Night of the Raving Dead

Sam & Max: Night of the Raving Dead
The GameTap title card for "Night of the Raving Dead"
Developer(s)	Telltale Games
Publisher(s)	Telltale Games GameTap
Designer(s)	Brendan Q. Ferguson Chuck Jordan Dave Grossman Heather Logas Steve Purcell
Series	Sam & Max: Season Two
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Wii, Xbox 360 (XBLA)[1][2]
Release date(s)	USA February 12, 2008 (GameTap) February 13, 2008 (Online)
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: T
Media/distribution	Download

"Night of the Raving Dead" is the third episode of Sam & Max Season Two created by Telltale Games and published by GameTap. Compared to the episodes before and after it, it was considered to be disappointing by many reviewers.^[3]

Plot

Sam & Max talking to Jurgen, the emo-styled German vampire.

The episode begins with Sam and Max trapped in a mortal contraption, the Soul Stealer, by Jurgen, a German emo styled vampire, while reminiscing about how they got themselves in this mess.

It all started when a zombie stormed in Sam and Max's office and stole one of their most prized items, the right hand of Jesse James, to replace his lost one. Soon the duo figured that the whole town was infested with lots of them, and their investigations tracked the source of this outbreak to Jurgen's castle in Stuttgart, Germany.

Upon arriving at "The Zombie Factory" (which turns out to be a rave), the freelance police meets the emo vampire, who tells them that there was nothing they could do to stop his intentions, as the zombies were being attracted to his "incomparable style". To thwart his plans, Sam and Max created a series of incidents to break apart his reputation, but after trying to take down Jurgen by themselves, they ended up being defeated and trapped in his "Soul Stealer" device, which transformed them into zombies too, separated from their souls.

With the help of a Frankenstein-like monster created by Jurgen, Sam and Max managed not only to find a way to return to the world of living, but to make their Euro-nemesis pay the price for good. Just before the end of the episode, Flint Paper, who was following Bosco, revealed to the duo that somehow he disappeared from the Earth.

Allusions

• Title of this game is a parody of Night of the Living Dead, a 1968 black-and-white independent horror film directed by George A. Romero
• After Sam and Max are killed in Jurgen's machine, "You Are Dead" appears on the screen in a similar fashion to the Resident Evil video game series. The typewriter ribbon Sam and Max find in the nightclub is another reference to Resident Evil.
• One of the buttons in Jurgen's DJ booth plays a recorded voice saying "Sub Zero", in allusion to the Mortal Kombat video game series. Another button plays the phrase "Pure Energy," referring to a prominent sample in a 1980s dance song by Information Society.
• When Sam unscrews the bulb from Stinky's sun lamp, Max says "Did you just get déjà vu?" This refers to Sam & Max Hit the Road.
• Curt, one of the C.O.P.S., explains that S.O.L. (Stuttgart On Line), (which is a play on AOL "America On Line") their new Internet service provider, is "so simple, even a zombie could use it", a possible reference to an AOL TV ad from several years ago that used the phrase "So easy, even dad can use it." and/or a reference to the famous GEICO "caveman" ad campaign.
• The driving game developed by the C.O.P.S. in this episode is an allusion to the 1984 Atari video game, Paperboy.
• After Jurgen's monster awakens, he proclaims "Happy Birthday!" This alludes to Frosty the Snowman who says this whenever he appears.
• Jurgen's fighting pose is the "crane stance" from the final scene of the film The Karate Kid.
• The horse call whenever Agent Superball's name is mentioned is a running gag from the film Young Frankenstein.
• If you press the button on the buzzer in the TV-studio, Sam will pretend to answer it, saying "Hi, Elaine. Come on up", a reference to the TV-show Seinfeld.
• When getting the holy water, Max declares 'Sim, Sim, Sala beem!", the catchphrase of Hadji from Jonny Quest.

References

1. ^ "Sam & Max Season 1 and 2 Officially Coming to XBLA". 2009-02-26. http://n4g.com/News-285349.aspx. 
2. ^ "Sam & Max Confirmed for XboxLIVE! Arcade". 2008-02-26. http://www.electronictheatre.co.uk/articles/archive/2009/sam-max-confirmed-for-xbox-live-arcade-07260209/. 
3. ^ GameSpy: Sam & Max - Season 2 Episode #4: Chariot of the Dogs Review

See also

• Ice Station Santa
• Moai Better Blues
• Chariots of the Dogs
• What's New, Beelzebub?

External links

• Information page
• Night of the Raving Dead at MobyGames