NOTE- The Steam version of Full Throttle Remastered will NOT run on modern PCs unless you do the following: input “--DisableFMODDSP” in the launch options tab of the settings menu + change your speaker’s Windows Audio Bitrate to 48khz 24bit
Full Throttle Remastered is an updated port of the famed 90s graphic adventure of the same name by LucasArts, and just like with Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle’s facelifts, it was handled by Double Fine, who have done a phenomenal job as usual- backgrounds have been reworked from their blurry pixel foundations to clean murals, animations made discernible, and the aspect ratio bumped up from 4:3 to 16:10. Most impressive, however, are the character models, whose glossy sheen and right/left shadow casting seem straight out of Adobe Illustrator. No longer are you gazing at radically-different effigies between the cutscenes and in-game graphics; it’s all consistent, clear, and stylish. That same level of thought has been put into the audio remixing, which is crisper and, more importantly, actually hearable, both of which go a long way towards relishing the action beats with a biker-appropriate gusto. Overall, this is another fantastic remaster from Double Fine that showcases their extraordinary talent. If I had to nitpick some flaws, it would be that the gait animations tend to resemble South Park’s pudgy steps over the rotational movement of legs, and the inconsistent lip syncing for non-cinematic dialogue. Regardless, for those of you purists who’d rather stick to the OG release, the tap of a button allows you instantaneously swap back-and-forth between vanilla and new.
Unfortunately, by avoiding the remake route, Double Fine has preserved the original story, which is not particularly great, involving a motorcycle gang leader named Ben being framed for a crime he must clear his name of. The premise itself is solid, but where the game falters is in its execution; it’s very short and very bland. Characters are technically more than their archetypes, yet the writing never fleshes them out beyond the occasional hint, and the situations they find themselves in aren’t particularly memorable. At the time of its release, I don’t doubt Full Throttle’s appeal came from being rad over narrative-driven, from the neo-western drawls of its cast to the pumping of licensed rock music. However, in this day-and-age, that comes across as more of a cookie-cutter schematic than enticing journey. Don’t get me wrong -- it is nice to play a PnC adventure with an adult audience in-mind, and I did appreciate the instances of dry humor, but those only go so far, and even when they’re going well, things are over before you know it.
Tl;dr- I was bored for most of my playthrough; a crime, considering how few outlaw biker games there are in the industry, as well as the talent they’ve assembled here. Seriously, Full Throttle has one of the best casts I have ever heard in a video game, with veterans like Mark Hamill and Kate Soucie performing alongside lesser known artists like Roy Conrad and Pat Musick. Even when the script falters in giving them something interesting to say, I can’t deny they do the best with what they got.
The music is pretty good. As I mentioned earlier, there are a number of hard rock songs from a band called The Gone Jackals whose mileage will vary depending on your appreciation of the genre, but even Peter McConnell’s score is worth a listen. While I wouldn’t put it anywhere near his Grim Fandango OST, it serves its purpose of accentuating the mood around you. My sole qualm in this department is the menu theme- a redneck melody that literally brought to mind that awful solo Jan’s former assistant sang in the Dinner Party episode of The Office.
The soundscape is level-headed, if repetitive. PnCs aren’t known for their extravagant sonority, and LucasArts put together a decent package that’s well-harmonized, yet I couldn’t help but be distracted by the overuse of the rev din; even a couple of variations would’ve done wonders for the motorcade sections.
On that note, let’s talk about the gameplay. Full Throttle is a pristine example of what happens when a game tries too hard to stand out from the crowd- it becomes needlessly complicated. The vast majority of PnCs boast an easy mouse interface-- left click to use, right click to examine-- because it works; in an attempt to be unique, however, Full Throttle has thrown that out the window in favor of left click pulling up a mini-menu which includes examine + three different options that are effectively variants of the same basic action prompt: talk/lick, grab, and kick. It is beyond dumb, and makes simple maneuvers pointlessly annoying because trying to tap one may result in you accidentally initiating another in the midst of your quickness.
Sadly, we’re not done with the gimmicks. There are a couple of sequences wherein Ben will have to chase down and beat other cyclists on his hog (beat as in whip, not out-compete in a race), and these are as mundane as they are technically-deficient, forcing you to button mash whilst your frame rate takes a hit. I don’t want to imagine how bad it must’ve been on older rigs.
There are a number of other minor annoyances in the design that won’t break your experience, but will impede it over the course of your playtime due to them being theoretically easy fixes: one, when you’re on your chopper, clicking a red arrow instead of a yellow one will result in you getting off the bike to approach it even though Ben is UNABLE TO GO THROUGH THEM without his bike (why not turn all the red markers into yellow ones when riding?); two, pressing escape takes you to the main screen instead of exiting out of whatever menu you’re in; three, your (small) inventory screen won’t disappear after selecting an item unless you move your cursor all the way off it; and four, the subtitles sometimes cover up a good portion of the screen.
In terms of the puzzles, this is definitely an easier LucasArts game (especially in comparison to Grim Fandango), though I still found myself having difficulty with a couple of the stages, largely due to interactable objects not standing out from the non-interactable ones. Double Fine tried to alleviate this in the remaster by adding a highlight function, which is fine when the entire bastion is your target. The problem, unfortunately, comes when specific parts of said body need to be contacted- there is no way of distinguishing unless you hover your pointer over the exact place, and I consequently found myself constantly consulting a walkthrough to complete the game.
Even if I didn’t though, I doubt I would’ve enjoyed Full Throttle Remastered due to the aforementioned kinks in the narrative and gameplay. If you’re a hardcore LucasArts fan, then you should probably check this out, but for all other gamers, best steer away to different ventures.
Full Throttle Remastered is an updated port of the famed 90s graphic adventure of the same name by LucasArts, and just like with Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle’s facelifts, it was handled by Double Fine, who have done a phenomenal job as usual- backgrounds have been reworked from their blurry pixel foundations to clean murals, animations made discernible, and the aspect ratio bumped up from 4:3 to 16:10. Most impressive, however, are the character models, whose glossy sheen and right/left shadow casting seem straight out of Adobe Illustrator. No longer are you gazing at radically-different effigies between the cutscenes and in-game graphics; it’s all consistent, clear, and stylish. That same level of thought has been put into the audio remixing, which is crisper and, more importantly, actually hearable, both of which go a long way towards relishing the action beats with a biker-appropriate gusto. Overall, this is another fantastic remaster from Double Fine that showcases their extraordinary talent. If I had to nitpick some flaws, it would be that the gait animations tend to resemble South Park’s pudgy steps over the rotational movement of legs, and the inconsistent lip syncing for non-cinematic dialogue. Regardless, for those of you purists who’d rather stick to the OG release, the tap of a button allows you instantaneously swap back-and-forth between vanilla and new.
Unfortunately, by avoiding the remake route, Double Fine has preserved the original story, which is not particularly great, involving a motorcycle gang leader named Ben being framed for a crime he must clear his name of. The premise itself is solid, but where the game falters is in its execution; it’s very short and very bland. Characters are technically more than their archetypes, yet the writing never fleshes them out beyond the occasional hint, and the situations they find themselves in aren’t particularly memorable. At the time of its release, I don’t doubt Full Throttle’s appeal came from being rad over narrative-driven, from the neo-western drawls of its cast to the pumping of licensed rock music. However, in this day-and-age, that comes across as more of a cookie-cutter schematic than enticing journey. Don’t get me wrong -- it is nice to play a PnC adventure with an adult audience in-mind, and I did appreciate the instances of dry humor, but those only go so far, and even when they’re going well, things are over before you know it.
Tl;dr- I was bored for most of my playthrough; a crime, considering how few outlaw biker games there are in the industry, as well as the talent they’ve assembled here. Seriously, Full Throttle has one of the best casts I have ever heard in a video game, with veterans like Mark Hamill and Kate Soucie performing alongside lesser known artists like Roy Conrad and Pat Musick. Even when the script falters in giving them something interesting to say, I can’t deny they do the best with what they got.
The music is pretty good. As I mentioned earlier, there are a number of hard rock songs from a band called The Gone Jackals whose mileage will vary depending on your appreciation of the genre, but even Peter McConnell’s score is worth a listen. While I wouldn’t put it anywhere near his Grim Fandango OST, it serves its purpose of accentuating the mood around you. My sole qualm in this department is the menu theme- a redneck melody that literally brought to mind that awful solo Jan’s former assistant sang in the Dinner Party episode of The Office.
The soundscape is level-headed, if repetitive. PnCs aren’t known for their extravagant sonority, and LucasArts put together a decent package that’s well-harmonized, yet I couldn’t help but be distracted by the overuse of the rev din; even a couple of variations would’ve done wonders for the motorcade sections.
On that note, let’s talk about the gameplay. Full Throttle is a pristine example of what happens when a game tries too hard to stand out from the crowd- it becomes needlessly complicated. The vast majority of PnCs boast an easy mouse interface-- left click to use, right click to examine-- because it works; in an attempt to be unique, however, Full Throttle has thrown that out the window in favor of left click pulling up a mini-menu which includes examine + three different options that are effectively variants of the same basic action prompt: talk/lick, grab, and kick. It is beyond dumb, and makes simple maneuvers pointlessly annoying because trying to tap one may result in you accidentally initiating another in the midst of your quickness.
Sadly, we’re not done with the gimmicks. There are a couple of sequences wherein Ben will have to chase down and beat other cyclists on his hog (beat as in whip, not out-compete in a race), and these are as mundane as they are technically-deficient, forcing you to button mash whilst your frame rate takes a hit. I don’t want to imagine how bad it must’ve been on older rigs.
There are a number of other minor annoyances in the design that won’t break your experience, but will impede it over the course of your playtime due to them being theoretically easy fixes: one, when you’re on your chopper, clicking a red arrow instead of a yellow one will result in you getting off the bike to approach it even though Ben is UNABLE TO GO THROUGH THEM without his bike (why not turn all the red markers into yellow ones when riding?); two, pressing escape takes you to the main screen instead of exiting out of whatever menu you’re in; three, your (small) inventory screen won’t disappear after selecting an item unless you move your cursor all the way off it; and four, the subtitles sometimes cover up a good portion of the screen.
In terms of the puzzles, this is definitely an easier LucasArts game (especially in comparison to Grim Fandango), though I still found myself having difficulty with a couple of the stages, largely due to interactable objects not standing out from the non-interactable ones. Double Fine tried to alleviate this in the remaster by adding a highlight function, which is fine when the entire bastion is your target. The problem, unfortunately, comes when specific parts of said body need to be contacted- there is no way of distinguishing unless you hover your pointer over the exact place, and I consequently found myself constantly consulting a walkthrough to complete the game.
Even if I didn’t though, I doubt I would’ve enjoyed Full Throttle Remastered due to the aforementioned kinks in the narrative and gameplay. If you’re a hardcore LucasArts fan, then you should probably check this out, but for all other gamers, best steer away to different ventures.