I thought playing Maniac Mansion would get me to understand bigger truths about the Point and Click Adventure game genre, aiding me on my quest to play a shit-ton of them this month.
Yeah well it didn't. Most of my impressions I already had from when my dad told me about it and how he and my mom have guessed their way through this messy moon-logic and easily jinxable mess. But hey I thought I'd try it for myself after all those years. Well after like 10 puzzles I pressed ALT + F4 and watched the rest, all the endings and all the character specific puzzles on YouTube.
It was genre defining and is without a doubt forged the path for later LucasArts titles to shine on. I don't even want to say that it's bad or has no qualities to it, that could get players to like it even today. I just really fell of this one, also because of the constant fear that I could easily get myself into an unwinnable state. It's a bit like with old King's Quest titles. If I'm scared to pick up or use items in your adventure game, I become scared to experiment. As someone who loves MI's dialogue for weird or wacky experiments during inventory puzzles, being scared to do those is just really discouraging me to have fun with this whatsoever.
Watching it on YouTube was rather painful though, because of the technical limitations, Maniac Mansion has next to no music and it makes the entire experience a slog to get through.
All of what I just wrote above comes from a super modern perspective with over 40 years of hindsight on the genre. This is why I don't necessarily want to shit on Maniac Mansion, although I personally really disliked the bit that I played. I wanted to do research and the genre and an insight I got. All good. It's really respectable to see just how big the shift for adventure games was after MM.
Yeah well it didn't. Most of my impressions I already had from when my dad told me about it and how he and my mom have guessed their way through this messy moon-logic and easily jinxable mess. But hey I thought I'd try it for myself after all those years. Well after like 10 puzzles I pressed ALT + F4 and watched the rest, all the endings and all the character specific puzzles on YouTube.
It was genre defining and is without a doubt forged the path for later LucasArts titles to shine on. I don't even want to say that it's bad or has no qualities to it, that could get players to like it even today. I just really fell of this one, also because of the constant fear that I could easily get myself into an unwinnable state. It's a bit like with old King's Quest titles. If I'm scared to pick up or use items in your adventure game, I become scared to experiment. As someone who loves MI's dialogue for weird or wacky experiments during inventory puzzles, being scared to do those is just really discouraging me to have fun with this whatsoever.
Watching it on YouTube was rather painful though, because of the technical limitations, Maniac Mansion has next to no music and it makes the entire experience a slog to get through.
All of what I just wrote above comes from a super modern perspective with over 40 years of hindsight on the genre. This is why I don't necessarily want to shit on Maniac Mansion, although I personally really disliked the bit that I played. I wanted to do research and the genre and an insight I got. All good. It's really respectable to see just how big the shift for adventure games was after MM.
Mais um jogo inovador da época, com uma história divertida e muito bem contado, personagens cativantes e o criador do gênero point N' click e inovador para jogos narrativos.
Nota: 6/10 (★★★) - Legal
Nota: 6/10 (★★★) - Legal
Maniac Mansion is the first LucasArt game to use the famous SCUMM engine, and it shows. It's a bit clunky and of course, this is still back when you could fail in the game without knowing why. Eitherway, it's a nice little blast from the past and it was enjoyable.
Since there's a superior version included in the sequel Day of the Tentacle, I can only recommend the original version if you're already a fan of the game.
Since there's a superior version included in the sequel Day of the Tentacle, I can only recommend the original version if you're already a fan of the game.