Maniac Mansion

aka: MM
Moby ID: 714

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Critic Reviews add missing review

Average score: 79% (based on 18 ratings)

Player Reviews

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 133 ratings with 12 reviews)

The adventure game that makes no sense

The Good
In 1987, Lucasfilm released their first adventure called Maniac Mansion. It was also the debut of their SCUMM engine, which was superior to Sierra's AGI engine. As well as making it easier for designers, players could also select commands and objects on the screen, rather than entering them on the keyboard.

The story revolves around a meteor that has crash-landed near a mansion. Doctor Fred, the owner of the mansion, decides to bring it in from the cold and store it inside his “seckrit lab”. Since then, Fred does some strange things. First, he goes out and kidnaps a young girl, and hooks her up to his machine capable of turning innocent people into zombies. Then, he occupies himself with too much work, meaning that he doesn't leave his lab for years, even refusing to eat dinner with his own family. His bizarre behavior is affecting the entire family.

The news of the kidnapping reaches the girl's boyfriend, who comes to the rescue. Joining him are two of his friends. I like how you can play as different characters. You first start controlling Dave, who is the character that you play most of the time; but anytime during the game you are free to change to a different character and swap objects between the three of them. There are up to five other characters you can play, and all of them have different skills. For example, Syd and Razor both play a cool tune on the piano; and Bernard can put technology he finds to good use, such as the HAM radio).

How you treat the characters is up to you. You can rescue Sandy with all three kids intact, kill the main character and tough it out with just two kids, give the meteor a contact, or have him arrested. I actually played Maniac Mansion more than once just to watch each ending. Most of the endings are funny, especially the first one. I believe that multiple endings are hardly seen in any LucasArts game. Speaking of the characters, how they respond to you, as well as the others, is quite interesting to listen to: Edna with her sexually-suggestive comments, Weird Ed with his 'Tum de Dum' lines.

The graphics were good at the time. I like how the mansion is laid out, with at least two rooms on every floor. Apart from the second last floor, where Weird Ed and Nurse Edna live, you can just walk into any room and actually do something without getting caught. Everything, including the main characters, are quite colorful and animated nicely. I played the enhanced version, which looks much better than the original one.

Although there is little music in the game, the music is catchy. The sound effects are very basic, since everyone can only hear them through PC Speaker. The alarm that sounds when you turn the main power off sounds excellent, and what's funny about it is it sounds like a fire engine, and not a real alarm. I also enjoyed listening to the tunes that Syd and Razor uses the piano to belt out. The enhanced version sounds much better.

If you played any future LA games, then chances are that there is a fair bit of humor in Maniac Mansion. One example of such humor would be where you land yourself in the dungeon after being caught. Also, entering the wrong code for the big security door causes a nuclear meltdown. As I mentioned earlier, the endings are quite funny, especially if Doctor Fred gets involved.

The Bad
The “What is” command is useful for finding objects on the screen and using those in conjunction with the commands, but it doesn't help when you are in a dark room, where the light or lamp is already turned off. By selecting this command, you have to hunt for the light source, and this takes some time.

The Bottom Line
Maniac Mansion was not the first LA game that I played; that was Monkey Island 2. The first time I got to look at the game was from Day of the Tentacle, where you can access Ed's computer to play it. The one from DOTT uses Version 0 of the SCUMM engine, the same as the Commodore 64 version. This version had bland graphics compared to the 1989 remake of it.

Besides Zak McKracken, this is the only game that gives you the ability to control up to three characters during the game. As I mentioned before, each playable character has different skills, and because of this, Maniac Mansion can be replayed with different characters. Also, there are multiple endings, and most of these are worth watching.

If you enjoy playing LA games for their humor, then I recommend playing Maniac Mansion. you should get the 1989 version, as the graphics and sound are heaps better. I don't think that there are timer issues with it, so you should get it up and running on modern computers.

DOS · by Katakis | ă‚«ă‚żă‚­ă‚ą (43092) · 2008

This game spawned a TV series.

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.

DOS · by Grumpy Quebecker (612) · 2023

*CENSORED*!!! Maniac Mansion!!!

The Good
Few games can claim to be a revolution in every aspect of it's genre, few games that is, aside from Maniac Mansion. From interface, to plotline, to graphics, to design, etc... MM managed to become the holy grail of adventure games and it's influence can still be felt to this day.

MM's most obvious and well-known contribution to the genre was the inclusion of it's wonderful scripting engine which formed the basis for adventure game interface's for years. No longer you had to contend with a measly text parser and the world of adventure games would change forever to become much more accessible and much easier to develop content for.

Furthermore, it is extremely interesting to note how sophisticated the game is gameplay wise considering it was one of the very first adventure games ever. Maniac Mansion sports multiple characters changeable on the fly (to a total of 13 possible combinations) each with it's distinct puzzles that lead to 4 possible endings, and each with multiple solutions to most puzzles and a completely non-linear structure that allows you to (with some exceptions) try and re-try every aspect of the game without fear of dying or screwing things up (remember that most puzzles have alternate solutions, even if you just screwed up a possible key item!). You can try the "generic Bernard and anyone else" way, or see what the Jeff-Razor combo is all about, it's up to you! Tell me what other adventure game does that?? Before or after!

Now I don't know what the hell some of the people that reviewed this game here on Moby were smoking, but the graphics are just plain awesome. The sprites were the size of supernovas compared to other games and I'd like someone to point out to me which other adventure game had scrolling backgrounds before MM! Heck you even had fully animated cutscenes, and the level of detail in the graphics made it possible for you to actually read what was written on the walls or even make out details like the X-wing model in a certain room. If the characters look phony and cartoony that's maybe just maybe because that WAS THE POINT YOU CENSORED! Point which brings me to the amazingly smart plotline and concept behind MM.

Forgoing any "epic" adventuring (that somehow seems to be the only thing adventure gamers can digest) MM revolutionized adventure games in general by being itself a spoof of cheesy 80's sci-fi/horror movies. I understand how anyone can have his reservations about considering that revolutionary in any way, but that was because this was the first game (at least to my knowledge) that made full use of sarcasm and became one big spoof in itself and not just a regular game with some comedic dialogues and gags.

As I mentioned, the plot in Maniac Mansion takes it's roots in every cheesy sci-fi movie of the 80's you've ever seen, but does so knowingly and exploits every single aspect of it. Everything from the Ed Wood-like plot (mad-scientist, horrible monsters, funky uses of radiation and chemistry, evils from outer space, etc...) to the super stereotyped cartoony characters (the Punk "bad" girl, the nerdy geek, the handsome all-american protagonist, the sensitive girl next door, etc..) to the cheesy dialogues and remarks is exploited to full comedic genius. If you've ever seen movies like "Fright Night" (or better yet, the equaly genius spoof "Return of the Living Dead" [which I suspect was a major influence on Maniac Mansion]) you know what I'm talking about. MM's plot forgoes all the "formal" concepts most CENSORED close-minded people consider when they judge a good storyline and instead turns the cake around and uses it's brains (for a change) in order to spoof the living daylights out of the definitive pop-culture mainstay of the 80's. Proof positive of it's comedic genius is that as the years go by, and the "nostalgia curve" closes in (15 years or so usually, [if you don't know what I'm talking about go ask someone that knows demographics about the cycling nature of pop culture... basic marketing concepts folks]) Maniac Mansion's plot remains charged with all it's irreverent wittysism, and sarcastic edge. Just look for all it's parallels in the cheesy contemporary teeny-bopper pop-corn horror flicks (you known, the Scream clones) and you'll see that what goes around, comes around... and standing firm among it all, there's Maniac Mansion.

The Bad
Well it's just too smart you know? And smart things are dangerous! No seriously, look at the reviews in here, I don't want to turn this into a forum complete with insults and trolls and flames, but the CENSORED of some persons amaze me. The thing with sarcasm is, that it doesn't work its magic on CENSORED! Since sarcasm works indirectly it's up to the audience to use his/her brains and figure out that "A-ha!! It's not that this thing is super-cheesy, it's that it is intentionally over-the-top to spoof and make fun of said cheesy stuff!! Ha!! Now I get it!!! Ho-Ho-Ho!!!

If the audience doesn't use his/her brains instead you get: "Uh... This is cheesy!! How come this is so cheesy?? There's nothing but cheese here!! duh!! this must be stupid, I shall now turn off my computer and resume banging my head against a wall!

Is this really a lack of brainpower or simply an effect of the locked-down close minded perspective of some individuals (as Dr. Einrich Von Doomstein theorized in his seminal work: "Why adventure gamers are nothing but prissy little CENSORED") I pressume the later, since I was a frigging kid when I played this around 1989/90 and I still got it.

...Geez, that will get enough spam to last a lifetime, but what the heck right? Want to point out some really bad points of MM? The puzzles could get pretty wicked at some points (so keep a walkthrough handy if you value your sanity) and I agree with some people that the game has some "inconvenient" parts, like waiting around for a package to be delivered when playing with the writter chick, etc... but quite frankly I preffer that timing "inconvenience" to the "inconvenience" of having to type everything you do in the game.

The Bottom Line
Imitated by everyone, loved by millions, misunderstood by some few sorry dudz. That's Maniac Mansion, the Street Fighter 2 of adventure games. Truly one of the finest games ever conceived and arguably one of the best adventure games ever made. Fortunately for us the few misguided souls that didn't get this game are indeed few and misguided, and MM was a blockbuster hit in it's time and remains to this day a pinnacle of interactive entertainment.

Besides any game with characters named Syd and Razor is a winner in my book. Heck, just mentally change the names of some characters, add a "Scud" and a "Suicide" and play it with 45 Grave's "Partytime" in the background and you'll have the closest thing to a game of Return of the Living Dead only without the zombies! Don't bother to get it, tough: it comes free of charge with Day of the Tentacle, which makes 2 killer games for the price of 1.

DOS · by Zovni (10504) · 2003

Classic, fun, what more do you want?

The Good
This game has humour. Sure, it's bad, but that's what makes it so good. It's like a B movie, except you control it. The puzzles won't make your brain explode, and most people who don't like it haven't given it enough time, most haven't even completed it. The story is off the wall, think about it, a purple slimey meteor hypnotizing a family (all of them have the name "Ed" in their first names somewhere, cute), and having the "insane" Dr. Fred suck the brains out of teenagers one at a time. All the characters are different, save razor and syd, but you can do 100s of things in this game. The main plot of this game has countless sub plots, and depending on the characters you choose, the game will end differently EVERY TIME!

The Bad
The crappy reviews it got. This game is OLD! You can't compare a game like maniac mansion to quake! Boo to all you who voted low for this game (except Mat, he's ok). This game was made in 1988!!! Boo hoo, poor graphics. I'll tell you what, think back to 1988 (well, most of you quake players were in kindergarten). 16 colours was a big thing. Maybe it wasn't lifelike, but in 12 years, quake will seem pretty fake too.

The Bottom Line
This game is a must play for all people with an IQ above 09. It exercises your mind, and the puzzles actually use real life items, unlike half-life, which in my opinion had some of the worst puzzles I've ever had the misfortune of stumbling upon.

You are a band of teenagers, Dave, and two other friends, there is a choice of 7. Dave's Girlfriend Sandy has been kidnapped by Dr. Fred, who is going to suck her brains out. To get through this game, you have to solve puzzles galore, and puzzles is a good word because like a puzzle, all the pieces fit together in the end and you go "OH! I GET IT!" I'll just say that every move you make will affect you in the end.

If you like sci-fi/b side movies, and can keep an open mind, don't mind 1988 graphics, I would strongly suggest getting it.

DOS · by C W (5) · 2000

Think of all the games you love, then thank THIS game for them.

The Good
This, along with King's Quest, pretty much started the whole genre, so you have to give it the proper respect in that regard. Also, the different characters (with their different abilities/solutions) made for quite a bit of replay value, which is something that modern games sadly do not have. And the challenge...I don't think many people will ever say this game was "too easy."

The Bad
That pesky old challenge. There are sometimes multiple solutions to a puzzle, but only one "right" solution. Use another, and you are screwed. Save constantly!

The Bottom Line
The grandfather to all things LucasArts, and most other games as well. Has a greater challenge and more replay value than all the games released in the year 2000 combined.

DOS · by Toka (13) · 2001

Groundwork for some of the best adventure games of the '80s/'90s.

The Good
The historical value of this game is huge: It was the very first of LucasArts' games to feature the SCUMM (Script Creation Utility For Maniac Mansion) engine, a groundbreaking platform that featured many classic adventure games over the course of the '80s and '90s (such as the Monkey Island series, Day Of The Tentacle and Sam & Max).

It's certainly interesting to play through this game in light of having played through the 'classic' SCUMM games: You can then see how the genre has evolved over time.

The Bad
Some puzzles are quite a bit harder than those found in other LucasArts games; can be dull/frustrating if you get stuck. The interface isn't as intuitive as is found in later SCUMM games, so it can be confusing at times.

I expect that if you played this in 1987 you would really enjoy it and find the graphics and sound to be excellent. Nowadays, it just doesn't stand up to the later SCUMM games in terms of storyline, humor, graphics and just about everything else. I found it interesting to play, but not that much fun really.

The Bottom Line
If you're a fan of SCUMM games, then you need to play this game (make sure to play the enhanced version). If not, stick to the later SCUMM games to fully experience and appreciate the genius of LucasArts.

DOS · by tFX (7) · 2003

Great game...looking at some of these other reviews makes me very upset.

The Good
What can I say? This game is what we should thank for the majority of all of the games today. Whether you originally played this on your Amiga, PC, or Nintendo, it sticks with you. I think some of you like Day of the Tentacle more (Oh, and don't get me wrong, either. I LOVED Day of the Tentacle) only because it has BETTER graphics! The game is funny, has a wacky and interesting storyline, and is funny. I don't know how it can be so criticized so much, it STARTED the SCUMM engine!

The Bad
If I have to be skeptical, I'd have to say....

NOTHING

The Bottom Line
The game is simply fun, and that's the whole point of a video game, right? I never thought that games were made to be frustrating..just fun. It's probably different from anything that most gamers have played, because sadly, there aren't has many old Lucasfilm graphic advneture fans as there should be.

Highly recommended.

DOS · by Jason Harang (38) · 2001

Wacked out Adventure, Insane Comedy, and a ton of really odd puzzles make this one game I will always be able to go back to.

The Good
The story is what drew me into the game, as well as the promise of 5 unique endings. While nothing to speak of by todays standards, the graphics for this title blew me away when I first booted it up. The design is ingenious, masterful I would almost go as far as to say it was perfect. I played this game for a week straight earning each and every ending and solving every puzzle in the game.

The Bad
The only thing that had me miffed was hearing the rumor about the Hamster being able to be put in the microwave and wasting 5 hours trying to find a way to do it.

The Bottom Line
A masterpeice in graphic adventure, this game should be played by all fans of the genre... I would rate this game above all the Sierra titles I've played.

DOS · by ROFLBLAH (338) · 2000

Ahhh, those were the days...

The Good
Aside from the unusual combination of characters that was akin to the classic bad B-film (from the musicians to the journalist to the techie to the surfer dude who did, well... no, I'm not going to spoil it :), it was also the first game that introduced me to the Lucasarts world and hooked me in straight.
The graphics, where everyone had big heads, and the people talked like it was out of a B-film (smileys all around). I enjoyed the clear-cut humor it gave me (not to mention the strange opening music and the many times I got to watch the mansion blow up in a five mile radius) and the odd combinations of things you could do. Even the fact that some of the ways you could die were incredible (toxic steam! AUUUUGH!) If you like a game that is based on movies that you have to stay up till five in the morning to watch, then by all means you'll enjoy this game at least for watching.

The Bad
Okay, I understand that back then mice were one of those rare devices, but mouse support would have been soooooo sweet, especially when avoiding all of those crazy Edison kinfolk. Aside from that, it had a high difficulty gradient; maybe it would be best if you watched this game rather than played it if you aren't accustomed to these sort of games.

One comment - DYING?? In a LUCASARTS game?????

The Bottom Line
Rough, but rewarding in the end. Always go for Bernard, baby!.

DOS · by Don Lee (8) · 2000

New kind of game and one of the best point and click adventures

The Good
The teenage humour and the friendliness of the game. You can die, but not easily. The real challenge is the quirky problem solving. For this game, the point and click, verb choice system is at least as good as the popular text parser system. The original version's graphics seem quite simplistic, even for the time, but it's interesting having an adventure game where the average person is quite large/tall i.e Sierra's adventures had long had quite a small average person size. I thought that while the problems' solutions were far from obvious and obviously quite silly, it's fun solving them and you can laugh with the game. The game has multiple successful endings giving it replayability, but I think the game is fun to replay even when aiming for the same ending.

The Bad
I think there could have been a few more pointers to guide you through the game, there's one particular part that had me completely stuck and I was a little annoyed when I found out the solution and what we the gamers were expected to figure out on our own. The problem could be quite easily fixed though.

The Bottom Line
So it's a fairly early point and click game, coming after ICOM's MacVenture series and after some of the Japanese point and click or menu choice adventure games (e.g Enix), but I think it's up there with others by LucasArts e.g LOOM and the Monkey Island games.

DOS · by Andrew Fisher (697) · 2018

A classic game, whose sequel I find a lot more appealing.

The Good
Maniac Mansion is a classic in all respects. I may not really like it, but I feel compelled to appreciate the amount of work which went into making a game to compete with adventure mammoth Sierra On-Line.

The graphics are decent, if nothing more. The story is interesting and well-implemented, the control system is intuitive and the scripting system is something of a legend - SCUMM has become the veritable core of all future LucasArts adventure games.

The Bad
It's boring! I don't know what it is that makes me twitch every time I play this game, but I never played it for more than 20 minutes, not to mention complete it. I don't know why, really don't, but this game bores the hell out of me. The graphics are minimalistic and the music/sound effects (or more precisely, lack thereof) don't add to the general atmosphere of the game. Also, from what I hear the game is extremely difficult - a couple of friends of mine told me it took them several weeks to complete it.

Either way, I prefer the amazing sequel The Day of the Tentacle every day of the week.

The Bottom Line
A classic game I don't really like, but can appreciate. Go play its sequel - you'll love it.

DOS · by Tomer Gabel (4539) · 2000

A Fantastic Game for Those who GET IT!

The Good
What did I like about the game? Everything! In fact, it hurt a lot to read the comments of others (especially considering the poor use of grammar and spelling). So many people missed the point of the game: it's supposed to provide a good time. While others were busy nitpicking the "poor" graphics and bad story line, I was busy having a blast playing the game.

I don't simply like the game because it heralded a new era in graphic adventures. Why do you think all those other graphic adventures came after Maniac Mansion? Because of the precedence set by Maniac Mansion! Do you honestly believe that if Maniac Mansion was a poorly-conceived flop, other graphic adventures, such as the Monkey Island series, would have been released? No! Corporations may not always know what product will turn out to be good or bad until it's released, but sales figures and customer feedback doesn't lie! Maniac Mansion was a solid hit in 1987, and it has left a legacy still being felt today.

The game play is great! Even though the graphics were unrealistic, I was still panicking (and yes, putting an ING after panic includes a "k") when Weird Ed (one of the villains) comes down to get the door and I'm still in the living room.

The creators of "Monkey Island" didn't wake up to a comic epiphany in the middle of the night. The comic genius of the creators is very evident in Maniac Mansion, even though some of it is missing in the watered down NES version (by the way, there is much more to Maniac Mansion than you think. You should read "The Expurgation of Maniac Mansion" at http://dott.mixnmojo.com)

I can't say enough about the game.

The Bad
There's all sorts of reasons why people don't like the game, I'll describe the most common complaints:

THE GAME GRAPHICS ARE BAD! Well, no offense, but "DUH!" The game was made in 1987. Also, if some gamers find that graphics are the sole point of playing a game, then they should probably consider playing more "up to date," "shooter" games. The graphics adventure genre probably goes over their heads anyway.

THE PLOT'S STUPID! And so are the special effects on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Have many gamers missed the point? It's a PARODY of really bad teenage entertainment of the '80s (do I have to bring up "Hobgoblins?"). Obviously people associate bad graphics (due to being dated, not the fact that they were particularly bad in the first place) with a bad plot! If you're not looking for humor in a game, might I suggest "Loom?"

IT'S SO OLD! Well, granted there are nice things about games being new, but who says that old is the same as bad? Is the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird" bad? Is the Mona Lisa or Michaelangelo's "David" lame because they're aged?

The only complaint I've ever had about the game was the fact that you can waste certain objects that will become necessary in a future puzzle. This will just teach you to be careful and save the game often.

The Bottom Line
How would I describe this game to others? I don't know, let's see...will I have to use picture flashcards?

Some think that Maniac Mansion is remembered fondly because it brought about a new age in graphic adventures. On the contrary, Maniac Mansion was so GOOD that it was able to bring about a new age in graphic adventures. If Maniac Mansion really was as bad as some of these reviews describe, most of the games would have been banished to the backs of closets and landfills across the U.S. by now.

Serious graphics adventure gamers who are looking for a campy classic, listen up! Don't let the "McDonalds-esque" instant-gratification gamers deceive you! If you're looking for a solidly built graphic adventure from a long forgotten era where gameplay mattered more than whiz-bang special effects, THIS GAME IS FOR YOU! Get to eBay immediately and pick up a copy. You certainly won't break the bank, they only go for $3-4.

DOS · by X X (3) · 2002

Contributors to this Entry

Critic reviews added by Alsy, Patrick Bregger, Scaryfun, Terok Nor, Tim Janssen, Jeanne, VĂ­ctor MartĂ­nez, Gonchi, Big John WV.