View All (1)

A pleasant surprise was the complete absence of the usual driving action sequence.  They've been gradually shifting it from a twitch puzzle to a mental one anyway, but my poor little laptop was grateful for the respite from rendering endless streets.  In fact, the whole game has a different look and feel to it, since much of it takes place in a virtual version of Sam & Max's neighbourhood.  

The art direction for this virtual world within a virtual world is simply superb; the graphical wizards at Telltale took the by now very familiar city block and turned it into a digital parody of itself.  Much to my amazement the virtual world loaded much faster and ran smoother on my rig than their "real" world, which may help explain why this episode was the most enjoyable.  It's also full of little details that provide much amusement for the sharp-eyed gamer.

Music thus far has been rather hit or miss, and Reality 2.0 is unfortunately both.  Keep your ear cocked for the digitized version of the usual jazz background tune, it's very cleverly done.  On the down side, there is one point at which some antiquated computers regale Sam & Max with a song.  A combination of unintelligible vocodor lyrics and glitchy subtitles (either delayed or entirely absent) prevented me from understanding and enjoying it properly.  Fixing the subtitle issue is probably a good idea.

Unfortunately I can't speak about the best parts without giving away plot points or surprises.  Suffice to say that the final sequence brought tears of laughter to my eyes and made me nostalgic for my gaming childhood at the same time.  If the final episode keeps the magic present here and delivers a satisfying conclusion, Tellgale and Gametap will have a real winner on their hands.