Sam and Max are back in this remastered second season…
Join the Freelance Police for a second season of adventure, crime fighting, and chaos. Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space starts with a giant robot attack and never lets up, taking our valiant crime fighters on a gut-wrenching mission from the North Pole to Easter Island, from outer space to Hell and back. Babies will dance. Mariachis will sing. A giant battle robot will trash the streets. And when their friends are caught in the middle, Sam & Max risk their very souls to set things right. Five episodes: In the award-winning second season of the episodic Sam & Max series, five full episodes take Sam & Max to Hell and back on a mission to save their friends — and their very souls.
Back in 2009, I played and reviewed the XBLA version of Beyond Time and Space and loved each episode. The season on the whole was a vast improvement over the first and I’ve replayed it several times over the years, so it was a no-brainer to do it all over again with the Remastered version. I reviewed the Remastered version of Season 1 back in September and loved the improvements they had made to the gameplay like being able to actually move Sam around instead of moving a cursor and tapping the A button to get him to go somewhere. The transitions between locations were also vastly improved and the same can be said for this Remastered version of Beyond Time and Space.
At the time of writing our review, Achievements aren’t supported so even though some have popped up for me, I can’t see the list to see what more specific achievements there are other than finishing each episode. Season 2 has 5 episodes compared to Season 1 which had 6, but I honestly think cutting down to 5 was better and made the season more memorable. Each episode has its own hook like time-travelling or visiting Hell and there are some truly questionable, yet hilarious moments from the crime-fighting duo. Bosco went through a range of personas in Season 1, but in Season 2 he becomes even more paranoid of a group he calls T-H-E-M.
Even though it’s been a good few years since its release, Beyond Time and Space hasn’t aged that much. Its puzzles are well thought out and the script is just comedy gold throughout. I’ve relished reliving it once again, especially the last two episodes which are a personal favourite. The visual upgrade is also impressive and the performance is vastly improved over the original XBLA version which seemed to struggle with the framerate during switching from gameplay to cutscene and vice versa.
The Verdict
Improved visuals and quality of life changes to controls have breathed fresh life into Beyond Time and Space. Now, if we can only get Skunkape to next remake the third season since it stars a certain someone of the same name…