I’ll level with you guys; it’s Friday afternoon, and I feel good. The weekend lies ahead, and what’s more is that I’ve just had the pleasure of playing through Sam and Max’s latest adventure, which has proven to be the most humorous of the recent Telltale episodes. Offering up another slice of typical Steve Purcell madness, Abe Lincoln Must die doesn’t necessarily remedy all the original concerns that the previous episodes have raised, but still remains as enjoyable and witty as you’d expect.

Starting off with the entirely believable story that the American President is giving out all sorts of crazy orders and making strange laws, Sam and Max head to the Whitehouse to get the long and short of what’s going on. Some comic larks and acerbic jibes later, you’re once more left to guiding the duo around various locations, gathering clues and solving simple puzzles.

Alas, the game beginning in a new setting raises false hopes that Episode 4 is the solution to the main recurring problem with the previous episodes: location and character recycling. Instead, once more you will have to visit old Bosco and Cybil in their respective stores and solve a couple of puzzles with each. Bosco is once again paranoid about being watched by the government and dressed in some ridiculous disguise, whilst Cybil has found herself another career that gets her into more trouble.

Strangely, the reappearance of both seems less of a bother than it did in Episode 3. Whether this is due to the majority of the action taking place in or around the Whitehouse or due to the increased levels of humour isn’t immediately apparent, although not having to spend the good percentage of the game strolling up and down the same high street again and again certainly gives Abe Lincoln Must Die a slightly more fresh feeling.
As does the increased level of humour. Whilst The Mole, The Mob and The Meatball began to splice some more edgy, chucklesome jokes into proceedings, the latest episode dances on the line of American politics and makes some rather amusing jabs and wry remarks on the subject throughout. There certainly are a lot more belly laughs to be had in the two-and-a-bit hours than previous episodes have managed, and despite the rather awkward placement of a musical number near the end there’s not many clunkers around to sour the broth.

The puzzles remain of the slightly easy variety, although unfortunately this time around Telltale have attempted to notch the difficulty of some up by the rather frustrating method of having crucial objects in plain sight but not making them apparent, leaving the player no option but to wander around clicking on anything and everything. Once found they all seem logical in hindsight, but at the time it’s rather frustrating having to endlessly wander about trying everything under the sun to try to progress.

That being said, there are a couple of clever tasks that you’ll have to do a bit of noodle-scratching to sort out. One of these involves a live television debate and the manipulation of cue cards, which leads to some hilarious answers to some tricky questions. At about the same point in the game, you are required to record and manipulate a conversation to solve a section, which once again gives you the chance to stretch the grey matter a bit with some rather amusing outcomes.
You know, I’m actually feeling pretty pleased with Able Lincoln Must Die. If someone had let me know before I started playing that I would once more have to spend time inspecting the interior of Cybil’s office or listening to Bosco speaking in a strained foreign accent I would have gone into proceedings not hoping for much, but in truth there’s something about Episode 4 that hangs together much better than any of the previous episodes have managed to date. The puzzles may still be a little simple most of the time, and hearing Sam and Max saying exactly the same thing about certain objects as they have before is a little disappointing, but for your money you’re getting as entertaining a two-hour game session as you’d have hoped. Whether or not the final two episodes see the duo being set off in a plethora of new places and characters remains as much as a doubtful prospect as ever, but for the first time one can come away feeling that perhaps it’s not going to be such a bad thing after all.