Sam and Max have had one heck of a journey to get this far. Those with longer memories may remember the vintage days of LucasArts and its wonderful graphical adventure games: Grim Fandango, Day Of The Tentacle, Monkey Island and the sparklingly witty Sam & Max Hit The Road. A few years ago, excitement levels among Sam & Max nostalgics were raised when it was revealed that LucasArts had commissioned a sequel. The game was announced, the screenshots released and then the game was unceremoniously canned.

Usually that's the end of the story, but Telltale Games had a stroke of genius. And that was to pick up future Sam & Max development, releasing their new adventure in six individual episodes. These episodes are being released at regular points in time and carry a modest price tag, with a full pack of all of the episodes set to be released at the end of the series. Yet crucially, each episode has a self-contained mystery to solve and works as a small, entertaining, standalone game.

In fact, on many levels this Sam & Max revival is an absolute triumph, marking a revival not just for two loveable characters, but also for the graphical adventure genre. If you've not met Sam & Max before, they're a pair of witty freelance police officers. They're easily controllable and usually found - as they are here - married to a very funny and clever script. It's actually Episode 2 that we've been playing with here - subtitled Situation: Comedy - although naturally we'd recommend the logical thing is to start at the beginning.

This time, the starring duo are dealing with an unstable host of a talk show, who's taken the many people in her studio as hostages. It's a mystery that needs unravelling and with some ingenious puzzles, clever in-jokes and the welcome return of some of the cast of the first episode, Situation: Comedy is a roaring success.

It's not perfect, though. You'd be hard pushed to call the game much of an actual challenge, and a player of reasonable competence will breeze through it without breaking too much of a sweat. As the price hints, it's also probably a little shorter than you were expecting.

And yet, chances are that by the time this particular instalment draws to a close, you'll be more than willing to dip your hand in your pocket again to reunite yourself with Sam & Max for their next adventure. Because this is truly a welcome and powerful resurgence for a genre and characters who were wrongly written off some time ago. Just brilliant.

A super little game that leaves you thirsting for further episodes.