During this period of time, I'm starting to see Tim Schafer as one of the many ambitious names that wanted to bring a more cinematic quality to the gaming medium. Point 'n clicks don't just have to be wacky and funny, they can tell a more proper story, something akin to a movie. I think it's here where Tim was really starting to push the company he was working under to prioritize these sorts of titles.

With that said, I can't really lie, this one's doing absolutely nothing for me. Maybe my disinterest in Mad Max-like settings was already the first sign that I should've stayed away, but even with the prospect of getting to watch some cool bike battles, and enjoy the aesthetic of those old 90's PC games, I've found the execution of everything here so drab, sluggish, and confusing (in the spirit of point 'n clicks of that time), that I don't think this would've hit even if I was a Mad Max fan.

The biggest complaint I can voice is the one that I've already done so in the past, which would be the LucasArts voice direction curse. In the case of Maniac Mansion, the problem with the voice direction there, was that it didn't match the crazed cartoony visuals. In the case of Full Throttle, the voice direction doesn't match the all-star cast. LucasArts must have presumably spent a ton of money to hire people like Mark Hamill, or Kath Soucie. Yet they pretty much never get an opportunity here to really flex their acting chops. No shouting, no major emotional range, so why bother hiring them at all?

The only reason I can think of is because star power makes your game look more appealing to purchase. But if I saw a poster for a big blockbuster movie with a cast of people I'm crazy for, and found out they all sound like they just got out of bed, I dunno, I'd be feeling a little bit ripped off, or in the very least, like an opportunity was squandered. LucasArts brought a bunch of big names to this video game, that's fine, but what do the big names bring to it?

As for everything else, I wanna say that there's some creative things in here, and I mean, you've got a couple hours, a guide if you're stuck, and you can clear this game, easy. It's short enough that you wouldn't really be able to waste your life playing it anyway, and it's always possible that you'll like it way more than what my shoddy little review here is saying. But for me, voice acting and voice delivery is everything in this sort of point 'n click. If it's not doing enough, then the rest of my engagement in every other aspect of the game falls apart. My engagement to solve the next obtuse puzzle, or deal with that really repetitive bike combat minigame, has to be reinforced by rewarding me with the next big joke, or the next big overall moment. And it's trying, it's definitely trying to hit me with these things, but the energy and the punch just isn't there.

So as a sucker for Lucas Arts point and click adventure games (and just the genre in general) I was the target audience for this game, and while this isn't my favorite of these that have I played, I still had a great time with it.

It's shockingly a lot more down to earth then I was expecting from some of the others. It had good character work, good voice acting, and gorgeous animations (even in the old style which I fliped too often here). What's here is really fun and as solid time.

I think my biggest complaint is just how short this game is. It really is SHORT, especially if you're good at these sorts of games and know what you're doing, and it feels like it could have used at least a couple more hours of story here.

But for a short little jaunt you can do far worse.

Long live the bunnies.

Tim Shafer's most grounded title, Full Throttle can annoy at times with obtuse puzzles (like most point-and-click adventures), but the majority of its obstacles have organic solutions. The writing, editing, and voice-acting make for superb cinematics – it's never a chore waiting for player control to return. But what really sets the game apart is its depiction of Ben, the main character. One moment he's the power-fantasy tough guy roughing up the bartender, the next he's running from a junkyard dog or stealing boxes of wind-up bunnies. His unquestionable macho gets a gentle, sympathetic ribbing.

Estamos ante la aventura más corta de Lucas Arts, ya que es fácil completarla en 3-4 horas. Eso hace que para muchos, acostumbrados a aventuras de más de 10h la vayan olvidando. La edición que he jugado recientemente es la de Steam, que trae la versión remasterizada y la original. Ambas igual de disfrutables Con sus píxeles, sus gags y sus motos.
Full Throttle tiene algo especial, en su historia que va creciendo y enredándose poco a poco, en sus personajes, en ese amorío por las motos y entre Mo y Ben y en lo maravilloso de su diseño artístico y sonoro. La Bso es de las mejores que he tenido el placer de escuchar, para una aventura de este calibre, y el doblaje es un 10, con ese RipBurguer interpretado por Mark Hamill.

Con todos estos alicientes, ha sido todo un placer volver a revivir la odisea de Ben, el líder de los Polecast, en directo. Comentando esas peripecias con la gente que entraba en el chat… Hablando sobre esas bandas de moteros en peligro de extinción en ese extraño mundo futurista de coches y mini-furgonetas voladoras. Y sobre todo, porque el hecho de que los puzles de esta aventura sean relativamente sencillos, facilita mucho el jugarla en directo y poder ir comentando la jugada. Es una tendencia que se adecúa más a los tiempos actuales. Lo que hace que también cualquier jugador actual, no acostumbrado a los locos puzles de antaño, esos de correveidile de utilizar pollos o no saber qué cosa va con qué otra…, completen este juego de forma satisfactoria. Y el humor típico de Lucas Arts en los diálogos sigue funcionando y mucho 26 años después de su salida.
Reseña completa en https://lamazmorritacasioscura.wordpress.com/2021/03/18/jugando-a-full-throttle/

Aquí no hay piratas peleando a espada con insultos, pero hay moteros peleando con cadenas, motosierras, palancas de hierro y demás parafernalia.

Aquí el villano no es un pirata fantasma/zombi, pero es un empresario corrupto, que es peor.

Aquí no hay una gobernadora de armas tomar, pero hay una mecánica de armas tomar.

Vamos, que esto no es Monkey Island, pero también mola lo suyo.

(He jugado tanto la versión original como la remasterizada, mi reseña es idéntica para ambas.)

incredibly charming short point and click from tim schafer. while lacking in a lot of the narrative weight i'd maybe want in something like this, it more than makes up for it with it's dry humour, fun characters, and interesting world.

at first seeming like a stylized version of our own world the game starts to reveal itself as a kind of mad max meets blade runner desert cyberpunk, though keeps itself fairly light with it's overall world building. pretty much everything that can be surmised from the game is taken from it's art direction, incredibly detail rich interiors mixed with sprawling desert exteriors gives the game this really unique vibe, which is complemented by just stunning pixel art drawing from classic cartoons and animated beautifully for the characters. i also REALLY love this early 3d stuff the game has going on with some of it's backgrounds, vehicle designs, and driving sections, a mix of plastic and chrome looking textures bitcrunched to hell it just looks amazing to me. full disclosure that i was playing the remastered version of the game using the original graphics but i switched over to the new renders a few times to help me find some of the clickable areas and it is just so clear that this game is meant to be played with that original pixel art. i'm sure a lot of time went into making it look good but those new renders just feel kinda lifeless, at times even looking like when you use one of those emulator filters to smooth out pixel art algorithmically and it all just looks wrong. though it is a bit of a shame to miss out on the remastered audio and some of the quality of life improvements this way.

narratively it keeps itself pretty light, doing a pretty standard corporate corruption plot involving secretive murders, inheritance theft, and an evil ceo hell bent on destroying the biking industry with minivan manufacture. it never lets itself get too bogged down in the details, just moving from setpiece to setpiece, and while i feel that it's lacking a bit more of an emotional punch that i would want it's handily brought together by a superb cast of characters. each time a person or a gang is introduced they feel wholly unique and lived in, which is in no small part because of how well they are all brought to life by their voice actors. mark hamill plays about a dozen parts here and they're all done super well, roy conrad is perfect in the lead as the stoic and wry biker ben, and as a huge simpsons fan i was really pleased to hear tress macneille show up in a bit part near the end. just found myself very charmed the whole time and i got through it in about three and a half hours all told so the game never outstayed it's welcome.

the puzzles for the most part are much more straightforward than one might come to expect from a lucasarts point 'n' click from the mid-90s, most everything had a fairly logical conclusion and the only ones that really stumped me were when i just accidentally forgot to pick something up since it blended into the background and i had to do some backtracking. i think the only gameplay element here that really drags down full throttle are the action setpieces. the mine road section is fairly mind numbing more than anything else, unresponsive controls and lengthy loops until you finally have all the items you need, but not really ever especially difficult. what really doesn't work is the destruction derby sequence, with controls so unresponsive and finicky i messed around with it for about ten minutes without really getting anywhere before just skipping it altogether (a new feature in the remastered port).

overall though, a short but ultimately fulfilling experience, just puts a smile on my face.

This is a game that was hyped up for me. I got the impression it was one of the best PnCAs although I'm feeling not excellent about it. On the other hand, I can see why legend built around this title.

There's a strong contrast with the game going for high production values but doing nothing really excellently. The game has a cinematic story (set in a cool post-apocalyptic world) but the actual plot is very basic, moreso than an action film from the nineties. The game has a lot of different gameplay modes that unfold organically like an adventure game should do, but a lot of them are not that fun. The variety does mean something and it does bring me into the story.

The voice acting elevates the material and the use of real band music makes the game feel more filmic in a welcome manner. If I had played this in 1995 I think I would have been very impressed with its production values and even if I come off of this game a little disappointed because of the monumental hype, I think this is pretty cool and people can still play it and love it.