Telltale just delivered a great adventure game to Xbox Live Arcade in the form of  Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures. But before the developer started playing with the Wallace & Gromit universe it resurrected LucasArts' Sam & Max franchise as an episodic PC series. Season One of Sam & Max's new adventures was well-received, with an average score of 7.9 from IGN. These six episodes have now been collected in one download for XBLA, and while they're not as funny as Wallace & Gromit's game they do provide a heaping helping of old school adventure gaming for just $20. The problem is that they don't run very well here. They were designed for PC and it seems they haven't been properly optimized for console play. I found the same issues with the Sam & Max retail disc on Wii.

When it comes to graphic adventures, Sam & Max are superstars of the genre. The original Sam & Max Hit the Road is a beloved classic. The titular dog and rabbit, respectively, are freelance police who spend their days investigating bizarre crimes and trading one liners. These episodes share some recurring characters and locations between them but each has its own story arc. All of them are available from the start so if you get stuck on one you can always skip around and come back later.

Unfortunately, pointing and clicking isn't as easy with an analog stick as it is with a mouse. It can be frustrating trying to highlight some of the game's smaller items. Most of the puzzles involve using the right items on the right people or objects, and like many games in this genre the solutions can often be esoteric. Completing each adventure takes a lot of experimentation with combinations that don't make much sense, and that business doesn't appeal to everyone.

But graphic adventures are just as much about the writing as they are gameplay and Sam & Max Save the World is stuffed with zany characters and one liners. However, it's not quite as funny as it thinks it is. The back and forth between our two heroes starts getting old before they even leave their office in the beginning of Episode One.

The real disappointment here is that the game doesn't run very smoothly. Interacting with just about any object will cause a hiccup, and any business going on in the background will stutter occasionally. I even encountered multiple instances where the voice over cut out and characters were just silently moving their lips. Daemon Hatfield

For details on the story of each episode, check out IGN's PC reviews:
Episode 1, Culture Shock
Episode 2, Situation: Comedy
Episode 3, The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball
Episode 4, Abe Lincoln Must Die!
Episode 5, Reality 2.0
Episode 6, Bright Side of The Moon