Sam & Max Save the World is a graphic adventure video game developed by Telltale Games. The game was originally released as Sam & Max: Season One before being renamed in early 2009. Save the World was developed in an episodic fashion, comprising six episodes that were released for Microsoft Windows over the course of late 2006 and early 2007. The episodes were initially distributed online by GameTap and Telltale Games themselves, although the later retail releases of the game were published by The Adventure Company. A Wii port of the game was published in late 2008, and an Xbox Live Arcade version was released in mid-2009. A remaster of the game by Skunkape Games was released in December 2020 for Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows, in August 2021 for Xbox One, and in September 2022 for PlayStation 4.
Based on Steve Purcell's comic book series Sam & Max, the game follows the title characters Sam and Max—self-styled vigilante private investigators, the former an anthropomorphic dog and the latter a "hyperkinetic rabbity thing"—through several cases involving a hypnotism conspiracy. Each episode features one case with a contained story, with an underlying plot running through the series. The game was announced by Telltale Games in 2005 following the cancellation of Sam & Max: Freelance Police by LucasArts in the preceding year; many of the employees at Telltale Games were members of the Freelance Police development team.
The game received a positive response from critics, with praise bestowed on the game's humor, graphics and gameplay, but concerns were voiced over the low difficulty of the puzzles, repetition in design between episodes and the effectiveness of the story. Opinions dissented across the Atlantic; some British reviewers did not appreciate the writing in the way that American critics did. Nevertheless, the game has won several awards and is often cited by commentators as the first successful application of episodic distribution. The game was accompanied by a number of short machinima videos set between each episode. The game was followed by two episodic sequels: Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space in 2007 and Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse in 2010.
Gameplay Sam & Max Save the World is a 3D graphic adventure game in which the player controls the character of Sam. The player has Sam explore the environments of the game and solve a series of puzzles using a simple point-and-click interface. The game's puzzles have logical solutions, although a number of them have far-fetched solutions due to the game's cartoon setting. Depending on the type of in-game entity a player selects using the cursor, the player can have Sam walk around an area, look at and comment on objects, pick up certain items or otherwise try to use them. Sam may also engage in conversation with non-player characters; when this occurs, the game presents a dialog tree with several subjects to pick from. Topics of conversation may directly involve the story or provide assistance with the game's puzzles, while others may be entirely unconnected. In some cases, the player may be able to choose dialog for Max to speak as well.
The game implements an inventory system to allow Sam to store any items that the player picks up during the course of the game. The player may select any of the items in the inventory and can then attempt to use them on objects in the game world or give them to other characters simply by clicking on the desired target. Unlike Save the Worlds predecessor, Sam & Max Hit the Road, inventory items are context specific, and cannot be used together or combined to create new items. Typically, Sam carries a gun that may be used to solve several puzzles.
The characters can travel between a variety of locations in the game using their black and white 1960 DeSoto Adventurer, which, when selected, will present the player with a list of available destinations. The DeSoto is also used for several driving sequences, usually involving pursuing or fleeing criminals in other vehicles. In these driving sequences, the player can use Sam's gun, the car's horn, or have Max attempt to communicate with other vehicles via a megaphone. In addition, special inventory items may be used to complete specific puzzles within these sequences. Driving sequences are also used for several minigames, such as pulling innocent drivers over for fabricated felonies. In keeping with the developer's heritage from the LucasArts adventure games, Sam & Max Save the World is designed so that the player characters cannot die or reach a complete dead-end.
Synopsis Characters Sam & Max Save the World is set in a universe that parodies American popular culture, and it follows the title characters of Sam and Max, the Freelance Police, a pair of vigilantes and private investigators. Sam is a level-headed but enthusiastic anthropomorphic dog who wears a blue suit and fedora. He is inquisitive, knowledgeable in obscure areas and tends to prefer the logical solution to problems, but he is not above using force. Max is described as a "hyperkinetic rabbity thing"; cunning, uninhibited and reveling in violence and mischief. His reactions to situations usually incorporate force but often with a seeming disregard for his own personal safety. Together, the Freelance Police operate out of a dilapidated office block in a dangerous New York City neighborhood, where they receive cases over the telephone from an unseen police commissioner.
There are several supporting characters that consistently appear throughout the episodes.
Roscoe Bosco is the proprietor of the nearby convenience store and supplies the Freelance Police with a number of items across the game. Driven paranoid by repeated shoplifting, Bosco is obsessed with conspiracies, believing that nearly every US government agency, as well as many criminal outfits, are after him. As such, his store is overwhelmed with security devices and contraptions created by Bosco himself. He regularly attempts to disguise himself as a variety of foreign nationals, but to little effect.
Further down the neighborhood is Sybil Pandemik, who owns a small office across from Sam and Max. Sybil is unable to keep a consistent job and regularly changes her career choices. Introduced as a psychotherapist and former tattoo artist, she later becomes a tabloid journalist, professional witness, professional matchmaker, software tester, and Queen of Canada over the course of Save the World.
In a hole in Sam and Max's own office resides Jimmy Two-Teeth, a rat who works as a petty criminal, confidence trickster and fence. He profusely dislikes Sam and Max, who he sees as always interfering with his work.
Other characters include the Soda Poppers, a group of three former child stars from the 1970s. The three, each with their own trademark catch-phrase, first appear as victims of hypnosis in the first episode, later acting as the judges on a Pop Idol parody in the second episode. By the fourth episode, they are elected the governors of the Dakotas and plunge the region into civil war over ownership of Mount Rushmore. Also making sporadic appearances is Hugh Bliss, an eccentric magician and leader of the Prismatology cult, a parody of Scientology. He is often seen attempting to promote his self-help guides based on Prismatology. Sam finds Bliss irritating, while Max almost idolizes him. Minor characters include Agent Superball, a US Secret Service agent with a penchant for guarding doors; Chuckles, the pit manager in a mafia-run casino; Harry Moleman, a police mole who switches sides;, the Computer Obsolescence Prevention Society (COPS), a group of outdated computers attempting to find purpose in the technologically advanced world, and Abe Lincoln, initially the entire section of the statue of Abraham Lincoln inside the Lincoln Memorial but reduced to a talking head after being almost completely destroyed during "Abe Lincoln Must Die!".
Plot The game opens with Sam and Max, the Freelance Police, lounging in their office, awaiting a new case after a long hiatus. Eventually, the commissioner sends them out to investigate a group of former child stars, the Soda Poppers, who have been causing trouble in the neighborhood. The Soda Poppers are attempting to promote a self-help video called Eye-Bo, which (when watched) hypnotizes the viewer. After seeking assistance from Sybil to reverse the hypnotism on the Soda Poppers by knocking them unconscious, the Freelance Police learn that the scheme has been devised by one Brady Culture, another former child star who owes his fall from popularity to the rise of the Soda Poppers. Sam and Max and the Soda Poppers confront Culture, who hypnotizes the Soda Poppers again. However, Sam manages to fool Culture into ordering the Soda Poppers to attack himself, subduing the threat. The next case the Freelance Police get involves liberating a studio audience held hostage by a deranged TV talk show host, Myra Stump. At the TV station, Sam and Max deduce that Myra has been hypnotized and, after using other shows in the studio to become celebrities, they convince her to let them become guests on her show. Once on the show, Sam notes a strange toy bear on the host's desk, the source of the hypnotism. Using the studio sound system, Sam electrocutes both Myra and the bear, allowing the audience to leave.
The commissioner then tasks Sam and Max with infiltrating the Toy Mafia, a criminal organisation operating from a casino. The commissioner's mole in the organisation has gone quiet; he wants the Freelance Police to find out what happened to the mole. Sam and Max quickly discover that the Toy Mafia are responsible for the toy bear that hypnotised Myra. As they gain the Mafia's trust, they ascertain that the mole has switched sides and is now leading the outfit. After discovering that the casino is a front for a factory producing the hypnotizing bears for mass distribution, the Freelance Police sabotage the factory and destroy the operation. Soon after, the US President starts bringing in bizarre policies; Max is particularly concerned about the introduction of gun restrictions, while Sam believes the President has been hypnotized. At the White House, Max beheads the President, revealing him to be a mechanical puppet designed to hypnotize the nation through TV broadcasts. The President's bodyguard, none other than the now-fallen Toy Mafia's pit boss, activates a giant robot disguised as the statue at the Lincoln Memorial to run in an emergency election against Max. Sam discredits Lincoln's campaign, resulting in Max winning the presidential election. Lincoln begins a destructive rampage through Washington D.C., but is neutralized when Max fires an intercontinental ballistic missile at him.