Based on the Sam and Max comic book series, Sam and Max: Hit the Road follows two mayhem-causing investigators as they travel the United States. They meet a bigfoot named Bruno, who has run away from his carnival freak show job, and a giraffe-necked girl from Scranton, Pennsylvania. But, while Bruno is a fun, lovable character, Sam finds herself at odds with her id.
Despite being a relatively new game, Sam and Max Hit the Road has all the hallmarks of a great adventure game, including great attention to detail, dryly delivered lines, beautiful cartoon graphics, and a bouncy jazz soundtrack. Unfortunately, the game was released during an age when adventure gaming was suffering a bit. LucasArts’ Grim Fandango didn’t perform as well as expected, and the game’s sequel, Full Throttle, was cancelled twice. And despite being a great game, it didn’t sell well, either.
Sam and Max are a franchise that started in the late eighties when Steve Purcell, a comic book artist, answered a job ad for a graphic designer. Later, he found professional work with the LucasArts computer games division. After a few years, his characters became so popular that they even featured in the company’s product catalog. In 1998, LucasArts published the first computer game based on the Sam and Max comic books.
Sam and Max are canine shamus and hyperkinetic rabbits who have ad hoc missions for «The Commissioner». In their first mission, they rescue a mad scientist and solve a mystery. Meanwhile, Bruno the Bigfoot has disappeared from the circus and appears to have kidnapped the giraffe-neck girl Trixie. This mystery takes Sam and Max to some unusual locations. They must find Bruno to solve the mystery and free Trixie.
