One major flaw of past Telltale seasons has been content stagnation due to repeatedly using the same characters and locations throughout a season without introducing many new ones. This is almost completely avoided in The Devil's Playhouse as very few locations are recycled and new characters are introduced each episode. To further stifle stagnation, the developers have based each episode around a particular film motif forcing certain stylistic changes. The second episode for example is based around classic tomb-raiding adventure serials and sees the Sam & Max's ancestors travel to Egypt in search of the Devil's Toybox. This has forced not only the creation of several new locations, but also required that classic locations like Straight & Narrow be adapted to look like 1910s' New York. Sam, Max, Kris Kringle, Jurgen, and Harry all had to be remodeled to fit with the times and as such look, feel, and act quite different. While other episodes aren't nearly this extreme, similar changes are made to keep things fresh.
Although there are some lulls, overall this is the most consistent console port Telltale has released to date. Yes the engine could have been significantly more stable, but the smooth control scheme, gripping plot, and massive amount of new content more than make up for it. If you're a Sam & Max fan who doesn't have a PC capable of playing this season, then pick it up on PSN. You shan’t be disappointed.
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse Episodes 1,3-5 are rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) by the ESRB for Alcohol Reference, Comic Mischief, Language, Mild Cartoon Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes. Episode 2 is rated T (Teen) for Comic Mischief, Drug Reference, Mild Blood, Mild Language and Mild Suggestive Themes. This game can also be found on PC and Mac.
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