RAAtEtHoTDVG 3: Maniac Mansion

Ridiculously Ambitious Attempt to Experience the Heart of Two-Dimensional Video Gaming, Part 3

I hope to start getting these out quicker, although it's going to be a challenge considering how much stuff there is I can and should be doing these days.

Maniac Mansion (PC)


Maniac Mansion was the first game released using LucasArts' SCUMM engine, which actually stands for Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion. It came out originally way back in 1987, and you can definitely tell. The graphics are extremely primitive and the sound is made from barbaric bleeps and bloops, with the game unable to play more than one at once. Whereas modern games have streamlined the interface down to a very simple point and click system, the lower half of the screen here is flooded with different commands you can use, and there are frequent situations where it's just too specific for its own good. An early example is the door to the basement that doesn't have a handle. Even if your magic deduction skills are good enough to realize you need the gargoyle on the nearby staircase to open the door, "using" it doesn't work. You have to "pull" the gargoyle for anything to happen. I'll make no secret of the fact that I used a FAQ pretty heavily to make it through to the end after getting stuck on my own multiple times, as I'm fairly certain I never would have otherwise. My simple modern brain is just too used to properly telegraphed and hinted puzzle solutions to go this far outside its own safety zone.

Besides the difficulty of the puzzles though, Maniac Mansion is a pretty interesting and actually fairly forward-thinking adventure game. Things like the use of multiple characters you can choose from and apparent flexibility in how you can go about finishing it are pretty impressive. Almost every game in this genre is stuck in the one problem, one solution system that being able to try different things that end up working is really nice. One thing that's unfortunately missing though is the wit and humor that the classic LucasArts adventures are generally known for as much as anything else. There are a few little skits with the various villains and protagonists here, and some moments that sort of skirt around the edge of being funny, but it's clear they were still figuring out what they were doing back then and by this point it looks like it was put together by ten year old kids. It's just quaint. Other SCUMM games I've seen have blown Maniac Mansion's writing out of the water in just their first few minutes. Still, you can see how important the game was to the legacy of LucasArts and the adventure genre in general.

Next: Samus' greatest adventure.

RAAtEtHoTDVG 2: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Ridiculously Ambitious Attempt to Experience the Heart of Two-Dimensional Video Gaming, Part 2

The long-delayed second entry. This took me longer than I expected because I ended up having far less free time for this sort of thing than I expected and I might be less of a Zelda fan than I thought originally. I can't guarantee I'll post these any more regularly, but I'm not giving up.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)

Before I go into why this game bugged me, I will mention that it's influence on and importance to one of my favorite game franchises is obvious. The classical heroic storyline, many of the items, a few introductory dungeons before the real adventure begins, so much of it is now the standard for at least all the "normal" sequels it's gotten since it's release. Obviously the first game started it all, but this is the template they use now. It bugs me when people say Twilight Princess is better than Ocarina of Time when I see it as the same thing with better graphics, but the same argument can be made for Ocarina with regards to this. It's really a milestone for action adventure game design.

The problem is that I just didn't enjoy playing it that much. I adore the modern console Zeldas, especially the N64-era ones, but I can't say the same for this particular precursor. It's not just the age, because I greatly prefer Link's Awakening, the handheld sequel I never actually finished. At least in that game you could block attacks up close. What's the point of carrying a shield everywhere if you can't deflect a sword or spear with it? This was one of many small frustrations that made it feel like the game was more concerned with pissing me off than really challenging me. All the enemies are perfectly designed to inhibit what actually makes exploring the dungeons and temples fun, exploring and figuring out how the mazes work and solving puzzles to get through them. When I'm constantly getting poked and prodded by irritating foes at every turn, it really saps my enjoyment.

The game also seemed less than forthcoming about what exactly what was required to get to certain areas, forcing me to turn to GameFAQs to realize things like "Oh, I need to go to this area I've never been to before to get flippers so I can swim in this dungeon". This sort of trial-by-error design might have worked back then but it doesn't fly now. It does cool things with the story and the various townsfolk you can help out as you go, but in general, I felt like I was just going trough the motions to get to the last boss. The very first dungeon was an interesting, plot-driven rescue mission, and after that I was essentially handed a list of pallete-swapped deathtraps to plunder before I could get to the finish. I probably could have gotten a lot more out of the game if I really tried, I just never felt like the game cared if I did or not. Interesting history lesson, but I didn't love it.

Next: SCUMM changes the adventure game landscape.

RAAtEtHoTDVG 1: Sam and Max Hit the Road

Ridiculously Ambitious Attempt to Experience the Heart of Two-Dimensional Video Gaming, Part 1

So here's something I've been working on. I've been playing games for a long time, but I only really started playing significant ones during the PS1/N64 era. Before that, it was just what my relatives got me or just what I could get my hands on. I wanted to fill in the large gap in my knowledge and memories from back when games were made with sprites instead of polygons. I asked some people on the Internet to help, and they gave me a lot of great suggestions. These are almost all for the NES, SNES, Genesis, or original Game Boy, with some graphic adventures on the PC thrown in as well, mostly Lucasarts' SCUMM games. That's mostly what got recommended, and anything pre-Nintendo is too archaic to be worth anything besides historical significance at this point anyway. I will play as many of these games as possible, and while I can't guarantee I'll finish them all, I'll play long enough to give a valid opinion. So here's the first game, which segues nicely from what I've recently been playing.

Sam and Max Hit the Road (PC)


This is the comic book duo's first foray into video games until the much more recent episodic work by Telltale. I'm kind of working backwards through their history, as the Trade Paperback with all of their comics should be coming in the mail soon. The game obviously looks quite different, Sam and Max are the only characters that appear in the later games, and their voices are different. Still, they're the same people in the same world and it felt familiar. Their sense of humor might be a little more blunt in this, but it's just as funny. Their office and street are a bit different, but more or less comparable, and the game starts the same way, with the mysterious commissioner calling in about a new case that begins the adventure.

Being a full game and not just an episode, there's a bigger scope to the story, many more locations to visit, and more puzzles to solve, although it didn't really feel too much longer. When you know what to do, these old adventure games usually don't take too long, and since I don't have much patience for some of the logical leaps these games make you take, I wasn't afraid to look up and use hints. I don't feel bad about it, because the fun comes from the characters and dialogue, not being confounded by something and trying every item on every object. Most of what you have to do makes sense, but sometimes the solutions are highly specific without giving you much help about what's supposed to be happening. Also, I'm glad interfaces have been streamlined so much in modern adventures, because there's no reason that clicking on an elevator with the walk function selected should result in being told I have to "use" it, when it should be able to figure out what I'm trying to do. Hit the Road is actually one of the better SCUMM games about this it appears, and I slightly dread earlier ones that have a dozen different actions to sort through. It's better than having to type out what you want, but not by a lot. Besides this though, Hit the Road is a very funny and clever little game, and probably as good an example as any of this dying genre's good points.

Next: A young boy fights to save the kingdom from evil.