Sam & Max Season 3: The Devil’s Playhouse Episode 5: The City That Dares Not Sleep PS3 Review
Publisher – Telltale Games – Developer – Telltale Games – Genre – Adventure – Players – 1 – Age Rating – 12+ – Other console/handheld formats – N/A
To say that Max has had bad luck during this third season of Sam & Max would be an understatement. He’s had his brain stolen and at the conclusion of the previous episode he was transformed into a towering monster very much in the Godzilla mould. This fifth and final episode, The City That Dares Not Sleep, is all about Sam’s attempt to turn his not so little buddy back into his regular rabbity self.
Because of this premise, the usual Max is largely absent this time around and admittedly, it feels as if something is a little missing without Sam and Max’s amusing banter with one another and it’s just odd for him not to play much of a part in the final episode of the season.
Believe it or not, but this is actually Max. Indeed, he’s looking quite different here.
Elsewhere, the diverse cast of Sam & Max’s characters is almost enough to make up for the lack of the true Max. The City That Dares Not Sleep has all the usual characters from The Devil’s Playhouse, but also reintroduces characters from previous seasons: Cybil Pandemic is back with a bit of a difference this time around, whilst Satan returns and brings with him amusing complaints about copyright infringement.
The lack of Max has also had a bearing on the puzzling facet of the game. The physic powers, of which granted so much colour and identity to this season’s puzzles, are largely absent and the episode has more or less regressed to the formula of previous seasons, of which is somewhat odd for the final entry of the series and likely to be disappointing for many people.
Whilst this review has had a rather negative tone, I did still enjoy The City That Dares Not Sleep and found it to be a mostly fitting conclusion to what has been a wonderful season of Sam & Max. It’s not the best episode in the season but is nonetheless a likeable finale with plenty of memorable moments, but it does have some odd omissions. Still, it certainly does enough to leave me sad that The Devil’s Playhouse has come to an end.
7/10
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