The International House of Mojo

A review by Chris ‘The Tingler’ Capel, who has never eaten a meatball sandwich.

Now that the first two episodes are out Telltale is presumably quite happy with their efforts. They've brought Sam & Max back, got rave reviews and are set to make the first proper episodic game Season. However, it’s possible that now Telltale hasn’t got anything to prove their quality might slip and the rest of Sam & Max: Season One might become predictable and rushed.

I hope to high heaven this doesn’t happen. I love Telltale and I love Sam & Max, so I want them both to succeed with every fibre of my being. I also enjoyed both Culture Shock and Situation: Comedy. I say this so you might believe me when I say that it gives me no pleasure at all to declare The Mole, The Mob & The Meatball a disappointment.

The Exposition, The Ex-Possum & The Exasperation

Three episodes in, it’s all becoming too familiar now. Sam & Max are in their office, phone rings, Sam answers, describes their case, you get control. Why does it have to happen like this? Just look at the S&M cartoon series – how many times did they start in the middle of the case, being chased by armed goons or saving the world in a Max robot? In the new comic, the duo begin buried in a grave! A bit of excitement at the start please Telltale!

Familiar... and yet nowhere near as brutal.

Anyway, the player gets control again, and like the obsessive-compulsive Adventure Gamer they are they will start clicking on everything. The disappointment starts immediately, then. The road-kill calendar still hasn’t changed, the notice board still has nothing of interest on it, and the noose collection’s location is still a surprise (that better pay off at some point, Telltale). There are a few new comments but not particularly amusing ones, and I don’t see why some should change but the Road Kill month stays the same.

Heading out into the street, Sybil’s changed careers again (now she’s a professional witness) and Bosco’s changed accents again (to French this time, much less amusing now the surprise has gone). I suspect this is going to happen every episode, and I’m already fed up with it, especially when it takes up the majority of the game.

Ah yes, I’ve skipped ahead of myself slightly. Again (I’m starting to hate that word) there’s just one new location, but there’s only three rooms this time compared to Episode’s 2’s four. And the middle room has very little to do in it.

The first room though, that’s a casino! Woohoo! That sounds cool, right? Lots of things to do in a casino, always loads of people to talk to!

The Creepy Heads, The Cool Cameo & The Copycat

Nope. Apart from the guards there’s only one gambler. However, it’s the much-loved Boris Grinkel from Telltale Texas Hold ‘Em! Cool! Oh, he’s wearing a moustache and calling himself Leonard. Fair enough, still amusing.

So what else is there in this casino? Some creepy singing heads (at least they’re funny), a one-armed bandit who looks like a criminal with one arm (less funny), and most annoyingly of all... Whack A Rat - Sorry, Whack Da Rats. Some may see it as a light-hearted reference to Hit The Road, I see it as a rip-off. I might have seen it as a reference if it wasn’t one of only two things to do in this dull den of iniquity, but it is and I don’t.

What makes this worse is that the puzzles are a breeze. I got stuck several times in both of the last two episodes, here I got stuck once for about two minutes until I spotted something I’d overlooked. Weren’t we told that the episodes were meant to get progressively harder – not easier?

The Less, The Lesser, & The Least

So, to recap – less things to do, less people to meet, and less difficulties to overcome. Surely the humour and story can save Episode 3? Well, yes, to an extent. It’s still funny, and the challenges Toy Mafia godfather Ted E. Bear sets you are amusing and entertaining in equal measures. However, this game is much less funny than Episodes 1 and 2 (dammit, I’m beginning to repeat myself now). The story is fairly interesting, enough to keep your attention, but nothing more.

The Mole, The Mob & The Meatball hasn’t done what Situation: Comedy did to Culture Shock, which was improve it. It’s gone the other way. For $8.95 (or in real money, £4.60), it’s just about worth it to continue the Season storyline, but if you’re just going to buy one or two episodes this shouldn’t be one of them.

But let’s end on a positive note. In every TV series there’s a disappointing episode, a ‘money-saver’ with less of everything so that the show can spend more on making the following episodes even more spectacular. Episode 3 is Sam & Max’s money-saver, so that means the next episode must be something truly special...

2 out of 5 skulls

Pros: Still can be funny, still only $8.95.

Cons: Easier, shorter and less funny than Eps 1 & 2.

A review by Chris ‘The Tingler’ Capel, who has never eaten a meatball sandwich.

This article was originally published on March 19th, 2007. Most older Mojo articles were lost, and we've been forced to resort to The Wayback Machine to revive them. Unfortunately, the layout and media of the original article is often not salvageable, so if you want an idea of how this feature looked in its original form, check out this snapshot.

Oh yeah, and here's the original news post, since we have trouble linking those correctly, too. ¬¬