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- ~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
-
-