Sam & Max Episode 6: Bright Side of the Moon review

Grand finale or no, this is the same pointy-clicky gameplay that fans have gotten used to over the last five episodes; you'll spend the game's short run time exploring its environments, chatting up its inhabitants and pocketing everything in sight. No surprises there.

Also like previous games, the setup has shifted back to getting a new area to explore - in this case the moon - in addition to the duo's hardscrabble New York neighborhood. It feels like a step back after the weird digital world of Reality 2.0 and its changeable rules, but the moon's still a pretty swank place, and it's filled with familiar characters from previous episodes for you to harass. That goes double once you get past all the tourist traps and fib your way into Bliss' culty retreat, where the atmosphere is bright and saccharine and everything barfs rainbows. No, we mean thatliterally. You'll even be able to make people do it on command - that is, if you play your cards right and help Abe Lincoln's stone head get a datein one of the game's most entertainingly silly puzzles.

This being Sam & Max, the moon seems to be just a couple of freeway stops from the pair's familiar office, and you'll be able to rapidly drive between the two places in the pair's iconic DeSoto. Back at home, luckless jack-of-all-trades Sybil Pandemik might have finally found her first stable job, and inventor/convenience-store owner Bosco has pushed his running disguise habit a little far, this time dressing up as his own mother and getting way too into the role. You won't get to mess around with either character as much as you might like, but the things you can do make for a nice little send-off until the next season begins.