One of my favourite point and click adventures of all time has to be the completely brilliant The Day of the Tentacle from Lucas Arts. I cannot count the number of times I have played through this fantastic game.

As most people know, Day of the Tentacle was a sequal to the very first SCUMM adventure worked on by none other than the famous Ron Gilbert, first and foremost known for the Monkey Island games. Tim Schafer was also involved in both projects, and I am talking of course about none other than Maniac Mansion.

Some illuminated heads over at the AGS community has made it their task to remake Maniac Mansion in the style of the fabilous Day of the Tentacle. Maniac Mansion has been remade before, but not in the hilarious graphical style of its sequal.

From what has been released of the material, it looks like a crispy, yet classic looking version of the beloved masterpiece. The developers are wished the best of luck.

This ought to be good new for any nostalgic fan of the old school adventures. The developers are German, but they promise to create an English version once the production is finished. I, for one, can’t wait to play Maniac Mansion DOTT-style.

Maniac Mansion is an important classic. Along with Zack McKraken, and Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade they form part of the first wave, or golden age of Lucasarts’ SCUMM interfaced graphic adventures. Maniac Mansion was the first game to feature the SCUMM interface. Maniac Mansion Deluxe is a remake of the game made by LucasFans.

From those years in the early ‘90ies Lucastarts (Lucasfilm Games back then) meant more or less go anywhere, talk to anyone and get anything “takeable.”

For its B-rated and high-school movies themes Maniac Mansion is, in any of its incarnations, a must-play for any serious 80ies nostalgic gamer. The surfer, punk and new-wave alignment of some of its characters makes it interesting from the start. Not many games feature playable punk and goth characters like Maniac Mansion. One of the funniest cornerstones of Maniac Mansion is that, the capability of using kids aligned to one or another youth movement.

Although they aren’t fleshed-out, the sole fact of Syd being a new-wave and Razor a punk was quite esthetically pleasurable; for me even if it was only for the cheap thrill of telling one’s grandchildren.

The remake’s exclusive features: the graphics are enhanced beyond the second PC version, it features 640×400 and 320×200 resolutions, windowed mode, anti-aliased scaled sprites which make it look very cool for an eighties’ game. The constant music helps a lot in keeping the games atmosphere going. The other versions didn’t have this goodie, I liked it.

In the vein of a teen movie of the ‘80ies, mixing horror and sci-fi genres, one as the hero Dave must choose among one’s acquitances, namely Syd, Michael, Wendy, Bernard, Razor and Jeff to rescue Sandy Pantz (Dave’s girl) who was kidnapped by the weirdos that live in the victorian mansion where they are mind-controlled by an evil meteor that fell nearby.

The interactions with the weirdos inside the mansion are quite very succinct but they let you form yourself an idea of their personalities. Of these family the most anti-social is, in my opinion, Dr. Fred Edison, who is a recluse in his lab for the last several years. Edna doesn’t lag much behind, either. But With Edward the story’s different. One can come to terms with him and thus advance the plot.

I wanted this game to be my first review since this game has proven to be a landmark in my personal experience of home computer entertainment. The famous Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion interface blew my mind from the start, because the first time I saw a PC in my life, in ‘91, while waiting for a friend in his house, his brother was playing Indy and the Last Crusade and showed it to me. I had this game in my pc-xt without hard disk drive when I was a teen; soon after Indy’s incident. I played this game’s C64 version (the original) with a friend in his house as well.

Personally, my early forays into the mansion were quite a few because I haven’t mastered English yet (it isn’t my mother tongue) and I didn’t want to spoil the fun of playing to it knowing what I was doing instead of playing it with my meager English knowledge at 13-17 years of age; this would imply dialectical brute force and it was something to do way to gross for me. It wasn’t that I didn’t have the humility of picking up a spanish-english dictionary and letting Maniac Mansion teach me english, either. It was simply that I gave it and myself time to develop my knowledge of English.

This was when I had it and played it, in 1991. Then in ‘94 the friend of the Commodore a day showed me the enhanced PC version and I instantly felt thrilled by the difference, I realized that even when I picked Maniac Mansion up, for the second time, to play it, it was already very late and I wouldn’t gain anything in playing to the original, if I could do it with a better realease.

After a decade of seeing the enhanced PC version, in 2004 I started playing to the deluxe remake again and finished it. I trusted this remake as the most polished version of Maniac Mansion and it didn’t disappoint me.

I played this game from beginning to end seventeen years after it was released and fourteen after I knew it, because of the desire of playing to it in English, but the script of the game quite dissapointed me. It sounds very, very much like a movie. The dialogues are very concise and short, this dissapointed me, but of course adds quite a factor of coolness to this great classic, but I really expected more content; I thought classic Maniac Mansion’s narrative would be longer and more in-depth, Like more attempting to make an immersive experience instead of evoking a movie’s dialogue.

On the personal side again. I couldn’t take myself seriously as a gamer and former punk if I haven’t played to Maniac Mansion from beginning to end. So I embarked in this undertaking in the Spring of 2004 and finished it in the Summer of 2009. It may be that I am so much infatuated with ‘80ies nostalgia and Maniac Mansion looks and feels very much ‘80ies…

I did not know that you could finish the game with different combinations of characters. Of knowing it I would have played it with a different entourage for Dave. I would have liked to have played to it with Razor and Syd, to be in touch with my punk/gothic roots. But I had a word of mouth version that the only way of finishing it was with Bernard and Michael.

It took me fifteen hours and a half to finish it. I don’t remember how I played the puzzles but I have read that the Lucasfans remake has some puzzles made harder. This is other attractive feature of Maniac Mansion Deluxe.

WARNING SPOILERS BELOW

If one waited so many years to play it, then why not making it as hard as possible? If the reader is going to play it and doesn’t want to have the narrative’s spoiled, should stop reading this review.

The bottom line is that it is very obvious that the 8 bit machines’ lack of capacity made itself very felt in the game, specially in its dialogues. That’s why, to me, Maniac Mansion’s seems to me as thought as a movie’s script dialogue. And what surprise when I found, eighteen years after knowing it and 22 after the game was released, that the game even spawned a sitcomm in 1990. I don’t know how it is but I haven’t seen anything of it, not even a trailer.

Feeling outsider for being such an incomplete Maniac Mansion fan, I felt silly and sillier when I finished the game just to being told what to how to behave.

This for me, while you… are you a tuna head yet?

By Steve Purcell (written & illustrated)

Since the release of the first game on the PC, I’ve always wanted more Sam & Max. I didn’t even know that there was a comic book or a cartoon TV series. Eventually, I found out about all this stuff, and the collected edition of the comics that was released around 1995. I really wanted to get my hands on this sucker but the book was just too hard to find, not to mention ridiculously expensive. Then came Telltale with “Sam & Max Season One” – an episodic series of adventure games. After the successful and acclaimed return, they compiled and re-released the previously sold out TPB, adding a few more new pages and some extra color.

The book is about a cop dog and a rabbit who fight crime in an unorthodox way. The humor is hit and miss; if you played the game and didn’t like it, don’t even bother with the comic – it’s not on par with it. I’m not saying that it’s bad – it’s still wacky, sarcastic and funny, but it’s just not on the same level as the game. Also included are some cartoons that where made to promote LucasArts games: Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Full Throttle. The pinup gallery is a great extra, too.

I know there is more material to add to this book (especially new stuff), but for some reason it wasn’t added. I’d love to have some kind of bimonthly Sam & Max comic, but who knows if that’ll ever happen. Like Sam says: You crack me up, little buddy. (Grade: B)

-Daniel Yanez

Earlier today, I stopped in on our friends the Warbears to see how their holidays were, and was surprised to find that our favorite fighting bears had taken on a mission of sorts while we were all drinking our eggnog. That's right, there's a new short Warbears adventure available at the series' official site – Adventure: An A.R. X-Mas lets us join up with Warbears as they do a little Christmas shopping. 

If you like graphic adventure/puzzle solving games, this free web-based series is certainly something to check out. Enjoy!

• Warbears – Official website
• Adventure: An A.R. X-Mas – Warbears

It's been awhile since I've had anything new to report about our crime fighting friends the Warbears, but thankfully series creator Gionatan "Ioji" Iasio has been busy working on their latest adventure – and now it's ready for the world to play. Warbears: Mission 03 – An Oceanic Problem sees the ursine quartet responding to a distress signal coming from an offshore platform with a sinister secret…

"An S.O.S. signal from the Gas Platform in the Great Ocean! A new enemy surfaced with an evil plan. Will the Warbears be able to stop them?" – Warbears.com

As always. this Warbears adventure is a free, web based game, so if you like puzzle intensive graphic adventure games, you have absolutely no excuse not to check it out! 

• Warbears – Official website 

If you’re a regular reader of this site, then by now you know that I hold a special place in my heart for point-and-click graphic adventure games. Simply put, when done right they allow a level of story telling, humor and puzzle solving that other game types can’t even come close to matching. It’s because of that love that I’m bringing you this early trailer for Autumn Moon Entertainment’s upcoming game A Vampire Story.

In this one, you take the role of reluctant vampire Mona De Lafitte, an aspiring opera star who was kidnapped – and made a vampire – by her obsessed vampiric fan Baron Shrowdy von Kiefer. Mona, along with her companion Froderick the bat, will have to try to escape the Baron’s clutches, come to grips with her unlife and try to fulfill her dreams of becoming a star. I think you’ll agree there’s just tons of potential for hilarity here.

It’s being developed by another group of ex-LucasArts employees and seems to be on target to hit that perfect mix I just mentioned. Once you get past the cheezy voice-over for the below trailer, I think you’ll agree. Check it out.

A Vampyre Story is currently slated for an early 2008 release on Windows PCs.

• Autumn Moon Entertainment – Company website
• A Vampyre Story – Official wesbite
• A Vampyre Story TGS ‘07 Trailer – GameTrailers.com

Just a quick note here to let everyone know that Telltale Games has announced that Sam & Max will be returning for a second season this fall. While I’m absolutely thrilled by this news, I do hope that Telltale takes the criticisms of Season One to heart and makes the game a bit more involved this time around. Check out a screenshot from the new season below.

Let the cheering commence.

• Telltale Games – Company website
• Sam & Max Season Two News! – Telltale Games
• Sam & Max Season One – Telltale Games
• Sam & Max – Wikipedia entry

Just a quick note here to let everyone know that Telltale Games has announced that Sam & Max will be returning for a second season this fall. While I’m absolutely thrilled by this news, I do hope that Telltale takes the criticisms of Season One to heart and makes the game a bit more involved this time around. Check out a screenshot from the new season below.

Let the cheering commence.

• Telltale Games – Company website
• Sam & Max Season Two News! – Telltale Games
• Sam & Max Season One – Telltale Games
• Sam & Max – Wikipedia entry

Telltale Games dropped us a note to let us know that the website for their upcoming episodic Sam & Max adventure game is now live. According to the site, episode 1 of the series will be released sometime in 2006 and will be available via direct download from Telltale and on the Gametap service. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll do Sam & Max justice. Check out the official site here.

The next chapter in Telltale Games Bone series, Bone: The Great Cow Race, is now available. For those not familiar with Telltale Games, it was founded by many of the programmers from LucasArts who left following the cancellation of Freelance Police and LA’s move away from graphic adventures. A demo is available so you can try it before you commit to buying it. While you’re there, why not check out the Sam & Max cartoons Steve Purcell is putting up on their site while the Sam & Max game https://www.telltalegames.com/sam_and_max is in development? Click here to head on over to Telltale’s website.

You know, I REALLY want to like this series and the work Telltale is doing, but the demo for Act 2: The Great Cow Race, left me pretty flat. It seemed overly simplistic, a bit low budget, the voice acting was horrid and it just didn’t seem to have the sense of humor the old LucasArts graphic adventure games had. Like I said, I really want to like the work Telltale is doing, because they’re the ones working on the new Sam & Max game, but having played some of Bone, I’m losing a bit of faith.

So, if you’ve played either of the full versions of the Bone episodes (or the demos for that matter), what were your impressions of them?

Another not-so-new link, but Warbears is a little web based graphic adventure game that you shouldn’t miss. Help the Warbears team end a hostage situation in a bank and bring the baddies to justice. Head on over to Newgrounds to try this game by Gionatan Iasio.