Gamertell Review: Sam & Max: The Devil’s Toy Box Episode 2 – The Tomb of Sammun-Mak
by at May 21, 2010 12:32 pm
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What do a toy box, an ancient mummy and a bunch of mole-people have in common? Why the second episode of Sam and Max, of course.
In this episode, you don’t control Sam or Max but, instead, their great grandfathers Sammak and Maximus. The game starts with the boys finding two skeletons that look like them and a few film reels. The reels show their grandfathers going through a series of events on a train and in a pyramid, all to find the Devils toy box. You spend the rest of the game traveling back and forth between the reels to get the whole story of why Sam and Max’s grandfathers are now skeletons.
Ye Old Tyme Samme and Maxxe
Going back and forth between the film reels is basically time traveling and it is a very crucial part of the game. There are five reels ranging from Sammak and Maximus finding out about the tomb of Sammun-Mak (his tomb is where the toy box is kept) to their journey home with the toy box.
You can’t play the reels in order because, as you are playing them, you run into snags and the only way to solve this snag is to travel farther into the future and see what the outcome was. For example, you run into Mr. Kringle and his elves who have stolen a valuable item you need in the game. The only way they will give it to you is if you give them a great toy idea to sell to Kringle, so all you have to do is travel into the future and see what the toy idea was that you gave to them (of course it’s more complicated then that but you get the idea). That is what spend the rest of the game doing.
It’s nice to be in a different time zone because it gives you new locations to explore, rather then the usual locations you are use too. Also, being in the distant past is fun because you get to see how things looked back then. Plus you get to see characters ancestors or, in the case of Jurgan (that punk-emo vampire from the second season), you get to see him before he became a vampire and what transpired to make him become one.
There are two new toys to use, too. One is a can of beans that allows you to shrink down to hide, then pop out to surprise, just like those novelty can’s of beans with the snakes. The other toy is a ventriloquist dummy that lets Max throw his voice to other people, which comes in handy in the game and is good for a laugh.
A Reel Good Time
There are several mole people in the game that like to put curses on you. Whereas curses are usually bad, in this game they are actually good because they allow you to solve puzzles. For instance, one mole puts a curse on people that makes their voice send members of the opposite sex flying away, which comes in handy when you need to send some girls flying away from you.
I admit, the time traveling aspect is a lot of fun but it can also be rather annoying. There are many times throughout the game when you need to go back or forward in time to find out how things happened. Sometimes it’s clear where you need to go and other times it’s trial-and-error. I found myself repeating things and doing completely random things to figure out what I was suppose to do in the game which led me to sometimes have to look at the walk through (which I always try to avoid). I guess, however, that this just adds to the difficulty and skill of the game.
You can actually die in this game, like when you enter the tomb of Sammun-Mak, the mole man guarding the tomb gets mad at you and sends a block filled with spikes down to kill you. Because Max doesn’t like to see “all that violence” you don’t actually see the deaths happen, you just see it from a first person view or not at all. Of course you don’t actually die and have to start over, what happens is the reel ends and you hear Sam say something to the effect of, “I don’t think this is how it’s suppose to turn out.” You get a chance to try again.
Sam and Max: the New Tomb Raiders
Time traveling plus Sam and Max’s ancestors equals fun! This is not the first game where the boys time traveled (remember the escapade on the space ship in season 2?) and it certainly won’t be the last time either.
I recommend you play the first episode before this one if you haven’t already. The second episode is a continuation of the first so it will help fill in any gaps.
Read [Shack News ] also read [Joystiq]
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