Today everybody seems to remember the CDi, 3DO and maybe Mega-CD as platforms for clumsy attempts to do revolutionary FMV games on CD, but the truth is a lot of the early generation CD-ROM titles in general were either enhancements of the floppy versions or might not hold up very well today with pixelated cutscenes in tiny window boxes.
Lucas Arts had to dump $1.5 million into Full Throttle pushing the envelope on the point'n'click genre they helped to define. Despite the legendary status over here in Europe those games had not exactly been a cash cow, so backing Tim Schafer's pitch for his debut as a leading producer can be seen as a bold move on behalf of graphic adventures.
Unlike today, there wasn't a nostalgic way of referencing classics like Maniac Mansion or The Secret of Monkey Island. Whilst it usually still is the intention of most of the old designers to renew and reinvent the genre, that motto was as much intrinsic as mandatory. But does that excuse what came out as Full Throttle?
It's not like they didn't try. I'm tempted to say Full Throttle came out like Reservoir Dogs, which sure had an impact on movies and impressed many people at the time, but with its limitations looks rather unwieldy compared to True Romance and Natural Born Killers for which Tarantino also didn't have control what happened to his scripts. But when Pulp Fiction was released, that was the big bang.
Obviously Grim Fandango burned too much budget to deny it might have rather killed point'n'click adventures monetary and as I've promised after Broken Age, I will have to catch up on Schafer's 1998 release to decide if I'm on the side of the fans, but there seems to be a generation remembering it benevolently.
It's true that I missed both, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango, because I wasn't owning a PC that was more than a better typewriter at that time. Whilst I enjoyed Discworld and Broken Sword on my PlayStation, I only got to play some genre titles like Day of the Tentacle, Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail or The Curse of Monkey Island at friend's places. I might have confused Full Throttle for a racing game anyway because the title is not exactly an adventure trope.
Whilst it might be true the previous Lucas Arts point'n'clicks had been somewhat cartoonish, I wouldn't see them as family friendly as some compare them to a "more grown up" Full Throttle. It just so happened a lot of us played the earlier games as kids, but at least Sam & Max Hit the Road is far away from what I'd call suitable. With Full Throttle being a gritty unique noir blend of The Wild One, Yojimbo, The Road Warrior and Akira it might as well have been part of the Heavy Metal anthology movie and that way stands out as more adult.
That might also give a hint it's short. Now, I've suggested for Detective Gallo that less is more and I actually have nothing to say against the story. Full Throttle has everything that's needed for a gnarly one man show of stumbling into being the innocent suspect for a murder. An interesting point here is that neither whodunnit nor howdunnit are ever in question. The worst thing to happen in this semi-apocalyptic parallel dimension is the production of minivans.
Thematically, I would have loved Full Throttle back in the day, being a movie buff since I'm able to think and digesting an increasing number of genre films as a teenager in the early nineties. At the same time, I transitioned into the more adult side of franco-belgian comics and beyond, especially from the seventies.
Another thing to point out, I think, is that Full Throttle has a rather independent female in mechanic Maureen, though in a short period of time defined by Tank Girl and Barb Wire or girly brats like in Clueless the Eastwood/Bronson type somehow reflected in protagonist Ben feels a little out of time, especially as above mentioned comics often had female leads maybe even out of place.
Full Throttle on one hand forces us to use violence instead of talking sometimes, but on the other hand limits us with what we can actually use our mouth or extremities on via the newly introduced icon based radial interface a lot of us learned to love in point'n'clicks. I'd sure have wreaked much greater havoc if they let me, like in Edna & Harvey: The Breakout, that's pushing the boundaries of nonlinearity in graphic adventures.
Whilst the main engine remains SCUMM, Full Throttle also profits from the INSANE animation engine previously used on Star Wars: Rebel Assault II - The Hidden Empire. Being the first Lucas Arts adventure solely released on CD-ROM, this actually comes at a cost.
Because now there's room for professional voice actors like Mark Hamill, a quite decent licensed rock score by The Gone Jackals (they sadly couldn't afford "Kickstand" by Soundgarden) and extensive full motion video sequences with good enough compression to work full screen, there doesn't seem to be much left for an actual genre game within the cinematic presentation.
Despite the success and cult status of Full Throttle, for me, this is a bitter pill to swallow. And I'm not talking out of disappointment over the new artwork of the Full Throttle Remastered edition. I've looked deeply at both versions and as I don't have any nostalgic relation to the original, I like it as much as I think the remaster doesn't only look more up-to-date, it also brings Full Throttle even closer to the above mentioned Heavy Metal style. I could have lived without the shiny 3D modeling, but that seems to be true to the original that might have looked like the remaster had it been state of the art back then.
I can sit back for good cut scenes, that isn't an issue either. But the few puzzles kind of annoyed me entirely. It's ok most of them are more environmental than icon based, but they're all but self-explanatory. Even though that characteristic is typical for Lucas Arts if you're thinking of moon logic and pixel hunting, Full Throttle for instance does nothing to lead you to the idea you might have to hide in a situation or use a fluent sequence of actions.
It's possible the original gave away hints in the manual that doesn't come with the GOG release of Full Throttle Remastered and the idea might have been to mimic Another World/Out of this World, but framed for an actual point'n'click adventure this is almost as irritating as the real action passages, which ruin an otherwise still pleasurable game for me.
I know, this isn't a first in Lucas Arts adventures and I've read at least for the original that you could bypass the bike fights and destruction derby with a code, but then there's not much of a game left to beat, honestly. So I've gone through everything with a mouse, which isn't the best way to control a vehicle.
It's not a license game for Batman '89, where the chases weren't exactly highlights and if I wanted to play Super Cars II, R.C. Pro-Am or at best Rock'n'Roll Racing, then I'd do that. In my impression the designers just wasted space here for very linear minigames that awkwardly rely on you to find that one path to get past them.
And I get they canceled a planned peyote trip scene for glorification reasons, whilst I might have liked a complete bike gang subplot that seems to have been dropped as well. I would have preferred that over any of the agility parts I neither expect nor miss in a graphic adventure, just like the chance to try again doesn't compensate for the time limits during the final scenes that will make you die and watch the same FMVs over and over.
So with the credits rolling after two sessions cut even shorter with a guide when I was absolutely clueless what Full Throttle wanted me to do, I was still kind of relieved it's over. And that's probably an issue with the game being made when it was made. A CD-ROM of course has new limits again if you pack it with data and the fancy presentation can only get you that far if besides cinematics the game is rather weak.
It has to come with an expiration date when you alienate your puzzle geeks that aren't satisfied with a few items to look for, even though two things had been hard to spot, in trade for an underdeveloped upgrade that appears like a few unfocused ideas cobbled together. Full Throttle Remastered doesn't fix that, which would have been a chance, actually, but an extended director's cut would have needed more budget and the support of the fans.
In conclusion Full Throttle Remastered is the refreshed look of a game that is more style than substance anyway. It can't have the same impact, because it doesn't come with the same unique selling points it had when it was first released. It would have been a nice base to work from nonetheless, but two game sequels had been canceled during production and pitches at MTV and Disney+ seem to have failed.
With the death of Ben's voice actor Roy L. Conrad in 2002 any real follow up is out of the question and so we might take this as an actual reason Full Throttle Remastered wasn't expanded. The question though is, who really needed this then, besides people like me wanting an available version to close another gap?
Too hung up on trying something else Full Throttle just lacks the charme and challenge of the early Monkey Island games for example, that are written so well they work in any version, from Amiga to Special Edition.
Lucas Arts had to dump $1.5 million into Full Throttle pushing the envelope on the point'n'click genre they helped to define. Despite the legendary status over here in Europe those games had not exactly been a cash cow, so backing Tim Schafer's pitch for his debut as a leading producer can be seen as a bold move on behalf of graphic adventures.
Unlike today, there wasn't a nostalgic way of referencing classics like Maniac Mansion or The Secret of Monkey Island. Whilst it usually still is the intention of most of the old designers to renew and reinvent the genre, that motto was as much intrinsic as mandatory. But does that excuse what came out as Full Throttle?
It's not like they didn't try. I'm tempted to say Full Throttle came out like Reservoir Dogs, which sure had an impact on movies and impressed many people at the time, but with its limitations looks rather unwieldy compared to True Romance and Natural Born Killers for which Tarantino also didn't have control what happened to his scripts. But when Pulp Fiction was released, that was the big bang.
Obviously Grim Fandango burned too much budget to deny it might have rather killed point'n'click adventures monetary and as I've promised after Broken Age, I will have to catch up on Schafer's 1998 release to decide if I'm on the side of the fans, but there seems to be a generation remembering it benevolently.
It's true that I missed both, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango, because I wasn't owning a PC that was more than a better typewriter at that time. Whilst I enjoyed Discworld and Broken Sword on my PlayStation, I only got to play some genre titles like Day of the Tentacle, Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail or The Curse of Monkey Island at friend's places. I might have confused Full Throttle for a racing game anyway because the title is not exactly an adventure trope.
Whilst it might be true the previous Lucas Arts point'n'clicks had been somewhat cartoonish, I wouldn't see them as family friendly as some compare them to a "more grown up" Full Throttle. It just so happened a lot of us played the earlier games as kids, but at least Sam & Max Hit the Road is far away from what I'd call suitable. With Full Throttle being a gritty unique noir blend of The Wild One, Yojimbo, The Road Warrior and Akira it might as well have been part of the Heavy Metal anthology movie and that way stands out as more adult.
That might also give a hint it's short. Now, I've suggested for Detective Gallo that less is more and I actually have nothing to say against the story. Full Throttle has everything that's needed for a gnarly one man show of stumbling into being the innocent suspect for a murder. An interesting point here is that neither whodunnit nor howdunnit are ever in question. The worst thing to happen in this semi-apocalyptic parallel dimension is the production of minivans.
Thematically, I would have loved Full Throttle back in the day, being a movie buff since I'm able to think and digesting an increasing number of genre films as a teenager in the early nineties. At the same time, I transitioned into the more adult side of franco-belgian comics and beyond, especially from the seventies.
Another thing to point out, I think, is that Full Throttle has a rather independent female in mechanic Maureen, though in a short period of time defined by Tank Girl and Barb Wire or girly brats like in Clueless the Eastwood/Bronson type somehow reflected in protagonist Ben feels a little out of time, especially as above mentioned comics often had female leads maybe even out of place.
Full Throttle on one hand forces us to use violence instead of talking sometimes, but on the other hand limits us with what we can actually use our mouth or extremities on via the newly introduced icon based radial interface a lot of us learned to love in point'n'clicks. I'd sure have wreaked much greater havoc if they let me, like in Edna & Harvey: The Breakout, that's pushing the boundaries of nonlinearity in graphic adventures.
Whilst the main engine remains SCUMM, Full Throttle also profits from the INSANE animation engine previously used on Star Wars: Rebel Assault II - The Hidden Empire. Being the first Lucas Arts adventure solely released on CD-ROM, this actually comes at a cost.
Because now there's room for professional voice actors like Mark Hamill, a quite decent licensed rock score by The Gone Jackals (they sadly couldn't afford "Kickstand" by Soundgarden) and extensive full motion video sequences with good enough compression to work full screen, there doesn't seem to be much left for an actual genre game within the cinematic presentation.
Despite the success and cult status of Full Throttle, for me, this is a bitter pill to swallow. And I'm not talking out of disappointment over the new artwork of the Full Throttle Remastered edition. I've looked deeply at both versions and as I don't have any nostalgic relation to the original, I like it as much as I think the remaster doesn't only look more up-to-date, it also brings Full Throttle even closer to the above mentioned Heavy Metal style. I could have lived without the shiny 3D modeling, but that seems to be true to the original that might have looked like the remaster had it been state of the art back then.
I can sit back for good cut scenes, that isn't an issue either. But the few puzzles kind of annoyed me entirely. It's ok most of them are more environmental than icon based, but they're all but self-explanatory. Even though that characteristic is typical for Lucas Arts if you're thinking of moon logic and pixel hunting, Full Throttle for instance does nothing to lead you to the idea you might have to hide in a situation or use a fluent sequence of actions.
It's possible the original gave away hints in the manual that doesn't come with the GOG release of Full Throttle Remastered and the idea might have been to mimic Another World/Out of this World, but framed for an actual point'n'click adventure this is almost as irritating as the real action passages, which ruin an otherwise still pleasurable game for me.
I know, this isn't a first in Lucas Arts adventures and I've read at least for the original that you could bypass the bike fights and destruction derby with a code, but then there's not much of a game left to beat, honestly. So I've gone through everything with a mouse, which isn't the best way to control a vehicle.
It's not a license game for Batman '89, where the chases weren't exactly highlights and if I wanted to play Super Cars II, R.C. Pro-Am or at best Rock'n'Roll Racing, then I'd do that. In my impression the designers just wasted space here for very linear minigames that awkwardly rely on you to find that one path to get past them.
And I get they canceled a planned peyote trip scene for glorification reasons, whilst I might have liked a complete bike gang subplot that seems to have been dropped as well. I would have preferred that over any of the agility parts I neither expect nor miss in a graphic adventure, just like the chance to try again doesn't compensate for the time limits during the final scenes that will make you die and watch the same FMVs over and over.
So with the credits rolling after two sessions cut even shorter with a guide when I was absolutely clueless what Full Throttle wanted me to do, I was still kind of relieved it's over. And that's probably an issue with the game being made when it was made. A CD-ROM of course has new limits again if you pack it with data and the fancy presentation can only get you that far if besides cinematics the game is rather weak.
It has to come with an expiration date when you alienate your puzzle geeks that aren't satisfied with a few items to look for, even though two things had been hard to spot, in trade for an underdeveloped upgrade that appears like a few unfocused ideas cobbled together. Full Throttle Remastered doesn't fix that, which would have been a chance, actually, but an extended director's cut would have needed more budget and the support of the fans.
In conclusion Full Throttle Remastered is the refreshed look of a game that is more style than substance anyway. It can't have the same impact, because it doesn't come with the same unique selling points it had when it was first released. It would have been a nice base to work from nonetheless, but two game sequels had been canceled during production and pitches at MTV and Disney+ seem to have failed.
With the death of Ben's voice actor Roy L. Conrad in 2002 any real follow up is out of the question and so we might take this as an actual reason Full Throttle Remastered wasn't expanded. The question though is, who really needed this then, besides people like me wanting an available version to close another gap?
Too hung up on trying something else Full Throttle just lacks the charme and challenge of the early Monkey Island games for example, that are written so well they work in any version, from Amiga to Special Edition.
2 Comments
@Blowing_Wind Doesn't mean you won't like it, that's why it still got an average score. Maybe I saved you money, because you say just the cinematic experience doesn't make up. On the other hand, Full Throttle is available on sale frequently for less than a Sandwich so it won't really hurt.
The Dig I must add is another weird one. You need to explore here and though I like to click each and everything, I missed some guidance and never picked up after my first session. I will have to do that sooner or later, but being installed on a laptop I don't use anymore, there's the reminder missing.
The Dig I must add is another weird one. You need to explore here and though I like to click each and everything, I missed some guidance and never picked up after my first session. I will have to do that sooner or later, but being installed on a laptop I don't use anymore, there's the reminder missing.
Blowing_Wind
9 months ago