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Sam & Max Episode 5: Reality 2.0

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Developer: Telltale Games Publisher: Telltale Games Genre: Adventure > General Released: Mar 28, 2007 Players: 1

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Mike Hommel: 7

Maybe it's growing on me, or maybe this episode just made you plow through less "tedious dialogue trees" (as mentioned by one of the characters) than the last. I liked it better! It seemed to let me get to the puzzles more easily, or maybe I just stopped trying to look at every single thing (and stopped trying to cover every branch of the dialogue tree) and only went after stuff that had to be important. Nonetheless, as the number at the end of the name implies, this is absolutely more of the same - if you like the series, get them all. If you don't, avoid them all. I had serious technical problems with this: no music at all, even when the game stopped for an entire song & dance routine, and about half of the dialogue was simply silent. That didn't affect play at all, but it sure impinged on my enjoyment - back down to a 7 with you!

Brian Clair: 9

I'm tempted to believe that Max and I are long lost brothers, except for the fact that he's a video game rabbit and I'm not (so far as anyone knows). Reality 2.0 continues the season 1 episodic journey of the game's two detective protagonists in grand fashion. This is the first Sam & Max episode I've played and I was very impressed by just about everything I saw. The presentation and sound is excellent, the gameplay and control is solid, the voice acting is good, and the story is interesting. For $8.95 per episode or about $35 for all six episodes in season 1, every gamer who has an irreverent sense of humor, should experience Reality 2.0.

William Usher: 8

So the President's head was severed after the explosion in the last episode and Max is now in charge of the United States. No worries, though, it was a severed puppet's head. Anyway, Sam and Max, the unlikely dynamic duo, return in this latest episode to thwart the power surge in their neighborhood, which has caused major problems for computers, electronics and the internet. With Max's impeachment impending, and the economy in absolute disaster, it's up to gamers to guide the dog and rabbit tag-team to uncover the power-surge plot... and possibly save Max's presidency? Well, I'm not going to give everything away. I will divulge that the game is as comically charged as ever, and the dialogue and music are as top-notch as the previous episodes. My only complaint is that these series of episodes contain gameplay mechanics that are very straightforward. It's not a bad thing, however it does follow an unorthodox, but repetitive formula. That doesn't stop this from being a good game, and it's definitely worth checking out if you're an adventure-game fan.

Caspian Prince: 10

My God, are these guys really indies??? I'll get me coat. This outrageously polished, funny, intriguing point-and-click adventure is just plain brilliant fun (provided, of course, you enjoy point-and-click adventure games). Actually even if you don't think you do, you'll probably think Sam and Max: Reality 2.0 is just such a laugh and so well executed that you'll want to buy it anyway either for yourself or for your kids. It reminds me of the sort of level of quality we're used to seeing from Nintendo, and I haven't had so much fun since Day of the Tentacle. Really. Don't delay. It's just excellent.