After saving Santa in the frigid tundra of the North Pole, the freelance police are taking a vacation on sunny Easter Island! Alright, it wasn’t exactly a well-planned vacation, they were kind of sucked into a certain Bermudan three-sided figure. Oh, and it isn’t look like the fuzzy duo will get much of a chance to tan on the beach. An ancient prophecy involving an angry volcano god, a loudmouth lagomorph, and a well-dressed dog is about to come true. Nice and relaxing, right?

If you’ve been reading our reviews, or if you’ve played any of the previous episodes, you pretty much know what to expect. The writing and voice acting are up there with the best that the industry has to offer. The controls are perfect, though I do wonder how one could screw up the point-and-click interface in this day and age. The graphics won’t exactly take your breath away; this isn’t Crysis. Actually, that’s kind of a bonus in my book. The graphics look just fine, and the game runs beautifully on my underpowered laptop. Sam & Max doesn’t exactly revolutionize the adventure genre, but it does a pretty damn good job of improving on it bit by bit.

The second episode of the second season of Sam & Max takes on a distinctly tropical theme. Moai heads, the Bermuda Triangle, surfing, drugs, crazed cults, the Fountain of Youth – they all make appearances here. All of the usual cast members are back (thankfully excluding the Soda Poppers), expect some delicious drama between Sybil and the disembodied marble head of Abe Lincoln. You can also look forward (?) to celebrity cameos galore in this episode. Turns out that Amelia Earhart wasn’t the only person to fall victim to the Bermuda Triangle. How are all of these luminaries (I use the term loosely) still alive? Let’s just say that it involves an unhealthy addiction to a certain liquid spirit.

I again have to give Telltale props for some of the small improvements that they made with this season. The in-game hints are absolutely brilliant. Moai Better Blues is one of the more difficult episodes to date, so that hint system is appreciated more than ever. You’ll sit there wracking your brain for ideas when, suddenly, Max will spit out some small clue. The frequency and detail of these hints depends on the level that you choose, but the important part is that they never actually give away the answer. It’s a well-designed system, and it never disrupts the game. You have that second character there anyways. You’d almost expect them to chime in from time to time. It’s completely natural, and the clues actually sound like things that Max would say.

Moai Better Blues is definitely one of Telltale’s best episodes to date. The writing hit my funnybone just right, the delivery was top-notch, and the puzzles were neither immediately obvious or too intimidating. Best of all — the flow was just right. Each scene progressed into the next with just the right timing and no particular section felt out of place. Sure, the usual backtracking between locations occurred, but it didn’t drag the game down. The minigames fit right in and felt like they belonged. Well, as much as running over bagpipes in a DeSoto can feel like it belongs.

It is nice to see that Telltale took player’s comments seriously. The difficulty level for this season feels just right. Even jaded adventure pros (I include myself here) will have to pause and think from time to time, while newbies won’t end up running away screaming. Bonus points to the developers for retaining the same cleverness in the puzzles. You’ll end up smiling when that answer hits you. Episode length, a pretty major topic for the still-young episodic gaming field, has also been tweaked and molded. I think that the developers have pretty much worked the format into an artform. Lengthwise, this episode felt right. Ice Station Santa was longer, but it was the season opener. Moai Better Blues feels exactly like a standard episode should feel like. Three to four hours per episode might seem short, but keep in mind that that will be fifteen to twenty hours for the entire season. Sounds just right to me. You won’t get bored of the gameplay and the jokes won’t get run into the ground.

Moai Better Blues may not revolutionize the adventure genre, but it is one of the best Sam & Max episodes to date. Series faithful have, without a doubt, already downloaded this and played it to death, but what about the rest of you? Haven’t played any of the previous episodes? Give it a try. Even if you’re not particularly interested in Ice Station Santa, this episode is still a great entry point to the series. Plus, it’s only nine smackers. Skip that Chinese you were going to order and grab this instead. All the enjoyment, none of the indigestion.

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