The third season of Sam & Max represents a shift in tone and gameplay. The changes are obvious from the very beginning - a narrator to set the scene, new control scheme (same as Tales of Monkey Island; clearly favouring consoles), a new villain, an opening tutorial of sorts (which is so entertaining and interactive that it puts most other tutorials to shame), psychic powers for Max and a grainier, darker graphical style.

It may sound like a lot of changes to a successful formula, but it works well. Not only does it provide a quite accessible introduction for newcomers to the series (including clever little pop-up profiles of characters and notes in a journal about the case and clues), but it also provides a fresh spin on the series for veterans.

Of course, the series lives or dies by the writing and puzzles, and thankfully both are still strong. The new villain, Skunkape, is wonderfully voiced and a highly entertaining character. A few old favourites are missing, while others return (as well as some who are not quite favourites; the Stinky clan seem only slightly more popular than the late, unlamented Soda Poppers…). There are some wonderful lines, with even more smashing of the fourth wall than usual – a few particularly good remarks about non-player characters, for instance.

Puzzles are made a little more interesting through Max's future vision, which offers a glimpse of dialogue from a later scene. It's generally relevant to a puzzle at a particular location, and offers an idea of what to do without giving too much away. Another power, teleportation, saves a lot of the tedious trekking around, which is especially useful as load times seem a little longer than previous games. There's also a bit of a change in mindset with collecting items; they're no longer all directly used for puzzles, with some being clues to unlock new locations. Those new locations look quite similar to the old ones (lampshaded by Max), but at least offer a bit of a feeling about a wider gameworld.

There's a few scripting oddities, with certain events not triggering when they are supposed to (the intended initial teleport scene, for instance, didn't come up for me until quite late in the game because I chose something they apparently didn't expect the first time), but other than that the game seems to work well.

The episode is probably the most promising start to a Sam and Max season yet, and with the tease of more powers to come, and hints at future storylines, there's a lot to draw a player into the following episodes.

Out of all three seasons of Sam & Max, this is easily the best. If you come off playing the first two season (which are great don't get me wrong) you might feel overwhelmed at first, because there's a lot of new stuff coming at you at once. There's Max's powers, new and old faces. Lots of locales (instead of just about everything happening on their own street). The story is better with this one. It's weird and manages to hold everything together and stuff. The puzzles are btter with two possible categories of solutions, Max's powers and your regular inventory. Coming up with the right solution can be incredibly satisfying. I loved this season and was sad when it was over.

Twisted, strange, and genuinely entertaining, this is a welcome continuation of the series, with some oddly emotional moments. Expect the same kind of mind-screwing puzzles, but more perplexing and yet more reasonable than ever before. Hints generally feel organic and a natural part of conversation, and things you've likely come to expect from adventure games are ruthlessly mocked and subverted. There's really no telling where the story goes next, but when it does go there, it feels as though you really did have proper warning, and it doesn't just come out of left field. Some moments do end up turning into pixel hunting, but it's far, far more rare than other recent adventure games. The ending is, well, notable. I'd say I'm most impressed by the much different nature of Episode 2, but you'll see that when you get to it. The game certainly knows when to be serious and when to loosen up, and swings between the two at an excellent rate. In short, a truly engaging puzzle game with plenty of laughs, but keep some brain bleach on hand.

Sam & Max. Need I say more? Lives up to its legend; every episode including this is awesome.

The best Sam & Max season BY FAR. I love the entire series but Telltale really hit it out of the park here. The gameplay and interface specifically are much, much better than the previous installments.