Like many here I've "accquired" a large backlog of games, some of these including some telltales series.

I've already played most of S&M season 1, half of the strong bad series (I was in the mood for random humor) and started but quickly got bored of Back to the future.

Overall I haven't been particularly impressed. I've found it much more engrossing playing Kings Quest 1 EGA version which I picked up over christmas, and there are still a number of sierra quest games I've never played yet (not to mention GK 2 and 3)

So my question is: Are the telltale games worth playing or are they just more of the same and a boring waste of time? I am particularly concerned that playing tales of monkey island will ruin that series for me. I am also not too keen that they're making some new kings quest games too.

Are there any particular telltale games which outshine the others or are they all of more or less the same quality?

I rather enjoyed Tales of Monkey Island, so if you have those episodes that I would say give them a go.

When in doubt, there's always youtube.

In fact, I've one person that has many of the games Telltale lists on their website. OreWaUsopp, with Sam and Max (Original game, All three seasons), Puzzle Agent 1/2, the Strongbad series, the Monkey Island series (Including the newest), and if that's not enough there's some playthroughs of games here on GOG as well.

Sam and Max is very interesting actually. I've seen all of the first season and half of the second. There are a couple of glitches and the solutions are like any adventure game, sometimes A + B = Cow Launcher and you've no idea how that worked, but it's a little easier to figure out than something like Monkey Island 1/2.

I've almost finished watching Back to the future. Glitches keep me from finishing episode 5. I've actually never seen the movies, so yeah, there's some confusion. Also, I'm in a physics/science based education at the moment, so there's some trouble wrapping my head around the logic and plausibility every time there's a time shift. Example, just how precise the changes are, how much is being changed in the past to make up for Doc's visit, and whether or not the people he knows in his own time are still the same people he's known all this time.

Hector, Badge of Carnage. It's crude, rude, insane. Basically if you want a more serious game with lowbrow humor this is a good choice. It's pretty lengthy for an episodic series, though there's only 3 episodes for the first season (Assuming that there's more to come).

Those are the ones I've watched. Out of these I've only played the Monkey Island series myself up to the 4th game. But this should give you a start.

Tales of Monkey Island series is great and I think worth playing through. Wouldn't mind seeing a 2nd season.
Only bummer is that they didn't get the original character to voice Stan.

I enjoyed Tales of Monkey Island, but I must confess that I absolutely loathe TellTales inventory interface, which I feel detracts from the game considerably. Still, the games and the puzzles are good.

I fear Telltale are slipping ... Did anyone hear from staff leaving because it's surprising how they've gotten so much worse over the past year and a bit.

Sam & Max season 1 & 2 are definitely worth a look. The games aren't perfect but they're fun regardless.

Monkey Island is very good as well although the console controls may annoy you.

Strongbad is an acquired taste so hard to recommend unless you enjoyed the Strongbad things before.

Back To The Future: I loved the movies but the games seemed a bit ... I dunno. BTTF has so much potential and it seems wasted most of the time. They're not bad, but most people I know got bored of them and that says it all.

Jurassic Park: dear lord ... why they ever made this, I can't imagine. This is HORRIBLE, taking all the worst of modern console games and old "interactive movies" and stuffing it inside.

Sam and Max gets significantly better in Season 3.

Don't forget Puzzle Agent games.

Only played the 1st so far but that was pretty neat. Bit different art-style but it works well. Also quite funny.

Thanks for the replies... I stand corrected.

Well I have to say the Sam n' Max games had many moments of brilliance and some of the funnies lines I've encountered in a long time. Its just the overall game mechanics seemed a bit stale. I'll take your recommendation however and continue with them.

It also sounds like tales of monkey island is worth a shot. I'll just leave my memories of the older games at the door.

I think it'll be a long time before I decide to pick up and continue BTTF however. That scene in the Doc's laboratory in episode 1 was fantastic but other than that I have found it a complete chore to play.

An other opinions? Particularly on Hector as that is one which I don't have but looks the most interesting.

The game mechanics won't change from what i know of( I've only played the first 2 seasons, I don't know if anything changes in season 3). Since you enjoy the humor though, then yeah I recommend playing some more episodes. Those games crack me up

I have the Hector series on iOS and I think they're pretty good. The crude humor isn't really for me, but the story was interesting, and the puzzles were all logical and solvable without the help of a walkthrough.

Does their engine get any better? I'm sick of memory leaks.

I played most of their game (not Homestar Runner and not Jurassic Park).

Here is my order of preference (note that, if it can help, I am a big fan of adventure games):
- Sam & Max season 3
- Tales of Monkey Island
- Back to the Future (I liked that one but it is short and very easy... and I love Back to the Future)
- Sam & Max season 1
- Wallace & Gromit
- Sam & Max season 2

Puzzle Agent is not included as it is a puzzle game, not really adventure (even if it has elements of adventure). Poker Night is a poker game, no adventure elements.

My opinion of what I've played:

Sam & Max Season One: mediocre
Sam & Max Season Two: awful
Sam & Max Season Three: brilliant!
Tales of Monkey Island: great!
Puzzle Agent: good story, mediocre game
Puzzle Agent 2: bad story, bad game
first episode of Back to the Future: absolutely dreadful

So all in all, it's a very mixed bag.
That's the problem particularly with the second season -- everything gets stale in it. The setting, the characters, the whole structure of every single episode, simply everything. But they clearly listened to the feedback and shook it up a lot for season three. Every episode of the third season is quite different, but unlike in the previous seasons, together they form a consistent story arc.