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LucasArts announces Sam & Max sequel
Altima(BoB) writes "LucasArts announced today a sequel to their 1993 cult classic adventure game Sam & Max Hit the Road. This follows a recent announcement of Full Throttle II. The press release explains:
It's due first quarter 2004 for Windows PCs, no other operating systems or platforms mentioned, but it looks promising. Personally, I think that LucasArts' adventure games have been long overdue a comeback, anyone who's played them can attest to their top-notch writing and humor."
Well, I didn't know about Full Throttle 2, so reading that post made me slip into what I like to call "A massive coronary".
Full throttle was the best damn Lucararts game ever made, bar none. Maybe even the best adventure game period, and that's if I include Grim Fandago.
That better not be a polecat on the wall.
Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
Check this out.
Basically, it's something along the lines of an emulator that allows the original LucasArts point and click games to run under modern Windows. I've played Sam n Max and Day of the Tentacle for hours, and compared to the 486 sitting next to me, it's identical. Support for other games is in the works.
The absolute coolest part is, it uses your (presumedly) modern sound card's MIDI - the intro to Sam n Max is AMAZING on my SBLive compared to the old SB16 - and it also offers anti-aliased graphics if you so choose. Sure, the jaggies are nice for a nostalgic feel, but these games look simply amazing with the AA effects turned on.
I really can't recommend this enough for anyone who wants to play the old LucasArts games on anything approaching a modern system.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
Does anyone know if this going to be 3D or 2D? I am guessing the former because the Full Throttle sequel is 3D from what I have seen thus far. If my guess is correct it will be interesting to see how Sam & Max translates to the 3D world because it was very 2D animated game with some weird geometry and architecture in some areas. I remember Max had a secret 3D cameo in Jedi Knight and that looked kind of weird. Fingers crossed they get the same voice actors and composer too, which if you have never heard you can hear in this remix
aus.music.scrapbook
I remember telling my aunt about "Day of the Tentacle". (get yer finger off the 'off-topic' button, it's a LucasArts adventure game like Sam & Max and Monkey Island.) Unfortunately, I mispronounced 'tentacle' and caused everybody at the dinner table to pause their meal and stare at me with buldging eyes.
I really wish my family'd loosen up and watch FOX more often. I really shouldn't be that shocking to anybody.
Ok, just to rant just a little...
Sam and Max was a great game. I'm looking foward to the sequel. Sam and Max, in fact, was a great game, orgininal, funny, and just overall fun to play.
And it wasn't a sequel to anything.
Which makes me wonder; Are there any new games that are orgininal, funny, unique, that are worth playing? To read sites like Slashdot (or others), one would assume not, that the only games of note being realased are either
a: A sequel to a popular game
b: A new game based on a popular graphics engine
c: A new game being released on linux.
Don't get me wrong, it's always nice to hear about a release based on the above three things. But what about a new game that nobody's heard of before that's really, really good?
Do they not exist, or are most popular websites either uninformed of them or decide not to publish them. As it stands, the only ways you can find out of there is a good new game that you've never heard of is to:
a: Be impressed at the software store by the shiney box, plunk down $50 for something that may end up sucking
b: Read the game review websites and magizines, which seem to be staffed by, and cater too 12 year old boys
c: Hopefully hear from a freind through word of mouth about a game.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking slashdot. It's not really in their scope (or in my expectation) that they tell me about the next new, hot thing in gaming. But does anyone out there know of a place to find this out? I mean, a place smart enough to distinguish the next Sam and Max from the crap?
The Internet is generally stupid
Is it just me or do talking rabbits creep anybody else out after seeing Donnie Darko?
I can only hope I still feel the same way Harvey and Bugs!
If the average gamer went out and bought games based on pure gameplay, we'd get a 2D Sam and Max (which is the way it should be, the same applies to Metroid Prime, which looks nice, but just isn't Metroid).
Looks can be deceiving. Or CAN they?
It's due first quarter 2004
This is the Video Game Industry's way of saying, "We haven't actually started yet."
Kind thoughts do not change the world
Other great LucasArts games from around that time:
;-). A not so secret bonus in the game is that you can play the original MM by using one of the computer in the mansion!
:-) and "dress up paper dolls", the latter one is also used for copy protection in the original floppy version! The game contains at least one song that is even funnier when actually sang by the voice actors.
;-). There was quite a debug about that at the time.
Day of the Tentacle
Sam & Max Hit the Road
The Dig
Full Throttle
Both "Day of the Tentacle" and "Sam & Max Hit the Road" first came out in floppies (yes floppies kids!) with CD-ROM versions with full voices a few years later.
DoT features characters from the original Maniac Mansion game from the 80s (which also spawned a short-lived TV show in the 90s, one of the joke in the game is about the characters not getting royalties from the show
S&M probably got the strangest story line in any game, EVER. It got a talking dog and rabbit, bigfoots and giraffe-neck girl, circuit freaks and country-singer. And it all make senses in the end!
S&M also features some cool mini-games like the "whack-a-mole" (or rabbit
Both "Full Throttle" and "The Dig" came out in CD only version.
The Dig is probably one of the most overlooked game from the company. While not as good as the others (slower pacing, may hard logical-type puzzles that are not very well integrated into the story), it is unique in that it has a serious storyline with a lot less jokes and gigs than the others. The art direction is a lot more realistic than even darker game like Full Throttle.
The game is about a big asteroid that is going to hit Earth and a team of astronauts is going to set off a bomb to "deflect" it. And that was back in 1995 before films like "Armageddon"! It got some amazing (for the time) pre-rendered 3d cut scenes and probably the first LucasArts game to have a "celebrity" voice actor - Robert Patrick from T2 and later X-Files. He did a good job.
Full Throttle features the now familiar "full screen" game mode. No more list of verbs or icons on screen. When you right click on the objects/persons a context sensitive menu (in the form of a coin) popup. This provides a very cinematic feel of a good action movie.
The game also features a rock theme song (music & lyrics), a mix of 3d objects (vehicles, rotating signs, etc) and 2d backgrounds. FT is also the first LucasArts game to have action sequence (that highway game in S&M doesn't count
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Oh yeah, as joked about in Curse of the Monkey Island, you can't die in a LucasArts Adventure game!
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Ahh the memories. Until I start typing this, I didn't even know that I still remember so much about all these games. It is a sure sign that these are classics, are will remain so in my mind forever. Thanks LucasArts, and here is to more good adventures games in the future.
Codeala - Just another mindless drone