Thank God LucasArts canceled Sam & Max: Freelance Police [Archive]

Smollie

03/02/2007, 03:22 am

Yep, I'm glad they did! For now I can look forward to a lot more Sam & Max adventures on a regular basis in the future, thanks to the wonderful people at TellTale!
For had LucasArts released Sam & Max: Freelance Police, that would probably have been the only game with S&M content for years to come.
True, it would have been fun, but only for a short period of time.

Now, instead, Sam & Max are coming to me on a regular basis, to satiate my need for cartoony mayhem and critical outlook on the world!
No, I wouldn't want to have it any other way!!!

Plan3

03/02/2007, 08:03 am

I totally agree with you on this! =)

Blackphyr

03/03/2007, 12:53 pm

But I still wish I could see what they had finished on it :)

AdamG

03/03/2007, 01:18 pm

Yes, I was very afraid of how an episodic adventure game would turn out but it probably has turned out better for the series had the sequel from LucasArts came out. Who knows, it might not have turned out very good anyway. They probably would've butchered on mass to appeal to a large(r) audiance. :( Either way, Telltale should be very proud of how well Season 1 is and is doing, and relieved it didn't bomb because that would've sucked a majoruscy for everyone.

LGH

03/03/2007, 11:48 pm

Smollie, you're absolutely right! I still think that the LucasArts game might have turned out really, really good, but having played Ep 1-4 by now, I can claim with certitude:

LEC'S FREELANCE POLICE COULDN'T HAVE BEEN BETTER THAN WHAT WE GOT FROM TELLTALE!

I have spend so much fantastic moments with Sam and Max during the last monthes, from the games over the Machinima shorts to the web comics... awesomes. And it just goes on and on and on and on...

And, oh my god, what brilliant music we were offered. Jared's work can definitely keep up with the work of the three former LucasArts music gods, Land, McConnell and Bajakian.

Congratulations Telltale! Keep them coming...

BarfHappy

03/04/2007, 01:50 am

I have to disagree... because the game would have been fantastic.

Stupid business decision made the development stop close to the end, but i had absolutely 0 worries, even less (minus 1 worries) seeing the near-final screenshots in magazines the month before the cancellation.

That said, the episode 4 is wonderful, and i think TTG has now the quality of these adventure games of the golden age era 93-97

Badwolf

03/04/2007, 08:21 am

Definitely, I reckon LucasArts wouldn't have done even near as good a job as Telltale Games, especially after what they did with Escape From Monkey Island.

Out of interest (I never really followed Freelance Police at the time) would it have been point and click, or would it have had the direct control system of Grim Fandango and EFMI?
If it had direct control, that would have been another good reason it was canned.

Still, it would be nice to see what was done.

JK1985

03/04/2007, 08:37 am

Point and click if I remember correctly?

Rubber John

03/04/2007, 08:46 am

So, how about Telltale making an offer to Lucasarts - buy Freelance Police and finish it themselves?

I don't know how these things work, so I know it's all just a dream really, but as it's already fully worked out with regards to story, puzzles etc, they could make an offer to buy it, re-create it on the Telltale engine and release it as their first full game.

That would be great.

The only problem I can see is if Lucasarts behave like arse-holes about it all.

Blackphyr

03/04/2007, 09:15 am

I don't know if it even works that way. Lucasarts no longer holds the rights to Sam and Max. I expect this means that legally, they don't even have the right to sell their work involving these characters to a 3rd party, even if this 3rd party is the rightful owner. Steve Purcell would doubtless be required if such a transaction were to be made.

But this is then further complicated by the fact that the game was developed in an engine proprietary to LucasArts. Even if Telltale Games had the rights to the game itself, they don't have the rights to the engine used to make it (I don't know if it was made with SCUMM or not), and I wouldn't expect Lucasarts to part with that.

And trying to remake it in the telltale engine would probably be like starting over from scratch.

Rubber John

03/04/2007, 09:48 am

So what do Jake, Emily or other Telltale people think / have to say about it then?

AdamG

03/04/2007, 09:54 am

Since they otherwise wouldn't have made any money off this franchise, I'm sure they're jumping for joy at their good fortune. :D Um... Maybe they could buy F.P. and mesh it with Season 2 or something. :confused:

RMJ1984

03/04/2007, 01:46 pm

Well i for one am not and will never be happy with episodic. Still makes limitations to how complex and how many location and items there can be.

I also enjoy a big game where i got it all so i can set my own pace. I sure dont hope this is becoming a trend. The old facasion way is better, can only hope that after this season tellgames will make 1 big season 2.

Welshy

03/04/2007, 01:57 pm

Well i for one am not and will never be happy with episodic. Still makes limitations to how complex and how many location and items there can be.

I dont see why episodic gaming has to have these limitations you mention. Episodes could simply be in the form of a patch that adds more locations onto a map (HTR style), allowing the gamer to return to previous locations.

jp-30

03/04/2007, 02:40 pm

It's funny, I played Full Throttle for the first time last week, it's held up as a fairly short but definite classic adventure.

What amused me was how often you'd move forward to a new set of locations and be unable to return back to earlier locales - and more often than not often the transitions were accompanied by a major loss of inventory.

This so-called limitation of Episodic Adventures has been in many, many previous classics (Grim Fandango too, with 4 distinct chapters).

(Some) people seem to be forgetting that this approach (limited backtracking to earlier locations and periodic loss of now-useless inventory) is actually pretty common among full length adventure games too.

Hero1

03/04/2007, 03:03 pm

I would never use the words "thank god" and "lucasarts cancelled Sam & Max: Freelance Police" in the same sentence :o

Rapp Scallion

03/04/2007, 03:24 pm

I would have loved to see Freelance Police finished. But if Telltale bought it, they would have to remake it. But if they had done that, well, I would've bought it. Why shouldn't it have been just as good as these episodes? Many of the people who worked on the LucasArts-game is the ones who made these episodes. I'm still angry with LucasArts for cancelling it. And probably will continue to be. I don't want another adventure game from LucasArts, since they've spit on the genre with their decition. Well, my opinion anyway. But by seeing old trailers... Man, Max was ugly!

I love the new Sam & Max-episodes, but can't stop feeling that the episodic approach limits the experience. Or no, it doesn't limit the experience, the experience is great as it is, but it limits the number of different ways of creating an experience. To be honest, I think that the adventure game-title don't really fits the episodic approach. It doesn't feel like an adventure. "Adventure" has a more epic feel to it. In Sam & Max, a trip all around the USA has been reduced to walking around the neighbourhood and visiting some strange location. And there's nothing wrong with that, it just don't feel like an adventure. I love the adventure-feel in games, so I definitely prefer full adventures over self contained episodes.

Episodes with the scale of part 2 in CMI or year 2 in Grim Fandango would've been great. But you know, even if these parts are self contained in a way, they are just pieces of one large story. And even if that's the case in Season 1 too, the episodes are made to be a story in itself. The focus isn't on the surrounding story, the focus is on the single cases in each episode. And that's a huge difference. Like a friends-episode compared to Lost, where you're much more dependent on the previous episodes to understand anything. That's the curse of episodic adventure-games for my part. You have to make it totally understandable for everyone who hasn't played the previous episodes in the season.

Ooh, Meché

numble

03/04/2007, 04:06 pm

I love the new Sam & Max-episodes, but can't stop feeling that the episodic approach limits the experience. Or no, it doesn't limit the experience, the experience is great as it is, but it limits the number of different ways of creating an experience. To be honest, I think that the adventure game-title don't really fits the episodic approach. It doesn't feel like an adventure. "Adventure" has a more epic feel to it. In Sam & Max, a trip all around the USA has been reduced to walking around the neighbourhood and visiting some strange location. And there's nothing wrong with that, it just don't feel like an adventure. I love the adventure-feel in games, so I definitely prefer full adventures over self contained episodes.

Episodes with the scale of part 2 in CMI or year 2 in Grim Fandango would've been great. But you know, even if these parts are self contained in a way, they are just pieces of one large story. And even if that's the case in Season 1 too, the episodes are made to be a story in itself. The focus isn't on the surrounding story, the focus is on the single cases in each episode. And that's a huge difference. Like a friends-episode compared to Lost, where you're much more dependent on the previous episodes to understand anything. That's the curse of episodic adventure-games for my part. You have to make it totally understandable for everyone who hasn't played the previous episodes in the season.

Ooh, Meché

Regarding the idea of short, standalone, more-or-less independent episodes, I don't think that's necessarily a curse of episodic adventure games--it's just that Telltale believed that Sam and Max (with their history of standalone comic books and TV episodes) would fit well into the mold of a more sitcom-like standalone/independent model. The Bone episodes, for example, definitely feel more like a serial TV show like 24 or Lost, and though I haven't played it yet (maybe never), Myst Online: Uru Live, while episodic (they've added 1 new Myst age per month since starting up) also depends on the player having played the previous episodic deliveries before taking a crack at or understanding the story in the new Age (I might be wrong about this). And with the newly announced Dreamfall Chapters, Ragnar Tornquist has hinted that "Funcom will do to the serialized drama what Telltale did to the standalone sitcom in regards to episodic format (http://ragnartornquist.com/?p=293#more-293)."

jp-30

03/04/2007, 04:10 pm

In Sam & Max, a trip all around the USA has been reduced to walking around the neighbourhood and visiting some strange location. And there's nothing wrong with that, it just don't feel like an adventure.

Did you play (and like) Day of the Tentacle?

Smollie

03/05/2007, 11:37 am

I would never use the words "thank god" and "lucasarts cancelled Sam & Max: Freelance Police" in the same sentence :o

OK, how about "Thank Cthulhu LucasArts cancelled Sam & Max: Freelance Police"?

It's a shame that the company that once gave birth to the classic adventure games of yore seems to be turning its back on the genre so blatantly.
Especially if you consider that they are probably making more than enough money on the Star Wars games to run the risk of making not so many $$$ with new adventure games.

I doesn't make me hate the company, for I enjoy their non-adventure games a lot, but I do hope they will come to their senses in the near future and maybe hire TellTale to co-develop more adventures?

And let us not forget that LucasArts is not the only company to abandon the adventure genre. Sierra pretty much did the same!
I miss Roger Wilco!

LuigiHann

03/05/2007, 12:07 pm

And let us not forget that LucasArts is not the only company to abandon the adventure genre. Sierra pretty much did the same!
I miss Roger Wilco!

At least Sierra allows them to be... available, through Gametap and rereleases as collections. Lucasarts seems to be forcing their old games into obscurity.

presidentmax

03/05/2007, 01:12 pm

In my opinion i think that without the cancellation we would never have had this season of sam and max. Telltales version promises to be ongoing while lucasarts would be probably be a one off and if lucky we might get another game in 10 years.

However, i would love to see freelance police be released one day.:rolleyes:

Mel

03/05/2007, 01:20 pm

The cancellation seems bittersweet to me. Without it, you wouldn't have had Telltale and all of the games they have made so far but you also have Telltale people who were intimately involved with that game (Brendan Ferguson, Kevin Brunner and Dan Connors) and I would think it would be sad to see your creative effort end before it's completion.

Rapp Scallion

03/06/2007, 11:30 am

Did you play (and like) Day of the Tentacle?

Yup, I did play it, and I loved it. You got a point. But you know, it still kinda had that adventure feel, that the S&M-episodes miss to an extent. It was a huge mansion x 3, and you got the feeling of new worlds by "unlocking" the past and the present, and exploring the different eras. It was an original concept too, and done well.

Yea, I didn't think about the Bone-episodes when I thought about the adventure part of a story, and seeing new places. Maybe that's more my cup of tea (as long as the world you are exploring is big enough to get a feeling of adventure). But I have no doubt that Sam & Max totally fit the sitcom-ish format too. It has never been that epic to begin with, but more plain fun :)

MrSneeze

03/06/2007, 01:38 pm

Smollie

03/24/2007, 06:13 am

At least Sierra allows them to be... available, through Gametap and rereleases as collections. Lucasarts seems to be forcing their old games into obscurity.

Well, not if we don't let them!
Ha!
Maybe we should invade the LucasArts forums! Ah yes, a siege that will make the horrors of Stalingrad and the D-Day landings of 1944 look like a picnic!
I think we should make use of my army of atomic supermutants!
MWOOOHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

Wickywoo

03/30/2007, 10:00 am

I'd love to hear a synopsys of what would have happened in that game, if their NDA's don't prevent of course

LuigiHann

03/30/2007, 12:29 pm

I'd love to hear a synopsys of what would have happened in that game, if their NDA's don't prevent of course
My money is on "Sam and Max's wacky hijinx as they attempt to foil a comical criminal mastermind's bizarre scheme." :p

Dangerzone

03/30/2007, 12:49 pm

there is a funny joke in episode 5 when you keep clicking on the old case file........... mild spoiler:

1st click I dont even want to look at that case again...

2nd click Really, i cant look...

3rd click No really, i just cant look...

4th click No foolin', i just cant bring myself to look...

5th click FOR THE LOVE OF ZOMBIE STEVE MCQUEEN, I WILL NOT LOOK AT THAT!

6th click and on *Sigh*

GMCustom

03/31/2007, 09:36 am

At least Sierra allows them to be... available, through Gametap and rereleases as collections. Lucasarts seems to be forcing their old games into obscurity.

The Sierra collections are horrid though. I am happy to be able to buy games I never got the chance to play but they don't even give us manuals. Just the Adobe file. In fairness Lucasarts has done that with my copies of Sam and Max, Full Throttle, and The Dig but atleast they allow them to be played straight from the disk.

Udvarnoky

03/31/2007, 10:02 am

As far as I know Lucasarts is not responsible for the re-releases you're talking about.

marsan

03/31/2007, 11:19 am

As far as I know Lucasarts is not responsible for the re-releases you're talking about.

yes, I think that's the work of Activision. At least it's only re-released by Activision.

Zachspyfox033

03/31/2007, 01:13 pm

Only they episodes take a long time to come out, and when the do come out gametap gets then two weeks early.

AdamG

03/31/2007, 04:57 pm

I wouldn't call 4 weeks a long time. Though the wait for this episode is longer for some people.

Wickywoo

03/31/2007, 09:18 pm

The Sierra collections are horrid though. I am happy to be able to buy games I never got the chance to play but they don't even give us manuals. Just the Adobe file. In fairness Lucasarts has done that with my copies of Sam and Max, Full Throttle, and The Dig but atleast they allow them to be played straight from the disk.

Do you really need a manual for those games? The interface was pretty standardized. I personally find them great, though I only have the Kings/Space Quest

I wish they'd do Gabriel Knight, and I'm still wondering why they didn't put KQ8 on the KQ collection

Only they episodes take a long time to come out, and when the do come out gametap gets then two weeks early.

They still have to wait 4 weeks though.

ShaggE

03/31/2007, 10:04 pm

[QUOTE=Wickywoo;26323]Do you really need a manual for those games? QUOTE]

For the artwork, it's nice to have the manuals. But I'm an art nut, so I may be in the minority here :P

tabacco

03/31/2007, 10:06 pm

Actually, you do need the manuals for some of the old Sierra games. They used copy protection in the form of puzzles in the manual that you had to solve at some point in the game.

ShaggE

03/31/2007, 10:08 pm

Good point, I didn't think about that.

LuigiHann

04/01/2007, 12:43 am

Well, a manual in pdf format has (most of the time) all the same art and information as a paper one. It just isn't quite as tangible.

marsan

04/01/2007, 01:12 am

owning a manual in paper edition has a certain quality to it that you can never get from a pdf file on a cd, though. I still have my warcraft 2 manual, not because I have any problems with understanding how to play the game, but because I find a certain quality in owning the paper back manual to a game.

But that's not my biggest issue when I buy a re-release of a game. What's most important is that the game runs fine in XP. From what I hear the Sierra games only has a copy of DOSBox on the cd as their "XP fix", while the Lucas Arts games has are re-written to run fine in XP. I rather want a game that is re-written to work natively on my modern PC(without damaging the original quality of the original game, of course).

ToXic

04/01/2007, 03:14 am

while the Lucas Arts games has are re-written to run fine in XP.

Where did you hear that? Lucas has never and will never re-write any of their games for XP compat, it even says on their website that they can't ensure compatibility for their older titles on XP.

I for one am glad Lucas cancelled Sam & Max: FP, purley cause the shots I viewed from it didn't look all that good, and plus then we wouldnt of got yet more masterpieces from Telltale. :D

marsan

04/01/2007, 04:58 am

Where did you hear that? Lucas has never and will never re-write any of their games for XP compat, it even says on their website that they can't ensure compatibility for their older titles on XP.

Surely you are mistaken. I bought the Sam & Max that was released just two days ago(30th), and that cd includes a rewritten Sam & Max executable(a so called version 2.0) that runs fine on everything from Windows 95 to XP

I've heard the same goes for all the other newer releases in the Lucas Classic Line series.

From the readme file for the version 2 update:

Thank you for purchasing Sam & Max™ Hit the Road
version 2.0.

This version of Sam & Max Hit the Road has been
modified to allow you to play the game in Windows 95
OSR2, 98, 98SE, Millennium Edition (ME), 2000, or XP.

NOTE: The original Readme on this CD has not been
modified to reflect the additional supported
operating systems.

Dangerzone

04/01/2007, 05:15 am

happy april fools day to you too.......... :rolleyes:

marsan

04/01/2007, 05:22 am

1st of april is a gift that keeps on giving :D

ToXic

04/01/2007, 06:43 am

Surely you are mistaken. I bought the Sam & Max that was released just two days ago(30th), and that cd includes a rewritten Sam & Max executable(a so called version 2.0) that runs fine on everything from Windows 95 to XP

I've heard the same goes for all the other newer releases in the Lucas Classic Line series.

From the readme file for the version 2 update:

Thank you for purchasing Sam & Max™ Hit the Road
version 2.0.

This version of Sam & Max Hit the Road has been
modified to allow you to play the game in Windows 95
OSR2, 98, 98SE, Millennium Edition (ME), 2000, or XP.

NOTE: The original Readme on this CD has not been
modified to reflect the additional supported
operating systems.

Ah well I didnt know that, just shows how out of date I am, me owning the original and all.

marsan

04/01/2007, 06:47 am

Ah well I didnt know that, just shows how out of date I am, me owning the original and all.

lucky you. I wish I had the original. Unfortunately I didn't consider it back then. At least I was able to find a original first release copy of day of the tentacle in germany, but unfortunately they didn't have sam & max. I'm glad they re-released it at least, so I at least got something to put on the shelf. Also, this re-release is probably the best one I have ever seen.

LuigiHann

04/01/2007, 08:43 am

jannar85

04/01/2007, 09:15 am

I think Telltale could buy the licence after LucasArts got their sam and max game out. But of course, it wouldn't be the same hype as it is now.

Udvarnoky

04/01/2007, 10:08 am

I'm pretty sure they actually release discs like that in Europe and Australia, but it's not Lucasarts itself doing that, it's their distributors.

Why can't Lucasarts get a US distributor? Their current one sucks

LucasArts is the LucasArts distributor in the US. That's the thing.

Where did you hear that? Lucas has never and will never re-write any of their games for XP compat, it even says on their website that they can't ensure compatibility for their older titles on XP.
Surely you are mistaken. I bought the Sam & Max that was released just two days ago(30th), and that cd includes a rewritten Sam & Max executable(a so called version 2.0) that runs fine on everything from Windows 95 to XP

You're both right kind of. LucasArts (or Activision) did update some of the games, including Sam & Max, for XP, but those releases were never available in the US (with the exception of the Armed & Dangerous demo disc which did have the updated Sam & Max on it, but there was an error in the mastering that caused the audio to cut out).

LuigiHann

04/01/2007, 01:08 pm

LucasArts is the LucasArts distributor in the US. That's the thing.

I know, I was semi-joking. Well, I was totally joking, but it would still be nice if somebody distributed the old LucasArts adventures on this side of the ocean. LucasArts hasn't been doing a great job of it lately.

AdamG

04/01/2007, 06:58 pm

LucasArts hasn't been doing a great job of it lately.

That's because LucasArts really sucks lately. ;)

Wickywoo

04/01/2007, 10:46 pm

Actually, you do need the manuals for some of the old Sierra games. They used copy protection in the form of puzzles in the manual that you had to solve at some point in the game.

Right, and they included the manual on the CDs for that, and alert you to that fact beforehand, at least on the Space Quest one

Smollie

04/02/2007, 01:31 pm

Ah, yes, I do remember that wonderful manual of Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders. A sort of newspaper with even some clues in it, if I remember well. Or at least, I was hoping to find some clues in it.
Come to think of it, I'm not even sure I found any clues in there.

I do have the original packaging, so I could check it out, if I wanted to.
But why spoil a perfectly happy memory?

The fun of this kind of manual is that it's a sort of tangible piece from the game-world. It deliciously fades all borders between the reality you're living your life in and the reality of the game you're playing.
Well, maybe I just have an overactive imagination and a problem with accepting reality as it is. Maybe it's the result of playing too many computergames in the past 20 years, or so.

Mommy, I need help!

LuigiHann

04/02/2007, 01:44 pm

The fun of this kind of manual is that it's a sort of tangible piece from the game-world.

I was surprised that the manual for WarioWare Smooth Moves was somewhat along those lines. It was some sort of bizarre tabloid. It was neat.

...

What was this thread about again?

Smollie

04/02/2007, 01:52 pm

What was this thread about again?

If my memory serves me well, it was about me being greatfull for LucasArts' cancellation of S&M2.

You could always go to the top of this thread of course, or were you pointing out the fact we're going somewhat off topic with this manual business?

But then, threads tend to do that.
I don't know why. But I don't mind.

LuigiHann

04/02/2007, 02:42 pm

I was just joking around, making fun of myself as much as anyone else.
As for it being a good or bad thing that S&M:FP was canceled, it's hard to say. I'm content with the current incarnation of Sam & Max, but who's to say their alternate-universe versions aren't having equally exciting episodic adventures? It's possible that if Freelance Police came out and did well, then Lucasarts might have made one or more sequels, or if it did poorly, they might have let the license expire and Telltale might have gotten it then!

Still, it's nice to have certainty, through the episodic schedule, that there is more Sam & Max to come. And it's nice to be able to be confident that each episode will be good quality, thanks to the talented Telltale team. With some game franchises, sequels are frightening, because you never know when the company is going to muck it up.

AdamG

04/02/2007, 05:06 pm

ShaggE

04/02/2007, 05:10 pm

Ah, yes, I do remember that wonderful manual of Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders. A sort of newspaper with even some clues in it, if I remember well. Or at least, I was hoping to find some clues in it.
Come to think of it, I'm not even sure I found any clues in there.

I loved how they hid hints where you least expected them... my favorite example: Shivers 2. They hid hints in the lyrics of the songs on the second CD. (The game itself had the songs in them too, but only abbreviated versions... you had to listen to CD2 to get all the clues)

Best part was, it was actually some good rock music! You could listen to it in your car without getting weird looks from passersby :D

marsan

04/02/2007, 11:31 pm

There's no doubt in my mind that Telltale is doing better then LucasArts would've done. S&M2 was a lot like what we are getting today according to the trailer for S&M2, but the models and voices are better, and the humor is better too. I doubt S&M2 would have met our high standards.

I agree. When I watch the trailer of Sam & Max - Freelance police, and compare it with the telltale games sam & max episodic trailer, I feel Telltale games have done much more of sam & max than lucasarts would have done with a sequel(in terms of humour, graphics, and other things you already mentioned).

Still, I am sure the Sam & Max - Freelance police game would have ended my appetite for Sam & Max. After I have waited such a long time since the last Sam & Max game, one only really needs a certain something(a game) to end that hunger. One doesn't really expect there to be another Sam & Max game(at least not in another 10 years) after waiting for such a long time for the sequel, so after one has gotten the sequel, one kind of goes back to normal life and are happy to have gotten the sequel they promised all those years (ago?).

barchetta

04/03/2007, 10:30 am

I agree. When I watch the trailer of Sam & Max - Freelance police, and compare it with the telltale games sam & max episodic trailer, I feel Telltale games have done much more of sam & max than lucasarts would have done with a sequel(in terms of humour, graphics, and other things you already mentioned).

From what I see on http://media.pc.ign.com/media/489/489000/vids_1.html -- the dancing stuff looks really fluid and spiffy! And the way the De Soto drives away is very cartoonish. I wouldn't say the current S&M is better than back then.

marsan

04/04/2007, 01:06 pm

From what I see on http://media.pc.ign.com/media/489/489000/vids_1.html -- the dancing stuff looks really fluid and spiffy! And the way the De Soto drives away is very cartoonish. I wouldn't say the current S&M is better than back then.

The trailer doesn't really say much about the plot, so it's a bit hard to judge from it. Too bad it was canceled, because it would have been great to play it. At least season one has put out my thirst for a sequel to hit the road, so even though these episodes aren't directly sequels I feel I have gotten some closure to the waiting. When this season is over, I can lie back and forget sam & max again :cool:

Alright. Funny story. I tried reading some of the sam & max comics, and I think they are good, but not really the kind of comics I usually would read nor like. But Hit the road must've had some kind of perfect balance, because I really loved that game(even though it took a few years before I really grew to like it). Anyway, my question is if anybody else have experienced not liking the comics but loving the sam & max game(s)?

fajerkaos

04/04/2007, 01:43 pm

Sorry for asking, but I'm alittle bit curious...
What do some of you mean about that Season One aren't real secuals to Hit the Road, and that Freelance Police would have been more of a "true" seaquel to HtR?

I mean... How would you even ever know that?
(If you aren't Steve, or some other guy that worked closely on FP, of course).

Just curious... :rolleyes: (many apologieses for my poor spelling)

LuigiHann

04/04/2007, 04:03 pm

I think the suggestion is that, since Sam & Max is a license, Season One and Hit the Road are separate games based on the same license, and not necessarily related to one another. Like how the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games aren't really related to the old TMNT arcade games.
But when LucasArts was making Freelance Police, it was often referred to as "Sam & Max 2" and while the storyline might not have been directly connected to Hit the Road's story, they could have referenced the original game much more directly, since Telltale doesn't have the rights to characters created for the first game.
I would probably call Season One a "spiritual sequel" to Hit the Road.

purple_monkfish

04/19/2007, 05:29 am

I'll never forgive Lucasarts for their frankly idiotic suicidal move. Cancelling freelance police lost them a lot of loyal fans who'd been with them since the beginning and had helped make lucasarts games what they were. Once they were thriving with their inivative unique adventure games, now they just pump out rehashed shootemups based on Starwars which quite honestly have NEVER interested me. Even KOTOR which was produced with biowares help I think, never really interested me much. Why? because lightsaber battles and droids are just dull, dull and over done.
Boo Lucasarts, booo, you guys have lost any respect you once had.
Even if they did bring out another adventure game, i'd be reluctant to buy it. The wounds run deep, far far too deep.

What gets me, is how close to completion they were when they canned the project. Screams of nonsensical to me. Why get that far? pump that much money into something and then NOT release it? you've already lost all that development time and cash, the final touches and packaging really aren't going to add that much more to your overall loss surely? They had all the advertising they needed from excited games magazines, all those adventure gamers waiting with baited breath. bah.. some of the high ups really seem to have taken a few too many blows to the head or something because the entire decision was just illogical

anyway. In a way yes, it's great. Telltale have done a brilliant job and it's great to see sam and max back and better than ever! thank you telltale!

IN reference to the manual thing: Yes the zak mckracken newspaper did have hints, at least hints as to what was to come story wise. Like the story about elvis and the one about the two wise men playing golf.
I still have a couple of the old manuals from my old original copies of things. Alas, when we moved from nz to england my father made me ditch all the old boxes and such forth so I don't have a lot of the original packaging.
I always loved how lucasarts had done copy protection though, incorperating it most of the time into the game: the exit visa in zak, the gold/vinegar puzzle in DOTT etc. I loved that, it was such a great idea.

I miss excessive in game packaging. The grail diary that came with indiana jones and the last crusade, the book of patterns from Loom... they were just brilliant! you don't get that much anymore.. the last really interesting manual I saw was GTA San andreas with all the tourist info.

xChri5x

04/19/2007, 06:05 am

From what I see on http://media.pc.ign.com/media/489/489000/vids_1.html -- the dancing stuff looks really fluid and spiffy! And the way the De Soto drives away is very cartoonish. I wouldn't say the current S&M is better than back then.

The footage in the trailer isn't actual gameplay footage, so it wouldn't have been as polished in the actual game. If you look at screenshots from the actual game, the models are pretty poor looking compared to the Season One models.

http://www.erenumerique.fr/images/jeux/20060623/Sam_Max_2.jpg
http://diduz76.interfree.it/immagini/freelance/freelance12g.jpg

Udvarnoky

04/19/2007, 04:54 pm

To be fair to the team of Freelance Police, you can't be sure those screenshots are representative of the final game either, since it was still like six months out at the time of its cancellation. There's a pretty significant improvement from the trailer to those later screenshots, though. Max has thankfully lost the triangle teeth and both look more detailed.

Personally, based on everything I've seen of Freelance Police, I prefer Telltale's Max (in FP his ears seem too straight and his eyes look weird, though he does retain that yellow tinge from Hit the Road), whereas I think the LucasArts Sam looks a bit better. I dig the rough textured skin (http://www.mixnmojo.com/galleries/11/full20040323150725.jpg) that his shiny counterpart lacks and his coat just looks more creasy and greasy. I think both efforts look really solid considering the task of translating cartoony characters to 3D with a probably not astronomical budget.

But anyway.