Sam & Max is a point-and-click adventure game, for multiple systems. You navigate around the game world by moving the cursor to a spot on the screen and selecting that spot. Around the world are "hotspots", with which the characters can interact. When the cursor is over a hotspot, it will become hilighted and its name will appear if known (names can be disabled in the options menu). You solve puzzles during the game by interacting in a (somewhat) logical way with the environment, talking with other characters and collecting items that are held in your inventory.
New to Season Two is a hint system, better driving controls, and optional driving tasks that reward you with decals for the DeSoto and car upgrades. In the game options you can set the hint level for varying degrees of help during gameplay. If you have hints enabled, Max and other characters may give you verbal clues if you spend too much time attempting to figure out a puzzle. A new feature, car upgrades are won by collecting all decals in the optional driving game. Decals appear on the trunk of the DeSoto, and obtaining them all unlocks the episode's car upgrade, which is solely a visual enhancement to the car.
| Windows / Mac | Xbox 360 | Wii | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
 (Hold) |
 |
 (Hold)
|
Move to cursor |
| Double-click (Hold) |
Double-click (Hold)
|
Move more quickly to cursor | |
|
 |
|
Interact, make selection |
 |
 |
|
Skip conversation |
|
Driving controls | ||
| Click box | Click box or  |
Click box or 
|
Open inventory |
| Click gear or | Click gear or  |
Click gear or 
|
Menu |
|
N/A | Pause | |
| N/A | Autosave | ||
| N/A | Load autosave |