Review of Sam and Max Episode 4: Chariots of the Dogs

By Joe Haygood | March 13, 2008

I am sure that several people have heard the old saying that there are only two things guaranteed in life: death and taxes. I would be tempted to add a Sam and Max monthly release to that list as Telltale Games continues its streak of getting out a new episode of Sam and Max every month, and March is no different. The fourth episode in the second series, “The Chariots of the Dogs”, has Sam and Max traveling about the time stream, messing up the past, present and future, while looking for their local conspiracy nut, Bosco.

The fourth episode in this series takes place in the time stream, because T-H-E-M have finally shown themselves, and they have abducted not only Bosco, but Sam and Max as well. At this point, you are tasked with restoring Bosco back to normal, because he has been a bit changed by T-H-E-M. Some of the places you go will include going to Bosco’s store and the White House in the 60’s, Stinky’s in the 80’s as well as a location or two from the previous series.

Story and puzzles are the mainstay of the Sam and Max series, and that continues through this episode. The story starts to glue together the pieces that have been assembled in the past three episodes. Things that you have had questions about start to get answered, but if you are new to the series, you are not left out, because little bits of the story are explained throughout the episode. Puzzles are well thought out and normally seem to make sense, but there are a few that will take some thought and will lead to a little frustration. The game does come with a hint meter, so if you do get stuck, you can get more assistance from the AI to get you moving when you get stuck.

The game still looks as good as it has been since the beginning of the second season with a lot of color and style that is unique to the game. The game will run on most machines and supports most resolutions for today’s computers. I also noticed that the game runs a lot smoother on my older laptop, which makes me wonder if they tweaked the engine a bit. I also noticed that all the regulars have returned to perform their voice work. Everyone gives a solid performance with no one phoning it in. It is nice to see all the actors giving their all, considering the quick turnaround of these games.

There are a few problems that keep this game from being a perfect rating. While we do get to see some new characters, most of the locations are reused from previous episodes, and get away from the unique locations that have been cropping up in since the beginning of the second season. This is not a bad thing, but it just seems like Telltale took a step back in regards to getting all new locations for the player. I also felt that the game came to its conclusion a bit too quickly. It is not a huge deal, but it just seems like the episode ended quicker than some of the others.

All in all, Sam and Max Episode 4: Chariots of the Dogs is a great adventure gaming experience that shows off what can be done when a dedicated team puts a lot of quality into their releases, and keeps on schedule. Even with its minor flaws, gamers everywhere would be remiss if they skipped past this or any of the other Sam and Max Episodes. Sam and Max Episode 4: Chariots of the Dogs gets 4.5 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.

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