Welcome back to the point and click adventure game

I have been a BIG fan of the adventure game for about 15 years now, back when there was EGA (or even CGA) graphics (look it up if you are under 30 and don't know what these are), Soundblaster cards were just coming out (you mostly had to rely on an internal speaker), and you actually had to TYPE IN commands for your character to perform. I spent many hours, and many dollars, playing the Leisure Suit Larry games (The second one was my favorite, so many ways to die!), the Quest for Glory games, the Space Quest games, the King's Quest games, and the Gabriel Knight games, to name a few (Sierra On-line was my favorite company to get games from). LucasArts also had some great games, The Monkey Island Series, Grim Fandango, and Day of the Tentacle, to name some of my favorites from that studio. My favorite game of all time is The Longest Journey by Funcom.


Unfortunately, my love of these action-adventure games wasn't to last. Not because I became tired of them, but because companies stopped making them, instead concentrating on the horrible first person shooter genre, sports franchise games, and other games that cater to the non thinking lowest common demoninator of 14 year old boy (I'm not bitter). Sierra On-line was sold to Vivendi Universal, which gutted the company and stopped making the classic adventure games. LucasArts also abandoned their wonderful adventure series, and instead now focuses on endless Star Wars games. Funcom recently came out with a sequel to The Longest Journey called Dreamfall, which was good, but it added some clunky combat sequences, it was quite a bit shorter, and they left a cliffhanger ending with no indication when the next installment will come out. LucasArts produced two additional games that I did not play (and still haven't, actually), based on a 6 foot anthropomorphic dog named Sam, and a clearly disturbed 3 foot rabbit named Max. They were quite popular, but the series was stopped at 2 games by 1995 (Sam and Max Hit the Road, and Sam And Max: Freelance Police).


Fast Forward to 2005. A company named Telltale Games (comprised of some ex-LucasArts employees, according to Wikipedia) released a new Sam and Max point and click game. The most interesting thing about this new game was that it was released in 6 "episodes" over the course of 6 months. The episodes were available for download from the Telltale site on the day of its release. Each episode was avilable individually for about $9 each, or the entire season for about $35.00. I played the game last year and totally loved it! As an added bonus, anyone who purchased the entire season could get the season on CD for the cost of shipping.

Each episode was a self contained adventure, with them all leading to a concluding episode that brought them all together. The different characters were very quirky and interesting, my favorite is Bosco, the "inconvenience" store down the street from Sam and Max. The situations are silly, and the solutions frequently bizarre, but those are hallmarks of a great adventure game.

The series was so successful that Telltale is producing a second series. There are currently two episodes available for a 5 episode series. I highly recommend both series, but must point out that despite the fact that Sam and Max are cartoon characters, these are NOT kids games. There isn't anything dirty or profane, but te humor would definitely be more appreciated by a mature audience.

So there is still hope for the classic point and click adventure game. At some point later this year, another ex LucasArts employee is releasing another game called "A Vampyre Story". In addition, Telltale has another classic point and click game available for sale. It is by a company called Himalaya Studios called Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman Mine. At first you may find the "hero" Al Emmo, a annoying little pipsqueak, but by the end of the game, you will totally love him, I promise! This game also has great puzzles, many different locations, and great characters. (if the game is not currently available on the Telltale site, check back occasionally ,they were revamping the site to make the authentication easier for games they didn't actually produce).




All in all, I am quite optimistic about the future of the classic computer adventure game. I should mention that one additional feature that is important to me is that the game is playable on a PC, since I don't have a gaming console (only a Gameboy DS Lite).


Go play the Sam and Max games and Al Emmo! The more people who buy these games, the more likely even more will be made.

Let me know if you knw of any other games that I may have missed in this much loved (by me) genre.