromit’s eyebrows are as expressive as ever. The music is above par and suitably atmospheric, featuring some lovely variations on the original theme tune, and voice acting is excellent. Sadly, Peter Sallis does not voice Wallace, but his replacement does an adequate job.

The humour in W&G: TFOTB is a far cry from the brash and twisted funnies found in Sam & Max- it is a lot gentler, and while it won’t make you laugh out loud, it will elicit a few chuckles. Overall, the game is forgiving, good for casual gamers, while remaining engaging enough for adventure veterans, and at around R350 for all 4 episodes, it’s a bargain.