Sam and Max is one of my favourites adventure franchises. It's very sad the new developers felt the need to censor the very thing that makes Sam&Max the gaming icons they are: politically incorrect humour. And to be honest, Sam&Max are not even on South Park level of political incorrectness. They are very tame in comparison. Still, the developers thought it was a good idea to take a series known for its politically incorrect humor and neuter it completely. And then they will complain about their version flopping. What a surprise... New graphics are good but that's useless without the humour.
Disappointing. It's crystal clear now he is good at designing (some) puzzles but needs to be restrained and aided by better writers (Schafer, Grossman) so his bad writing doesn't show in his games. It's the only explanation as to why Monkey Island 1 and 2 are so good and Thimbleweed Park is so incredibly mediocre. Shitty ending aside, none of the characters you control are very interesting, and having to divide the playtime between them instead of just focusing on one or two main characters has the side effect of none of them having a fulfilling story arc (or an arc at all for that matter). They don't evolve, they are not funny nor charismatic and the player doesn't care about them. I finished the game just to finish it, not because I cared much about the characters. And even worse, they don't have an in-game reason to collaborate with each other. They only reason is the player knowing they have to so in the end they are not characters, they are just moving tools that carry objects you share with the other moving tools. Quite pathetic. The humor is also not there at all (and the attempts that are there are not funny at all) what makes me think Schafer was the one writing the jokes in Monkey Island. I did care about solving the mystery... but then you get to the twist and... well, let's put it this way, as an adventure fan, I always wanted for Ron Gilbert to have a nack at another Monkey game, the fabled Monkey 3a, now, I think I am ok with better writers taking over the franchise... we really, really don't want Monkey Island to be disgraced in the same way he disgraced himself in this game. Or he can just tell the secret of Monkey Island to Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman so they can write an actual game with an interesting story and characters. It's crystal clear Ron doesn't know how to do that.
Many people are complaining about the bugs in this edition but to be honest I only encountered a couple of them in the more than 200 hours that took me to complete the game + Throne of Bhaal. The new companions are great, specially Dorn and Neera and the added quests are good too. Improved visuals and new music content puts this game ahead of the complete edition. As of right now, most of bugs are gone so give this edition a chance! :)
The last in the series is probably one of the funniest graphic adventures out there. If you games with a big heart wrapped in irreverent humour, you should try this series. The puzzles are great, the voice acting is stellar and the story has more depth than you would have initially guessed. Still, even though the ending is satisfying if you are thinking character development-wise, the ending does leave one too many loose ends hangings and even though I think the creators don't have the intention of continuing the Deponia saga, I think they should reconsider in one last hurray.
