DOS

Maniac Mansion

Étant un passioné de jeux d'aventure, je ne peux qu'aimer les logiciels de Lucasfilm. Chacun d'entre eux recèle, tout ce qu'un soft de ce genre doit réunir, et encore une fois, Maniac Mansion n'échappe pas à la règle. Comme d'habitude le scénario est sensationnel, le principe du jeu très pratique, et les graphismes ont encore été améliorés.

Die deutschen Versionen von Lucasfilms köstlichem Grusel-Jux-Adventure sind jetzt für alle 16-Bit-Computer erhältlich. Auf Amiga, ST und PC sind Grafik und Spielwitz gleich gut.

Dieses Spiel ist einfach klasse - jeder der Adventures liebt, sollte es einmal gespielt haben.

In its early days of glory, Lucasfilm Games publishes about 1-2 adventure or quest games per year. The company is well known for the superb graphics and gameplay in its games. Among these titles is Maniac Mansion—a classic adventure game from the days when the PC XT rules the world. The game has even inspired a television series by the same name.

Maniac does have faults, though. You cannot control all three kids at once, they tend to wander all over the place and the lack of sound effects reduces atmosphere. However, Maniac is still an enjoyable romp.

Klares Fazit: Wer sich dieses Gag-Feuerwerk bisher hat entgehen lassen, sollte das Versäumte schleunigst nachholen!
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All in all, Maniac Mansion was a fine way to help kickstart the point-and-click era back in the day. If you play adventure games more for the exploration than for complex story and characters, MM should definitely appeal to you, even today, though it hasn't stood the test of time as well as some games. Compared to later SCUMM adventures, it's been surpassed in almost every area — graphics, story, characterisation, even interface — but hey, trailblazers can't be expected to be perfect. Despite these weaknesses, it's still quite solid and enjoyable, and well worth playing, if largely for the historical relevance.

Si bien Maniac Mansion es una aventura imprescindible, no ya por la calidad que tenga sino por la grandísima importancia histórica que tiene, también es una aventura sobrevalorada. Tanto el jugador como el crítico ven contaminada su objetividad por una nostalgia malsana. Como dice el refrán, el amor es ciego, sin embargo, aún suponiendo una enorme revolución tanto a nivel técnico como a nivel de diseño, esta aventura, la primera totalmente en point&click y la primera que muchos han jugado, tiene defectos, puede que propios de un diseñador y una compañía primerizos, pero defectos al fin y al cabo, que se tapan sistemáticamente, ensalzándose las virtudes con exageración enfermiza.

To conclude then, I'd recommend Maniac Mansion for anyone who's a fan of point and clickers, particularly for anyone who enjoyed DOTT. Even if, like me, you come to find that the games following MM were more enjoyable (in playability terms), it's worth checking out how it all got started. Besides, it's brilliant story, with genuinely funny moments - and that's hands down what makes a good point and click game. If you do fancy giving it a go, though (and at the risk of angering the purists), then I strongly recommend (for your own sanity) getting hold of the VGA remake - if only for the multiple save game feature.

If you’re looking for a p’n’c to tide you over, Maniac Mansion isn’t the one to go for. Even with its "different" routes through the game depending on the team you pick, it’s just not that fun to play through, whether you have Razor, Bernard, or Syd bring up the rear. I’d only recommend this to the person who absolutely has to play through every LucasArts games, or, if possible, if you could play it before you’ve played the later and better games. Otherwise, coming to this after the likes of the Monkey Island series (yes—even 4), Grim Fandango, and Loom is going to leave you feeling manic yourself.