And so, dear reader, we move on to the third part of our adventure with the Freelance Police in their quest to save the world. When we left this series at the end of episode 2 we had managed to locate and apprehend the Devil’s Toybox from the old sorcerer Paperwaite and were handing it back to the Molemen for safe keeping.
All that has gone to pot now, as Sam has returned from a well earned toilet break to find his old bunny pals head sliced open and his brain stolen. Who could have done it? Can he get it back? Is this part of the series any better than the last one? There is really only one way to find this one out.
The great thing about the past two episodes is that a new and unique way of solving things in the game has been introduced to the fray. The trick this time is interrogation, with Sam butting in during his suspect’s answering of questions to try and get them to talk more or maybe even letting slip vital information to continue in the story. The problem this has is that it takes away a fair bit of momentum that the previous instalments had begun to create. Think of it as a film that you’re watching, but you already know the ending (unless it’s Titanic of course) and you get a similar feel.
Due to this new ingredient you seem to spend the first half an hour or so just moving between three places trying to get people to talk and it just gets a little bit irritating. Even some of the new characters, regardless of their brief cameo-like appearances can be just as annoying, like the German tourist looking for directions to the local museum. Thankfully, other people intertwined into the story are much better and really quite fun to interact with, like Sal the Cockroach, who was previously a cook in Grandpa Stinky’s restaurant and is now head of security in the museum.
Playing this makes you feel just a little bit disappointed and I think this is the case for a few reasons. For a start, Max really does bring a load of comedy to proceedings, and even though you do get to carry his talking brain around on your back for a while, it just never feels the same. Because of this, it just doesn’t feel right and that chemistry between the two from before takes a longer time to get going. There are the occasional droplets of laughter, but not enough compared to the last ones. It is a sad thing really because the story itself is still as rich in humour outside of the troublesome twosome as the others, with some funny one liners getting hurled about. Sal, Francis the Rat and even Skunkape have some decent snippets of laughter to give, but with the two main protagonists not quite firing on all cylinders, it just doesn’t have that staying power.
Another problem is the lack of any new toys to play with here. Each episode so far has brought something fresh and fun to the table in terms of psychic toys, but as far as Max’s Brain is concerned it is best to stick to the tried and tested, rather than give us something daring to have a go at. Future Vision, Rhinoplasty and the teleportation phone are all you get this time. The complete lack of originality this time round does affect things a little. Without that carrot dangling in front of you (and no, I’m not using that analogy because a rabbit is involved) there isn’t as much desire to plough through the rest of it as much as before.
There is also an issue about how long this particular section of the series lasts for too. I had this one done a heck of a lot faster than the other two and that was even with being rather stuck in one section as well. This may not be a problem with those who buy the entire series in one go, but as far as those who purchase each part individually then this could be a very big annoyance.
It is hard to explain more when reviewing this, mainly because you want to keep any possibility of spoilers down to a complete minimum, but late on in the game you do come across one thing that you use multiple times, which does feel a little bit lazy, as normally point and clicks are one time use only in terms of their inventory interactions with subjects in-game. Perhaps I’m being too picky, but I feel with what we’ve seen before it doesn’t keep up with the way things have been going.
That seems to be the underlying theme with They Stole Max’s Brain. There is no doubt that Telltale Games can spin a good story, but this feels like the equivalent of the marathon wall, where you just don’t feel like going any further until you push yourself into getting to the finishing line. This third part is just nowhere near the cleverness that parts one and two had and it clearly shows. Worry then starts to sink in as you begin to think that the major pulling power has been used to get people into the story and that it is quickly emptying its little bag of tricks.
Part four is going to have to be a major return to form, as this mid section does not do Sam & Max any favours. As dry as the Egyptian desert that most of the story is surrounded in it never really gets into its full stride and leaves the player wondering where all the good stuff went. At the end of the day though, most film franchises have a bit of a turkey in their collection, but normally finish on a high. I have faith this will be the case here, as the core parts are too good to let slip into the depths of mediocrity. Can Sam & Max get through the rest of the series with their heads held high? Find out next time in…
(Wait a minute, that’s their job.)
VideogameUK verdict: 5.5/10
