The Video Game Revue

Full Throttle

For me to rant about LucasArt's "Full Throttle" now--rather than first ranting about Sierra quest games like Quest for Glory, Space Quest, Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, and, of course, King's Quest--is a bit backwards, but I'm not going to get too hung up here about "what games came first," otherwise I should have started off this whole blog by ranting about games like Pong, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Rogue. This particular rant does, however, start by drawing attention to a particular step in the evolution of Sierra quest games: the adoption of a mouse-oriented UI.

When King's Quest V came out with it's mouse-centric user interface, I was initially disappointed by it. In general, I was completely blown away by KQ V (and even more-so by KQ VI), but to drop the type-written nature of the UI featured in the older Sierra quest games seemed like a huge loss. I'd even say that it felt like the beginning of the end, and in many ways it was. King's Quest started to go downhill after King's Quest VI, as did Sierra quest games in general.

LucasArts quest games, on the other hand, were thriving on the mouse-centric UI. I didn't play a lot of LucasArts games at the time, but I did play Full Throttle (and The Dig). Like Sierra, LucasArts understood that the key to creating an engaging quest game was to make it cinematic, and Full Throttle certainly demonstrates the principle. The game is bursting with colour and flavour--from the characters, to the story-telling, to the setting, and even the music, everything contributes to the game's mood. Full Throttle is a unified package. It has humour, suspense, action... pretty much everything that people enjoy about classic Lucas-involved movies like the original Star Wars and The Raiders of the Lost Ark is present to a degree in Full Throttle. To see a game that reaches for that high of a standard with some real success brings a tear to my eye.

I'm not saying that Sierra didn't accomplish the same thing in their quest games. I could easily have written this rant about King's Quest VI, but I would have different things to say about that game. I think I'll save the King's Quest ranting for another time.

In the meanwhile, grab a copy of Full Throttle and let yourself get lost in the game. It sure is an addicitive experience, and one that you can look back on after and feel good about--not unlike going to see a satisfying movie. Full Throttle is one of those games in particular that I can crack out and plug myself into when I feel like revisiting some of the glory days.

posted by Parappa @ 10:30 AM