~Full Throttle Preview

By Martin Keen


Its got babes, bikes and Ben. Its the first LucasArts CD-ROM only 
adventure game. Its got a star voice-over cast. And... Its Delayed.

PC Games just wouldn't be quite the same without lenghty setbacks.
One day Project Managers might realise they should give a game's 
release date three months after they think they are going to release 
their product but for now we'll just have to wait (and wait) for one 
of the most exciting games of the year to be released. But I think 
it's going to be worth it. And here's why...

Its been a year since Sam & Max hit the screens, in which time the 
rest of the computer game industry has been trying to catch up on 
LucasArts. Kings Quest VII, Kyrandia 3, Under A Killing Moon, and 
Flight Of The Amazon Queen have all had a good bash. But the big L 
looks set to demoralise their opponents again with another huge leap 
forward. After all you'd expect no less from Tim Schafer, the guy 
responsible for Day Of The Tentacle:

"We thought it would be good to do something where you hit the road 
and blew things up" commented Tim. "We couldn't do a game about a 
biker and have him go to libraries to research stuff. He had to get 
on a bike and he had to punch people".

So its not another cutesy adventure then. Dark, mean and moody are 
the buzz-words here. Aside from the atmosphere though, this 
forthcoming title has several other new inclusions to previous 
efforts. For a start the game is far more cinematic than was 
previously possible on floppy based games. There are plenty of cut 
scenes with plenty of action. Also digitised heavy metal music 
features at certain points.

But one other change is the addition of arcade sections. For some 
this is a worst possible senario. The need for quick reactions will 
have them quaking in their anoraks, but for the rest of us it should 
add a bit of light relief to the game. They occur when Ben (the star 
of the show) hops on his bike and goes for a ride. Other bikers catch
up with him and try to knock you under their wheels. In response Ben 
gets to retaliate through his fists, or by any other objects he 
might be carrying. These others object include crow bars, and spike 
invested balls-on-a-chain which add a gruesome (but very 
entertaining) slant to the game.

Another worry for the traditionalists is the style of puzzles. In 
most games locked doors would lead to a half hour search around the 
rest of the locations looking for a key. Not so here. Instead, just 
select the 'boot' icon and Ben will kick the door down!

The lead role has been voiced by Mark Hamill. The actor who played 
Luke Skywalker may not be able to get a Hollywood role to save his 
life but he's making a pretty good go of it in the computer world. 
He's already played the voice behind Mosley in Gabriel Knight and 
stole the show as Chris Blair in the spectacular multi-million dollar
production Wing Commander III. He seems to have got the voice of Ben 
spot on too. Come on you casting directors - this guy deserves a 
break in a real film.

So it should all be worth it when the game is finally released in 
April (although I doubt very much we'll see the game in the shops 
before May). The demos are already finding their way onto magazine 
CD's which really are well worth a look. And then when the game's 
been completed and the solution has found its way into Cheet Sheets 
we can all look forward to the next LucasArts graphic adventure - The
Dig. Now that really is what you'd call delayed!


Contact me by email at: t_030f3_mk@southampton-institute.ac.uk