LucasArts adventure games

Before concentrating almost exclusively on Star Wars titles, LucasArts was known for their point-and-click adventure games, nearly all of which received high scoring reviews at the time of their release. Their style tended towards the humorous (often irreverent or slapstick humour), with a few exceptions. Their game design philosophy was that the player should never die or reach a complete dead-end, although there have been exceptions to the former (such as Maniac Mansion, both Indiana Jones games and one in The Secret of Monkey Island that can be considered an easter egg).

Common features between the games include in-joke references to both other LucasArts games and Lucasfilm productions, including the number 1138, quotes such as the phrase "", as well as other running gags (Chuck the Plant and Sam & Max cameo appearances among them) that spanned numerous games. Another feature, used in several of the games, was to allow the player to control more than one character, often being able to switch between them at will. For example, in "Maniac Mansion" the player has control of a group of three kids with complementary skills and weaknesses, while in "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis" the player gets to play as both Indiana Jones and his partner, Sophia Hapgood.

For more detailed information about the company's history, see the main LucasArts article.

Adventure games by LucasArts

This is a complete list of LucasArts adventure games, from 1986 to 2000.
* "Labyrinth" (1986)
* "Maniac Mansion" * (1987)
* "Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders" * (1988)
* "" * (1989)
* "Loom" * ** (1990)
* "The Secret of Monkey Island" * (1990)
* "" (1991)
* "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis" (1992)
* "" (1993)
* "Sam & Max Hit the Road" (1993)
* "Full Throttle" (1995)
* "The Dig" (1995)
* "The Curse of Monkey Island" (1997)
* "Grim Fandango" (1998)
* "Escape from Monkey Island" (2000):* These games were later re-released with enhanced graphics.:** "LOOM" was also re-released on CD, once with a full digital score and a second time with voice-overs (but very little music).

The SCUMM programming tools were used to design all the games from "Maniac Mansion" to "The Curse of Monkey Island", while the GrimE engine took over from "Grim Fandango" onwards. For those people who own the original MS-DOS versions of the SCUMM games and have found that these no longer work on modern computers, it is possible, using the original data files, to play the games on modern platforms using the ScummVM interpreter.

In 2002, The Dig, Day of The Tentacle, Full Throttle and Sam & Max were re-released as windows-playable versions in 640x480 resolution only.

The end of an era

While most adventure games by LucasArts were lauded by critics and fans alike, often winning awards in the process and developing a cult following, over the years, the sales for these games started diminishing, most notably for Grim Fandango. This would prove fateful for the future of eventual sequels, which were planned or in production at the time.

It is believed that after the cancellation of "Sam & Max 2" and "Full Throttle 2", the adventure game era of LucasArts had officially ended, as there is no intention of returning to the genre until the next decade. [ [http://www.g4tv.com/pile_player.aspx?video_key=11326 G4 - Attack of the Show - LucasArts at E3 ] ] This would also coincide with a large layoff at the company, although representatives would insist on it being a "major restructuring". [ [http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/08/13/news_6104775.html LucasArts undergoing "major restructuring" - PlayStation 2 News at GameSpot ] ] Many people who had worked on former LucasArts adventure games have successfully continued on to other projects or have in some cases started their own companies: Tim Schafer became the mind behind Psychonauts when he and several other LucasArts employees left in 2000 to form Double Fine Productions, while a number of LucasArts employees formed Telltale Games after the 2004 cancellation of and with Steve Purcell went on to create Sam & Max Season One along with several other episodic adventures games. Another group of LucasArts alumni led by Bill Tiller founded the adventure studio Autumn Moon Entertainment to work on A Vampyre Story, and LucasArts veterans Mike Levine and Larry Ahern created the label Crackpot Entertainment, which has thus far developed Insecticide, a story-driven action/adventure game that is reminiscent in spirit of the classic LucasArts adventure games.

To this day, there are video game critics who view the company's decision of dropping the adventure games in favor of Star Wars and Indiana Jones titles as a decision of quantity over quality. [ [http://www.little-gamers.com/index.php?comicID=799 A reaction to the Sam & Max cancellation] by Little Gamers] [ [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/1368-Zero-Punctuation-Psychonauts Psychonauts review] by Zero Punctuation] [ [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=90 VG Cats - Comics - Updated Monday ] ]

See also

* List of graphic adventure games

References

External links

* [http://www.lucasarts.com LucasArts Company Website]
* [http://lucasarts.vintagegaming.org LucasArts Museum]
* [http://www.mixnmojo.com/ The International House of Mojo - fan site]
* [http://www.scummvm.org/ ScummVM]