Sam & Max: Season 2 finale

After months of building anticipation, the groundbreaking episodic game series Sam & Max Season Two has reached its climax. Now Telltale can at last reveal details about the exciting Sam & Max Season Two finale. With souls on the line and the fate of mankind hanging by a thread, Sam & Max will come face to face with their biggest, baddest adversary ever. The episode, entitled “What’s New, Beelzebub?”, will debut Thursday, April 10 for subscribers of Turner Broadcasting’s GameTap service. Its worldwide release will follow one day later, on Friday, April 11, from Telltale’s website.

“What’s New, Beelzebub?” caps a five-game season that has been gaining momentum since November. During this time, Sam & Max have faced off against a demonically-possessed Santa in the North Pole, visited the tropics to stop a cataclysmic volcano eruption, stormed a trendy Eurotrash nightclub overrun with dancing zombies to vanquish their vampire leader, and launched across space and time to track down their missing friend Bosco. Now, judgment day is at hand, and it’s time for a showdown with the guy downstairs to bargain for Bosco’s soul. But, in the corporate wasteland known as Hell, not even Sam & Max are safe from eternal damnation. Can they wiggle free from Satan’s grasp, or have they finally reached the end of the line?

The Sam & Max series has been widely heralded as one of the best examples of successful episodic gaming. In Season Two, the model has been used to piece out a clever and humorous story month by month, gradually growing suspense and winning the praise of critics and fans as seemingly unrelated threads and increasingly varied scenarios have woven into a surprising and compelling plot. As the most epic and off-the-wall Sam & Max episode yet, “What’s New, Beelzebub?” promises to close the season with a bang.

Anticipation is already high for those following the series, but it’s not too late for new players to dive in. All Sam & Max Season Two episodes can be purchased from Telltale’s online store through a full season set or as individual episodes and are also available as part of a GameTap subscription.  Additionally, customers who purchase the Season Two bundle from Telltale will be eligible to get a DVD that includes all five episodes along with bonus content for just the cost of shipping and handling. Emails will be sent to qualifying customers when the DVD is available for ordering.

The success of the Sam & Max game series has fueled a renaissance for the franchise. Telltale recently released a special 20th Anniversary Edition of Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell’s Surfin’ the Highway comic collection after a decade out of print, and a DVD box set of the 1997 animated series has just been published by Shout Factory. Both are available in Telltale’s online store, along with other Sam & Max merchandise.

Bring Down the Sky

This Monday BioWare released the first episode of its promised downloadable content for Mass Effect, its latest RPG/shooter. The content pack is called “Bring Down the Sky” and promises fans of Mass Effect an hour and half of gameply for a mere 400 Xbox Live points (five dollars in Earth money). Not only this, but it introduces a new race into the Mass Effect universe, a species mentioned but never seen on the game disc itself – galactic gangsters, the Batarians.

The story is this: Batarian extremists have hijacked an asteroid and are aiming it squarely at humanity’s first and largest colony world. If’ you’ve seen Armageddon, you are well aware of the problem this poses, namely, mass extinction on a global scale. Instead of Bruce Willis, however, we have commander Sheppard, your avatar. Like Willis’ character, Sheppard has a choice to make – one that is less black and white than Willis’ sacrifice at the end of his meteor movie.

The gameplay is exactly what you’ve come to expect from Mass Effect, if a little ramped up in difficulty. There is little difference in appearance between the Batarians, Human, and Asari. They’re all bipedal humaniods, and when you’re trying to gun them down you’re not looking too closely at their faces or how many fingers they have. As enemies, the Batarians seem a little smarter, tougher, and more accurate than your average though, though with my level 54 Vanguard character I only died twice.

The moral dillemma you are faced with really makes an impact. I found most of the large decision in Mass Effect to be fairly black and white in nature. And, being the sap that I am, I almost always chose to do the “right” thing and collect a nice number of paragon points. However, Bring Down the Sky forced me to make a choice that I was uncomfortable making. I still saved the day… but not without losses, and that is what made this new content stand on its own as a storyline within a storyline.

For those who were disappointed in the side missions in the main game and are wondering if this is simply more of the same – yes and no. There are for major installations on the asteroid that you have to shut down, and yes, three of them are the same pre-fab buildings that seem to breed like rabbits somewhere in the Mass Effect universe. One large room with a ramp, balcony, and two smaller rooms budding off like polyps. However, each room is filled with different stuff, and the last of them almost convinced me that it was a different building for a moment or two. The main installation, however, is a completely new structure, a large, multi-tiered building that looks something like an arena with plant life, giving it a Citadel-esque feel. Also, the presence of extra characters and storyline cut-scenes make Bring Down the Sky feel a little more like a main storyline mission, so it feels a little fresher this time around.

And now for the main gripe – why do I have to play access this content by using a save somewhere in the middle of a game? This content would have worked a lot better as a playable mission after the main story events of Mass Effect. Their decision to only make it accessible through the galaxy map, and the lack of a post game “free-play” means that you either have to start a new save and play up to the point where you are given the Normandy, or use a save from somewhere in the middle of the game, which is a huge hassle to anyone who just wants to play the darn content. The main storyline of Mass Effect was felt so urgent, the threat Saren posed to the galaxy so near that many players felt that putzing around the galaxy looking for sidequests broke the pace. And the vast array of things there is to do in Mass Effect is truly intimidating. Why BioWare chose to not allow free-play after the ending is beyond my reasoning.

Now, for the question on all of your minds – is it worth it?

If you enjoy Mass Effect, have 400 points to spend, and don’t mind using an old save file, then yes. It adds another layer of depth to the Mass Effect universe and gives you an experience you’ll wish all of the side quests had offered.

XboxLive wants you to Rocket, man

Help save the solar system this week when “Rocketmen: Axis of Evil” touches down on Xbox LIVE Arcade this Wednesday, March 5 at 9:00 a.m. GMT (1:00 a.m. PST).

Join Rocketmen Nick Sion, Alec Mink and the Alliance of Free Planets in their white-knuckled struggle to free the solar system from the tyrannical grip of the Legion of Terra in this RPG styled shooter. Players have the choice to save the galaxy alone or cooperatively with up to three other players over Xbox LIVE or locally on the same console. With its distinctive cel-shaded art style, engaging storyline, customizable characters and RPG elements, this shooter will keep players coming back for more. Capcom’s “Rocketmen: Axis of Evil” will be available worldwide (with the exception of Japan and Korea) for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E10+ by the ESRB.

For more details on “Rocketmen: Axis of Evil” please visit www.xbox.com/en-US/games/r/rocketmenxboxlivearcade.