Sam & Max Hit the Road (1993)
Following Leisure Suit Larry, I was reminded of another classic — the adventure game Sam & Max Hit the Road, based on Steve Purcell’s comic. Released in 1993, it belongs to the golden era of LucasArts, standing alongside The Secret of Monkey Island and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. The anthropomorphic dog and rabbit duo, Sam and Max, work as freelance police, solving bizarre cases. The game overflows with witty dialogue, eccentric characters and absurd twists. Like Leisure Suit Larry, it requires a solid grasp of American pop culture for all its jokes to land. It also references earlier LucasArts titles. Even if not every pun hits home, the humour still works — Max’s inappropriate remarks are easy enough to grasp, and the puzzles are wildly imaginative. The game offers gorgeous pixel art, superb voice acting and animation that clearly received great care.