Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts
Rrp: £ NA
Released: 30th April 1995
Available on NA
Played using: Mouse and Keyboard
I want to preface this review by mentioning that I have downloaded this title from an Abandonware site as it’s the only way I can get it to work. I do still own a physical official CD copy of the game, basically what I’m trying to say is that what I have done is NOT illegal, at least in my country.
Now that that’s out of the way lets get on with it.
Full Throttle is a point and click adventure game created LucasArts and is considered a classic by many. It’s set in what looks like a dystopian future, although it’s hard to tell given that it also seems to be set in a desert area. You play as Ben, the leader of the biker gang ‘The Polecats’ and, after a rather lengthy cutscene, find that the gang has been duped into an ambush by the nefarious Adrian Ripburger (voiced by Mark Hamil).
Like most games in this genre, movement is handled by clicking the left mouse button on the location you desire the character to go. When the crosshair shaped cursor hovers over an item that can be interacted with it gains a red box. Holding the left mouse button down over it will bring up a radial menu where you can choose to how to interact with it. This usually falls under three categories picking up, kicking, talking and looking although these are context sensitive, so choosing the tongue icon on a inanimate object is treated as ‘licking’. Accessing the inventory is done through a right mouse click, but it’s actually used surprisingly little.
The puzzles can occasionally present themselves in different ways. For example there is a section that you have to win a series of motorcycle fights to progress. Now you’d think its a matter of hammering the ‘hit’ button (which is the left mouse button) until you win, but that’s simply not the case. It’s more like a game of rock, paper, scissors though it’s more in-depth.
If Full Throttle has a flaw (besides its age) it’s that in some ways it tried a little too hard to be different from other games within its genre. There are several moments in the game where the control scheme and visual style suddenly change entirely and it leaves the player feeling a little lost. Even someone like myself, who has played and completed this game many times before, can get thrown by it. These sections of the game tend to be short lived and are considered by many to be classic moments.
I won’t lie, the game is incredibly short if you know what your doing… But then so is The Dig or most other point and click games for that matter.
If you happen to have this game kicking about and can somehow run it, I urge you to play it again, if you don’t have it… I dunno’ maybe start a petition to get LucasArts to rerelease it on Gog.com or something.
Oh yes, as a final parting word… The soundtrack is awesome and was performed by a band called The Gone Jackals.
