Full Throttle

The Good
In the genre of point n' click, graphic adventure games, LucasArts has demonstrated its cool, creative and mastery time and time again. In 'Full Throttle', these masters of adventure gaming weave a sci-fi biker tale that is amazingly touching, without losing any of the mystery, suspense, humor, in-jokes and social satire that have become trademarks of other LucasArts adventure games.

The Bad
My complaints are few and, largely, minor. However, each one is worth noting.

The game is a bit too short for die hard LucasArts adventure fans with the prospect of sequels seeming more and more unlikely in an era where adventure gaming has become something of a lost art within the industry.

The arcade battle sequences with the various bikers is a bit of a challenge, for what is mostly a thinking and exploring adventure game. As a kindness, you have unlimited lives and the ability to save your progress. However, their are a couple times during these arcade sequences where my level of frustration rose more then I would have liked.

Last, but not least, their were a few problems with the storyline that are never fully explained. For example, a photo may imply that Mo's Uncle was a transvestite, not that their is anything wrong with that. But, its never developed any further beyond a vague hint. Another example would be the central storyline that Malcolm Corley would have shunned his daugher because she was bed out of wedlock. Are we to really believe that in the future, their would be a significant prejudice against illegitimate children, within the biker community? I doubt it.

Most of these story problems could have been fixed with a longer game or, better yet, a proper sequel.

The Bottom Line
'Full Throttle' was released in 1995, when point and click CD-ROM graphic adventure games were still considered popular enough to warrent the high degree of creative development, talent and wit seen in this game.

The 1980s - late 1990s was a great era for these types of games, with LucasArts leading the way. Sadly, Full Throttel was not given a proper sequel or the chance to develop into a franchise as the overall trend has been away from making these type of adventure games.