Sam & Max: Culture Shock

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Sam & Max: Culture Shock

Developer(s)	Telltale Games
Publisher(s)	Telltale Games GameTap
Designer(s)	Brendan Q. Ferguson David Grossman Steve Purcell
Release date(s)	October 17, 2006 (GameTap) November 1, 2006 (Online)
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Media	Download
System requirements	800 MHz processor, 256 MB of RAM, 3D card with 32MB of RAM.
Input	Keyboard, mouse

Culture Shock is the first episode of Season One of the Sam & Max game series created by Telltale Games and published by GameTap.

[edit] Synopsis & Plot

Sam & Max find that a group of former child stars — Whizzer, Peepers & Specs, known as the Soda Poppers — are found committing various crimes in their neighborhood to promote ocular fitness guru Brady Culture.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A trip to Sybil Pandemik's ~~Tattoo Parlour~~ Psychotherapy Clinic reveals to Sam & Max that the Soda Poppers have been hypnotized into doing someone's nefarious bidding. The reason why they are committing these crimes are later revealed as Brady Culture's deliciously ironic scheme to gain popularity by using the Soda Poppers, whose popular prime-time TV show had overshadowed his own in the 70s, to commit the crimes.

On Sybil's advice, and through many of their trademark applications of violence, Sam & Max knock the hypnotized delinquents unconscious to halt their rampage of terror, vandalism and assumed-psychotherapy. As each goes down, a sinister voice (later revealed to be Brady Culture) is heard to be observing them, blasting Sam & Max for threatening his plan whilst enjoying the harm that they are bringing to his former TV rivals.

After returning the former child stars to their hyperactive vertically-challenged selves, Sam & Max track Brady Culture to the 'Asylum For Former Child Stars'. After a heated exchange of words and organ music, Brady attempts to hypnotize the duo. Max's unique mental physiology protects him, but Sam quickly falls under Brady's spell. Under the villains control, he returns to Bosco's Inconvinience store to resume Whizzer's job - Reverse shop-lifting (or shop-dropping) 'Eye-bo' Occular Fitness videos against Bosco's will.

By fighting the hypnotism and indulging in a spot of kleptomania, Sam is eventually knocked out by Bosco's Anti-Theft system and has to fight Brady Culture in his mind. When Sam rids himself of the demons that have invaded his sub-conscious, he awakens to find that Culture has rabbit-napped Max. Desperate to rescue his buddy, but unable to face his nemesis without some form of anti-hypnosis device, he consults Sybil Pandemik. She provides Sam with plans for an anti-hypnosis helmet, which Sam convinces Bosco to build (with a little help from a bent coat-hanger) for the good of the world.

Sam returns to the asylum and manages to resist Brady's attack. Joined by the Soda Poppers, Sam prepares to make a move on Brady, only to find that the pint-sized celebrities are still under Culture's control. Sam finally tricks Brady Culture by playing on his arrogance, self-worth and need for attention.

With the villain dispatched, Sam rescues Max and destroys the hypno-glasses. Recognizing a job well done, the Freelance Police depart. As they leave, the camera pans to a nearby TV, where the guest presented on a chatshow is revealed to by hypnotized. Is this Brady's doing, or the work of a higher power?

The credits roll as the episode ends. Bathed in a soothing red/black ambience, Sam & Max cruise along to the tune of the Soda Poppers' theme song 'More Than Jerks'.