Sam & Max: Reality 2.0

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Sam & Max: Reality 2.0
Developer(s)	Telltale Games
Publisher(s)	Telltale Games GameTap
Designer(s)	Brendan Q. Ferguson David Grossman Heather Logas Chuck Jordan Steve Purcell
Release date(s)	March 29, 2007 (GameTap) April 12, 2007 (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

"Reality 2.0" is the fifth episode of season one of the Sam & Max computer game series.

[edit] Plot

With an internet crisis looming and a viral video game holding its players hostage, Sam & Max will need to slip into a new reality to set things right. But can the Freelance Police crack this virtual case in time to avoid worldwide system failure?

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The duo discovers that Sybil is one of those stuck in the game, apparently as part of her new career as a "beta tester", and manage to break her from a hypnotic state. Realizing she was being hypnotized, she gives up the game and lets Sam and Max use the virtual reality goggles to enter the game, though presently broken. She also tells them that "cops" have set up in a nearby store and had encouraged her to use the goggles.

Sam and Max visit these "cops" to find they are outdated computer systems (a Pong home console game system, a portable computer similar to the Osbourne I, a video arcade console unit, and a telephone) that are trying to get as many people into the game as possible. They help the two fix Sybil's goggles and give them a special pair for Max so the two can enter the Internet for themselves.

When they arrive, Sam and Max find out that the Internet is modeled after the real world so that wherever they are when they take off the goggles, they end up there in real life, and vice-versa (meaning they are wandering around like idiots). They also find that objects they carry become computer counterparts while in the Internet. Furthermore, injuries they sustain the virtual world can affect their real world counterparts. The Internet, itself represented by a helpful disembodied female voice (and the head resembling the director from Ep. 2), tries to lure the two in to have fun and enjoy themselves, leading Sam to think the Internet itself is responsible for luring people in.

In the real world, Sam and Max discover that latest Boscotech work from Bosco (now playing the role of a half-elf) is a highly virulent biological weapon (a handkerchief he used to blow his nose), so the two know if they can set that lose in the computer world as a computer virus, they would be able to crash the Internet and break its control on people. However, Bosco's asking for one billion dollars for it, and because of all the problems from the past episodes, he'll only take the money deposited in his online bank account, for which the password is tattooed on himself for safe keeping. Sam and Max use the virtual world to stun Bosco's counterpart, and then are able to trick Bosco into getting the password. Back in the Internet, the two find Bosco's bank, which turns out to be a large money-laundering scheme, but are able to divert the one billion dollars to Bosco's account. After acquiring the Boscotech, they return and set it lose on the Internet. Upset, the Internet vows to take everyone down with her, losing all her respect for humanity.

The system crashes but comes back up as a text adventure game. The Internet's "respect of humanity" becomes an object within the game that Sam and Max work to re-acquire and give back to the Internet. With her respect back, she releases all the people trapped within her as the virus finally brings her down. With her dying words, she implies that a "Roy G. Biv" told her to do what she did, but is unable to tell Sam and Max any more. Disappointed that they didn't get more to this "Roy" identity, the two return to their normal life, though as the game fades out, Hugh Bliss' face in the moon seems to smile and wink to the viewer.