Maniac Mansion

The Good
Lucasfilm successfully brought the creativity & imagination from their movies & TV shows to gaming. Their game design was refreshing; no instant deaths just for looking around or experimenting, the game relies on storytelling, characters & plot to keep things moving. This is something other adventure game companies (cough Sierra cough) could have learned from. You play an American teenager whose girlfriend has been kidnapped by Dr. Fred. To save her, you & 2 friends must explore the titular Maniac Mansion. The puzzles & endings will be different depending on which 2 from the 6 possible friends you pick to accompany you. The graphics were top notch for the time & even hold up today, especially the enhanced or deluxe version. The music is great. This was the first game to use Lucasfilm's SCUMM system, a pioneer in the adventure game genre.

The Bad
Many of the command prompts were redundant, they could have all been combined into a single USE command. In fact, later versions did just that. While this is not the fault of Lucasfilm, the NES version was censored unnecessarily, which sadly ruined much of the fun for many console users. There can be extreme violence towards hamsters.

The Bottom Line
A great game with good replayabilty, Maniac Mansion is still a good time. Don't be a tuna head, just go play it.