AceRimmer
17th Sep 04, 5:40 PM
Year of Release: 1993
Development House/Publisher: LucasArts
Game Score: 97
Graphics: 2
Sound: 4
Gameplay: 5
Concept: 4
Execution: 5
Controls: 5
Enjoyment: 5
Replayability: 2
Difficulty: 4
Learning Curve: 2
Patch: unknown
Bugs: zilch
Support: www.lucasarts.com
Clinches Sam and Max for the best and indeed, the funniest adventure game ever to come out of LucasArts.
The story runs on from an earlier game, Mainac Mansion, but here it is. Mad Doctor Fred has made two tentacles, Green and Purple, but then one day Purple drinks some of the sludge out of Fred's sludge-o-matic machine, the upshot of which is that Purple grows stubby arms. The downshot is that he wants to take over the world (insert thunder and lightning here). Its up to Bernard and his 2 roommates, Hoagie and Laverne to save the day.
How? Well, Fred wants to transport our trio back to yesterday, to turn off the machine so that Purple can't drink the stuff. This backfires, sending Hoagie 200 years to the past, whereas Laverne ends up 200 years in the future. Bernard returns back to the present day. Therefore they have to find their back before they can save the world.
The cool thing about this is that the house is basically shown differently, yet similar in the three eras. Even better, some puzzles require an inventory item that is only available in a different time, you move items across by flushing them through time (through the Chrono-o-Johns). Also some items can't be moved through, so you have to do something in an earlier era that changes history. For example you can't flush a live hamster through, instead you freeze it in an esky for Laverne in the future.
As for music and sound, both are first rate, although the game may baulk at today's high-tech sound cards. Graphics are very cartoony, although since this is about 11-years ago, don't expect Doom 3 style stuff. The interface is easy to use and intuitive, although it takes up about a third of the screen.
Very funny, jokes abound, with cut-scenes and plenty of one-liners thrown about. The bit where you give George Washington an exploding cigar is hilarious. Nothing of note here for the censors.
All in all, a shining example, along with the Quest series and Monkey Island series, of the genre. Highly recommended.
Note: copies bought today will have music and sound fixed for modern sound cards. Those who bought it at time of release can use VDMS sound to emulate music and effects.
Development House/Publisher: LucasArts
Game Score: 97
Graphics: 2
Sound: 4
Gameplay: 5
Concept: 4
Execution: 5
Controls: 5
Enjoyment: 5
Replayability: 2
Difficulty: 4
Learning Curve: 2
Patch: unknown
Bugs: zilch
Support: www.lucasarts.com
Clinches Sam and Max for the best and indeed, the funniest adventure game ever to come out of LucasArts.
The story runs on from an earlier game, Mainac Mansion, but here it is. Mad Doctor Fred has made two tentacles, Green and Purple, but then one day Purple drinks some of the sludge out of Fred's sludge-o-matic machine, the upshot of which is that Purple grows stubby arms. The downshot is that he wants to take over the world (insert thunder and lightning here). Its up to Bernard and his 2 roommates, Hoagie and Laverne to save the day.
How? Well, Fred wants to transport our trio back to yesterday, to turn off the machine so that Purple can't drink the stuff. This backfires, sending Hoagie 200 years to the past, whereas Laverne ends up 200 years in the future. Bernard returns back to the present day. Therefore they have to find their back before they can save the world.
The cool thing about this is that the house is basically shown differently, yet similar in the three eras. Even better, some puzzles require an inventory item that is only available in a different time, you move items across by flushing them through time (through the Chrono-o-Johns). Also some items can't be moved through, so you have to do something in an earlier era that changes history. For example you can't flush a live hamster through, instead you freeze it in an esky for Laverne in the future.
As for music and sound, both are first rate, although the game may baulk at today's high-tech sound cards. Graphics are very cartoony, although since this is about 11-years ago, don't expect Doom 3 style stuff. The interface is easy to use and intuitive, although it takes up about a third of the screen.
Very funny, jokes abound, with cut-scenes and plenty of one-liners thrown about. The bit where you give George Washington an exploding cigar is hilarious. Nothing of note here for the censors.
All in all, a shining example, along with the Quest series and Monkey Island series, of the genre. Highly recommended.
Note: copies bought today will have music and sound fixed for modern sound cards. Those who bought it at time of release can use VDMS sound to emulate music and effects.