To get this out in the open right away, Sam & Max: The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball is very similar in style to the first two episodes from Telltale Games. If you liked the first two, you’ll love this. If you hated them, you’ll probably hate this. Though, if you hated them, you must be some kind of wrong person. I’d get that checked out if I were you. That said, I’m not complaining. It’s the little details that matter at this point in the series, and it is those same little details that Telltale has managed to improve upon in each game.

This time around, our intrepid heroes are called in to rescue a “mole” from the insidious Toy Mafia. Where is the Mafia holed up? At “Ted E. Bear’s Mafia-Free Playland and Casino” of course. It just gets wackier from there. In fact, the latest episode of Sam & Max is the funniest one yet. I didn’t think that they could beat out episode two, but this series just keeps getting better and better. The folks at Telltale are going to have a hard time topping themselves for the next episode. For those of you out there who haven’t tried this series yet, it’s worth the price of admission for the laughs alone.

The target of most of the humor this time out is the Mafia film genre. Expect to see a fair number of nods to Godfather and its ilk. The best part, however, is the fact that this mob wears disturbing bear masks and makes mind-controlling toys. I cracked up a couple of times just because these bears were talking about whacking people. It’s bizarre, it’s surreal, and I love it.

The voice acting remains on-par as well. The actors seem to have gotten fairly comfortable with their characters and the delivery is spot-on. Good comedy is only made better by good voice acting, and these guys really do deliver. Speaking of sound, the music has also improved overall. Mostly, I blame that on the Mafia-Free Playland theme song, which I must have spent half an hour listening to. That song should not be so catchy. It’s just creepy.

The gameplay will be familiar to any veteran of the adventure genre. You click on objects in your environment, find items, and talk to people. Thankfully, the difficulty has been increased over the too-easy episode two. This episode is still a little on the easy side, but the fact that the puzzles are so damn clever more than makes up for it. You’ll have a huge smile on your face when some of the puzzles finally click.

At exactly two hours (by my watch), this episode won’t last you long. However, for the same price as a movie ticket or an old DVD, this is a great way to spend an evening. Sam & Max is really the best example of episodic gaming out there today. While episodic gaming is still an unproven concept, Sam & Max is the perfect franchise for this television episode-style format. Telltale has made a believer out of me, and I have faith that they’ll mange to keep the remaining episodes at the same level of quality that they’ve shown thus far.

Score: 9/10

”The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball” will be released on GameTap on January 25th. The game will be directly available from Telltale Games’ website on February 8th. GameTap is $9.95 per month for unlimited access to this and all of the other titles on the service. Each individual episode will be available for $8.95, or $34.95 for the entire season.

Telltale Games
GameTap
4cr Review - Sam & Max: Situation Comedy
4cr Review - Sam & Max: Culture Shock