The International House of Mojo

Adventure Gamers have now posted their review... 4 and a half stars. Coincidence?

Yeah, cheaters.

Although Evan did say that Reality 2.0 was better than Abe Lincoln Must Die. Nah.

I thought it was another great episode..

The person who's been reviewing Sam & Max for AG (Evan Dickens) also happens to be an accountant in real life and well... taxes are due today so he's probably in major crunch time for that.

That bit of gossip out of the way, I really liked this episode. Some of the game references went over my head as I haven't played most of the games they were referring too (I only know of them). The graphics in the last part of the game weren't really that good though. ;)

Must say I was a bit dissapointed - it was a bit too wacky and surreal to allow for clear puzzles and goal structures, which just made it feel really random to play.

I mean, once you get into the main "act", all you're given as a goal is to "destroy the internet", which is really really vague and hard to understand how to do. I don't think I understood what I was trying to achieve until like five minutes before the end of the act, by which point I'd done most of the problems already because the puzzles were, well, there. It's much better to design a game where you solve a task for a purpose than one where you just solve tasks for the hell of it!

It's a shame cause Telltale have been good with story structures in the previous four episodes.

Destroying the internet was the ultimate goal. You had smaller goals to achieve beforehand, which I won't describe as there is no spoiler tag here. The tasks were clearer after interacting with the other characters, and it all slowly added up to the final goal.

Which I don't dispute, but throughout the game I was, like, okay, I can get this thing which will help me do that other thing but I've got no idea whatsoever as to why I'm doing that other thing in the first place... You spend ages getting to something before you know what you actually want to achieve.

It's very important in a narrative for the characters to have motivations, and a lot of the stuff you did here seemed totally, totally random during the game.

I disagree as your tasks are revealed through dialogue or through things you'd need in your inventory that are just lying around. I'm not saying this to be mean or negative or anything of the like. I'm just saying that the game needs a bit more exploration for the tasks at hand to be revealed to the player.

I recently played Zak McKracken and had to play it with the walkthrough at hand, as you could not interact with other characters in the game, therefore not knowing what you had to do half the time. It seemed pretty trial-and-error, something I didn't have time to do.

Yeah, like I suggested briefly near the end of the review (or at least I think I did - have to check in a bit) your enjoyment of this game really depends on what you're looking for.

If you want a gripping plot with cunning puzzles, Episode 5 ain't all that great. If you want to laugh until your spine snaps and just have a great time exploring the game, look no further!

"
Pros: Well written, joy to play all the way through.

Cons: Story a bit lacking.
"

How can it be "well written" but have "story a bit lacking." I'm confused.

Well written = dialogue, plot points, characters/character development.

_Story_ a bit lacking = needed expansion/development as it was pretty straight forward.

Thank you Mr. Sneeze! Yes, I'm referring to the dialogue and in particular the jokes when I say "well written".

My pleasure :D

This episode rocked. I was stoked that they changed every comment. It was a pleasant suprise from the very start of the game that got it off on the right foot.

I loved the comment about the now-changed calendar