Sam & Max Episode 3: The Mole, the Mob and the Meatball Demo

The Sam & Max saga is all about poking fun at the most ludicrous subjects and getting away with it, thanks to the lovable characters and the absurdity of the situations. The puzzles are quite challenging as well, since they require some wits to solve and they usually involve some unorthodox thinking to figure out, given the fact that you are working with a dog and a rabbit.

Sam & Max Episode 3: The Mole, the Mob and the Meatball is part of the first season and it revolves around the vicious Toy Mafia, which is basically like the regular mob, but disguised as creepy teddy bears and hiding in a toy-themed casino. The two detectives must infiltrate the organization in order to rescue a mole that stopped responding, which is kind of tricky, since they are not accepting just anyone to join their ranks.

Other side plots evolve as well, such as Bosco’s inconvenience store and his disguises. However, he does have a role to play in the larger events as well, considering the fact that he sells a crucial gadget you may require in order to gain access into the mafia's back room. In essence, there are many other running jokes you can stumble into, as long as you are familiar with the previous episodes.

The gameplay is basically exactly the same as it was in all the other releases, since it works pretty great and it’s all you’ll need to enjoy the adventures. Using the point-and-click interface, it is quite easy to navigate the environment, examine objects and use items to solve quests, as well as have conversations with other characters and hear the two detective make inappropriate jokes about everything.

Speaking of which, the humor is still there and you are liable to lose it on a few occasions, even if the overall quality seems to have dropped a bit. Some of the jokes seem to have already been told, while the dialogue gets a bit repetitive after a while. It’s still one class above most writing you can find out there, but you should keep in mind the fact that Telltale can do much better than this on a good day.

Sam & Max Episode 3: The Mole, the Mob and the Meatball is a pretty good episode, but it certainly isn’t the best. However, there’s still a lot of fun packed into the game, not to mention the fact that the series is meant to be experienced as a string of events, rather than a single case.