Sam and Max: Reality 2.0 marks the penultimate episode in this first season of new Sam and Max adventures. Fifth in a series of semi-connected cases – the connection becoming more and more apparent with each episode – Reality 2.0 is also, by far, the best of the bunch, and is perhaps one of the very best point-n-click adventures ever conceived.
To give that last comment some context, I should note that Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders are some of my first gaming memories. I helped Sir Graham and his kin overcome great perils; I weaved many a tune with Mr. Threadbare; I have endured many a trial with April Ryan; I have lived beneath a steel sky; and so on. The point-n-click genre is one of the oldest and one that has suffered a great many hardships along the way and so has Sam and Max. LucasArts’ cancellation of the sequel to 1997’s Sam and Max Hit the Road was so very painful to endure for many as Hit the Road signified the pinnacle of comedic gaming at the time. When Steve Purcell was able to wrest control of his own creation back from LucasArts many were relieved, I among them.
I was also worried. A
