The International House of Mojo

It’s been a long time coming, but we’re at last here at the finale of arguably the greatest series Telltale has yet produced. The Devil’s Playhouse will be revealed, characters will return, assumptions will be shattered, and shockles will be shocked. With four excellent episodes behind them, will the last one screw it all up or will it be a fitting conclusion to an epic storyline? Read on to find out! Or, y’know, play the damn thing. [spoilers for previous episodes, but no spoilers for this episode follow]

Much like third episode They Stole Max’s Brain except far more pronounced, The City that Dares Not Sleep asks the questions: can Sam exist without Max, and most importantly, can he be funny? The answer to that second question is a definite yes, especially with the varied and superb cast of characters from the entire series. As for the first, I think you’ll have to play to find out.

I’m not going to spoil which characters return, but there are many. This is both the episode with the largest cast and, strangely, the only time an episode hasn’t introduced a new character. It’s a credit to Telltale’s writing and character creation skills that you won’t notice it, as the current cast they’ve assembled is one of the strongest and most fun in any videogame. Oh wait, there is sort of a new character… but I’ll let you find that out.

The story is paramount to this episode, and fortunately Telltale knocks it out of the park (for those of you that don’t like baseball, “it’s really really really good” will suffice). We left the last episode with Max possessed by a Cthulhu-like Demon From The Dark Dimension and turned into a giant Godzilla-like monster stomping around New York. The mission now is either to find a way to get Max back to normal… or destroy him. However, as the now-iconic omnipresent Narrator intones, “you may think that this is another predictable story about a giant monster attacking Manhattan… but you’d be dead wrong!” While that’s going on, there’s a mystery to solve. Who’s been causing all this? Can Max be returned to normal? What is the titular Devil’s Playhouse? And who will betray Sam & Max, as the Narrator says will inevitably happen?

Comedy is equally well pulled off, but I don’t think that will surprise anyone. The writing is just top-hole good chums, and everyone will have their own favourite line. My current one is “from now on I’m only taking cases with bad guys vulnerable to gunfire”. Any game that contains references to WB Yeats and Star Wars within the same minute is truly special in my book. Oh, and for long-term fans of the series, there are at least two Hit The Road references to spot and squee over (do Sam & Max fans squee? I bet they do).

Jared Emerson-Johnson provides us with a truly film-quality score that impresses from monster movie bombast to bittersweet sadness (yes, it ain’t all wacky comedy, but ssh – no spoilers!). The voice acting doesn’t play a single duff note either, with the regular cast having nailed all their characters several episodes back. Graphics have also taken a stride forwards too, and I’m beginning to see how Jurassic Park’s going to work in Telltale’s hands.

So it’s all great then? Sadly, no. In their efforts to give us a true stunner of a final episode in terms of character, writing and story, the meat of the adventure game – the puzzles – have taken a back seat. They are definitely the simplest and most straightforward of the season’s. Particularly note has to be given to the final “puzzle”, and calling it that gives it too much credit. You use one item on another item (in a single room where you can’t do anything else really), and you don’t get any indication whether it’s worked or not until you try the thing you couldn’t do before. If it works, congratulations you’ve won the season.

Less important, and this is really nit-picking, is the total unimportance given to the idea of Monster Max putting people to sleep. Apart from a couple of good jokes this ability doesn’t really get any plot-time, and just seems included to give an excuse to use the excellent title. Max’s psychic powers are also totally absent, and while they do get replaced with other things it’s a bit sad that the main thing that has made The Devil’s Playhouse such an original adventure game so far doesn’t get any playtime at all in the finale.

Playing The Devil’s Playhouse an episode a month has been like following a superb TV show, with fantastic cliffhangers and a pace building to a hopefully stunning finale. It’s like Lost with psychic powers and psychotic bunny things (or did Lost have those already?). I am very pleased (and relieved) to report that the story delivers. This is the epic, and most importantly satisfying, conclusion we all wanted. The puzzle quality takes a definite dive, but you know what? With lines like “I find the entire situation to be contrived and misogynistic” you won’t care. Just prepare yourself for the ending.

Telltale have raised the bar for episodic adventures once again, which they really should stop doing since they’re the only ones playing at it.

Chris ‘TheTingler’ Capel, August 30th 2010

PROS: Everything!

CONS: ... except the puzzles, which are too easy. And no psychic powers?

EPISODE SCORE: 4 skulls.

SEASON SCORE: 5 skulls.