It's another day closer to Christmas, which means another day on the ADVENTure Game Calendar, a series of blogs where I look at some of the adventure games I have enjoyed during my time with video games. Today our adventure game selection is going to take us back to 1995 when LucasArts still existed and Star Wars Episode One was still just a rumor. Today we look at the dystopian future presented in the game:
While LucasArts made some amazing adventure games, including the Monkey Island series, Full Throttle stands as one of my all time favorites from the publisher, it is also one of the earlier creations of Tim Schafer who would go on to create Psychonauts and Brutal Legend. The game also featured Mark Hamill in one of his earliest voice acting roles as the prime antagonist: Adrian Ripburger.
Adrian Ripburger Voiced by Mark Hamill
Full throttle tells the story of tough guy and biker gang leader named Ben (yes, just Ben, though in a later interview with Tim Shafer it was revealed that Ben's last name is...Throttle) in a future ruled by hovercars and motorcycles are going the way of the dinosaur. Through a series of events, Ben finds himself in a predicament where he needs to save his biker gang from wrongful imprisonment after being framed for the murder of the CEO of the only remaining motorcycle manufacturer and prevent the company from switching from motorcycles to the ever-dreaded minivan.
Gameplay was fairly straightforward, like most point and click adventures. However, Full Throttle also threw in some action elements, requiring the player to fight rival gang members using their fists to knock the enemy off their bike and a demolition derby that played like a bumper car mini-game (a mini-game that took me a few days of playing to figure out how to beat). All of this aside, Full Throttle was one of the earlier adventure games to present the first inklings of choice into the mix. These weren't Earth shattering decisions, but simple ways to change how a question was asked or answered. It changed my expectations for games in the future, I would expect more than just canned and repetitious pixel movement, I would come to expect something far more realistic or natural from the games I played.
As a nerd in general, I was enamored as a kid with the subtle references to Star Wars thrown throughout the game and the generally humorous tone the game would take, especially given how taken I was with Star Wars at the time. But the design of the game wasn't just centered in the cultural charms of motorcycles, bikers gangs, Star Wars, and heavy metal music, the design incorporated a newer and more cinematic approach versus earlier adventure games and carried a comic book or animation feel rather than moving pixels similar to the current Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead visuals.
In 2000, LucasArts sought to bring Ben and his crew back to the forefront and began development on Full Throttle: Payback. Unfortunately, the crew LucasArts assembled for the build did none of the work on the original title with some of them never having even played the original. Creative differences between the project's lead, Bill Tiller, and an unnamed influential manager lead to the death of the budding new project almost halfway into its completion.
Early Visuals of a Full Throttle Sequel
Even with the setback, fans of the original title held out hope that the story of Ben Throttle was not yet over and their hopes were answered at E3 in 2002 with an announcement from LucasArts that a new Full Throttle was on its way. Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels was displayed in both trailer and playable demo at E3 in 2003, but for fans of the series it felt wrong. The new title placed emphasis on action and fighting rather than puzzle solving adventure. In the end, LucasArts trashed this concept altogether and the sequel fans had hope for simply wasn't to be.
Like many adventure games from the era, Full Throttle amassed a following that still lives on today. Some, like myself, just have fleeting but fond memories of the title while the cult following still hungers for a true follow-up. Sadly, with Disney controlling what was LucasArts, any thoughts of a re-boot or sequel are probably locked away in the deepest and darkest dark hole that is Disney's "vault" right next to the original stills of Song of the South.
"I may steal and I may lie and I may rough some people up from time to time but it's all for a good cause: self-preservation." - Ben Throttle