Sam & Max Hit the Road

[joeflint82]

I've just bought Sam & Max Hit the Road and I cannot get into it. The interface feels horrible, and the game feels tedious, with only 5 locations and 3 of them are the same. Am I missing something, do I need to forcibly persevere?

I am a massive adventure game fan, and I remember trying to play this one many years ago, and wanted to give it another try. I love Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Broken Sword, Simon the Sorcerer (I could go on). I recently bought the telltale Season one of Sam & Max, but wanted to play the original.

I still don't know what Max is/does, but clearly he has some kind of power. Am I missing something? Should I know a bit about the comic (is it a comic?).

Help me.

[eriktorbjorn]

I've just bought Sam & Max Hit the Road and I cannot get into it. The interface feels horrible, and the game feels tedious, with only 5 locations and 3 of them are the same. Am I missing something, do I need to forcibly persevere?

That's pretty vague. I'm guessing you haven't gotten past the fire breather at the carnival yet. That should be your first order of business, though there are also a couple of things in and around the office that you may have missed, and may have to do first.

You can cycle through the various by right-clicking or using keyboard shortcuts described in the game's manual, which is less awkward that selecting them from the inventory dialog.

I still don't know what Max is/does, but clearly he has some kind of power. Am I missing something? Should I know a bit about the comic (is it a comic?).

You can talk to Max, and (more importantly) you can use him on other objects, like any other inventory object. But most of the time, he just tags along.

Sam & Max started out as a comic, and there was a TV series, but I didn't read or watch those until after playing the game. The only references to the original comic that I remember in the game is their neighbor, Flint Paper, and the running gag that Sam never lets Max answer the phone for some reason.

[joeflint82]

I started at the office, picked up a few things, then I went to the three near identical stores. Then I found myself trapped in the stupid car game, then I went to the carnival just to save and turn the game off.

The interface is awful, right clicking seems to take an age to rotate between actions, and I can't leave a site unless I have walk selected. Just loaded it back up and started talking to the fire breather, and that reminded me that the pictorial dialogue interface is also disappointing. Do the '?' & '!' just make snide comments?

[joeflint82]

It's so slow!!!

I go to the store, I have to wait for Max to need the bathroom, and I have to ask one of the first three dialogue boxes before the toilet option comes up. I must have heard about Snuckey U 7/8 times already. The dialogue for buying things is drawn out. Can I buy this? Do you have any money? Of course I do. - Why should I need to hear that 6 times?

I really don't know how this is considered anywhere near Day of the Tentacle etc.

[MapleSyrup]

I've just bought Sam & Max Hit the Road and I cannot get into it. The interface feels horrible, and the game feels tedious, with only 5 locations and 3 of them are the same. Am I missing something, do I need to forcibly persevere?

More locations are opened up on your map when you find objects that are clues to new locations for Sam & Max to investigate.

The 3 near identical Snuckey's is a joke. Stuckey's is a real store (it was changed to Snuckey's in the game for legal reasons) that is a chain in the US southeast. Like all chains, the stores are virtually identical except for very minor details.

[joeflint82]

The 3 near identical Snuckey's is a joke. Stuckey's is a real store (it was changed to Snuckey's in the game for legal reasons) that is a chain in the US southeast. Like all chains, the stores are virtually identical except for very minor details.

I got the joke, but it wears off quickly and then becomes irritating and tedious after repeating dialogue 8 times.

Why if Max says 'I need the toilet' can you not ask about the toilet straight away, but you need to select '?', '!' or 'Duck' before the useful dialogue appears?

Obviously I've got a key fob now, it'll annoy me if I need a different one, because it is a chore. An adventure game shouldn't be a chore, it's a massive turn off.

[DrMcCoy]

An adventure game shouldn't be a chore, it's a massive turn off.

Aww, muffin.

[balpat]

Sam & Max is actually a pretty good adventure but I agree, the interface wasn't as great.

Still, I don't think it's that bad. Maybe you just need a couple more pointers. Go here:

http://www.uhs-hints.com

UHS is not a walkthrough and will only give you the hints you need.

But I played it without a walkthrough back in the day and once you get into the kind of humor the game has - which is great, by the way - it's actually very logical.

[grim107]

Sounds to me like you're no good at solving puzzles. The point of these games is to prevent a challenge. If you can't progress between just a few different screens, there's obviously some puzzle(s) you're missing.

Okay, so the interface wasn't the best, but come on! It's not nearly as difficult as you're claiming! It could take up to three seconds to cycle through the actions! *GASP!*

As far as your complaint about Snuckeys is concerned, you need to remember that this is an adventure game from the early '90s. It's not like they even had the possibility to have the game jam-packed with dialog that changes every time you talk to someone. If you're so upset about having to hear this dialog, simply skip it by pressing "." on the keyboard.

Honestly, from the sounds of it, you've gone into this game expecting to hate it. This is a brilliant game, but you can't enjoy it if you're determined to only find flaws.

[joeflint82]

Sounds to me like you're no good at solving puzzles. The point of these games is to prevent a challenge. If you can't progress between just a few different screens, there's obviously some puzzle(s) you're missing.

Okay, so the interface wasn't the best, but come on! It's not nearly as difficult as you're claiming! It could take up to three seconds to cycle through the actions! *GASP!*

As far as your complaint about Snuckeys is concerned, you need to remember that this is an adventure game from the early '90s. It's not like they even had the possibility to have the game jam-packed with dialog that changes every time you talk to someone. If you're so upset about having to hear this dialog, simply skip it by pressing "." on the keyboard.

Honestly, from the sounds of it, you've gone into this game expecting to hate it. This is a brilliant game, but you can't enjoy it if you're determined to only find flaws.

I wouldn't have bought it expecting to hate it, that's ridiculous. The only useful thing you've said is the "." to skip dialogue which I appreciate. And my puzzle solving ability is just fine.

[criezy]

I definitely prefer DOTT over Sam&Max. I also found it difficult to get into the game as I find the beginning tedious. But it gets better (imho) so I would advise you to persevere.

[Reckless]

I also found Sam & Max a game that I didn't warm to. Day of the Tentacle on the other hand - best adventure game released ever

Some games fit the mood/moment and some don't.

[Jdrive]

Maybe it's because I played it during my PC game formative years when I was 7-10 ('93-'95, Ultima VII, Doom, and Lucasarts, good times) and this was my first adventure game from memory, I found DOTT afterwards, and I love them both equally, but always had a soft spot for Sam and Max. Oh I played NES Maniac Mansion 1st actually but I digress...

Yeah I remember it being a bit frustrating until you work out the first lot of puzzles, the world feels very closed. I don't recall the interface being any more clunky than any other adventure game of the time.

Just reminding me of Snuckeys and the Carnival made me want to go back to play it lol. Max is just a rabbity thing, doesn't really have any powers from memory, aside from usual comic book stretches of reality.

Oh I never had any idea who sam and max were, think my uncle (who's PC it was) told me they were comic characters, but I never read the comic until a few years ago. (Hard to find bugger until the reprint). So you don't need any prior knowledge, maybe it's one of those things you need to have played at the time or it won't click - I imagine a 14 year old today trying to play Ultima VII would look at me like I was a nutjob if I tried to tell them it was one of the best fantasy RPGs ever (imo) lol.

[joeflint82]

Maybe it's because I played it during my PC game formative years when I was 7-10 ('93-'95, Ultima VII, Doom, and Lucasarts, good times) and this was my first adventure game from memory, I found DOTT afterwards, and I love them both equally, but always had a soft spot for Sam and Max. Oh I played NES Maniac Mansion 1st actually but I digress...

Yeah I remember it being a bit frustrating until you work out the first lot of puzzles, the world feels very closed. I don't recall the interface being any more clunky than any other adventure game of the time.

Just reminding me of Snuckeys and the Carnival made me want to go back to play it lol. Max is just a rabbity thing, doesn't really have any powers from memory, aside from usual comic book stretches of reality.

Oh I never had any idea who sam and max were, think my uncle (who's PC it was) told me they were comic characters, but I never read the comic until a few years ago. (Hard to find bugger until the reprint). So you don't need any prior knowledge, maybe it's one of those things you need to have played at the time or it won't click - I imagine a 14 year old today trying to play Ultima VII would look at me like I was a nutjob if I tried to tell them it was one of the best fantasy RPGs ever (imo) lol.

I find myself replaying games I'm used to rather than new ones. I often dig out Frontier Elite II, Fragile Allegiance, Settlers 3 etc. The most modern games I tend to play are usually iPad apps. Obviously I played Tales of MI and Back to the Future. I've setup an apptracker to message me when various p&c games drop in price on the iPad, it seems most of the bargains were before I got the device.

[joeflint82]

This is another example of how poor this game is:
I thought I had explored everything possible, and was at a massive dead end, so I decided to get a prompt from a walkthrough, the prompt said that their is a cupboard with a lightbulb in it at the office. Even KNOWING this, it still took me about 60 seconds before it became apparent that the room continues to the right.

Puzzles I can do, not seeing an object because Max is in the way, or not seeing that a room doesn't end at the obvious point I can't.