Sam & Max came out on GameTap this week, and the internet generally seems to like it. There is, however, a very vocal group of self-proclaimed “fans of the genre” who complains that the puzzles are too easy and that the game feels more like an interactive cartoon than an adventure game – because in a REAL adventure game, all puzzles should take at least three days to figure out. The sad thing is, I have no idea why this is a bad thing.

Don’t get me wrong; I love a good puzzle, otherwise why would I study computer science, or spend so much time playing Sudoku on my Nintendo DS? It’s just that, unlike a lot of adventure gamers, I don’t find the idea of “getting stuck” to be very much fun. In fact, I find that the more I get engrossed in a game’s story, the more frustrated I get when I’m stuck, usually leading me to use a walkthrough and hate myself in the morning. Maybe I’m just not all that great at “thinking outside the box”, so to speak, but sometimes I wonder whether “thinking outside the box” is actually a code word for “becoming a Psychonaut and reading the game designer’s mind”.

Anyway, on a somewhat related note, I’ve recently become addicted to this little game called Armadillo Run. It’s got lots and lots of puzzles that are way more fun to solve than the ones traditional to adventure games (they, like, use physics and stuff!) and better yet, there’s none of that annoying story crud that always gets in the way. Yay!