Sam and Max 202: Moai Better Blues Review

Sam and Max return in their second season episode – Moai Better Blues. This time instead of being dispatched to the North Pole, the police duo find themselves in a place slightly more tropical. Sybil is being chased down the street by a giant triangle. You come to find out that it is the Bermuda Triangle and that it can teleport you between places. Easter Island, to be exact, complete with the ancient (and now talking) heads.

Moai Better Blues is much like past Sam and Max episodes: crazy, unpredictable, confusing at times, somewhat funny (but less than you would like), and complete with a slate of both familiar and new characters. Abe Lincoln’s stone head, Sybil, and Bosco all make appearances, as well as Stinky. There are only two locations in this episode: Easter Island and the city where Sam and Max live. Sybil’s is closed and you can’t access your apartment. The episode is relatively short, clocking in at maybe 2 or 3 hours, but so are most of them.

Aside from the standard adventuring found in every Sam and Max game, there are a few mini-games to play in Moai Better Blues. The requisite car racing level is back. Instead of having you shooting at objects as you drive, Moai Better Blues has you running over, of all things, bagpipes. The bagpipes play a familiar tune and you win a reward from the talking electronics in the garage next to Stinky’s diner. The other mini-game has you balancing on a surfboard while babies throw bottles at you (just play to find out what the heck’s going on).

This is one of the better Sam and Max episodes to date. Some of the clues are more obvious than others, yet the writing is clever, the dialogue will keep you entertained and there are a number of familiar (and guest) characters. On the downside, Moai Better Blues is shorter than most of the other games I have played in the series so far. For the price of admission, I have to say that this is a game you want to look into buying or at least trying the demo.