Sam & Max Episode 2.05: What's New, Beelzebub?

The End Of season 2 is here. A season that's seen timetravelling highs and camp vampire lows.

Whereas the first season saw the finale on the moon, this time we're off to Hell, where a soft-spoken and rather businesslike Satan is heading up the newly efficient soul-processing and personal hell section of the afterlife.

They're all here, from every episode -the Shambling Corporate Presence from Ice Station Santa. Hugh Bliss has an important job censoring the swear words of the world; even Brady Culture, from the very first episode of the first season, gets a talking role. That's Telltale's economy - no character is throwaway and even the gates of Hell are startlingly close to the familiar backdrop of Straight Street. By the end of the season 2 the world of Sam & Max seems full and achingly likeable, and the trawl through the dead cast's personal hells is a great way to let you know more about them. If nothing else, there're enough revelations in 2.05 to qualify Sam & Max as a soap opera.

Yet More Cake

Some of it works and some of it leaves you with a gentle taste of WTF. For instance, the finale is a great dramatic reveal that proves that Telltale listen to criticism and have the sense to turn it to their advantage. However, while fantasy fans may be comfortable with Ursula Le Guin's idea that learning something's true name gives you power over it, when this leads to the revelation that you've been talking to a... well, to a foodstuff... for four months, it might be a little too wacky to some palates. Some might consider that a spoiler, but it comes so far from leftfield I can honestly say I haven't spoiled a thing. Honest.

Finally, there's the standard disclaimer, which I'm thinking of getting made into a rubber stamp for these reviews. Don't come to Episode 2.05 expecting to join in and understand what's going on. The rest of us have spent 18 months getting to this stage, and so many diverse elements converge to make this a satisfying conclusion that you'll be robbing yourself of 75 per cent of the fun if you start here. Occasionally weak puzzles and infrequent dud jokes aside, if you mark a game on how joyfully sad you feel at the end, season 2 of Sam & Max is second only to Portal.