Back in the '90s, there was nothing stopping the adventure game genre - it was going from strength-to-strength, with long-running series continuing to pump their own style of puzzle-solving into the marketplace.
As the end of the century lead into the new, the landscape had changed utterly, with more action-focused genres taking in the cash. Adventure gaming was in its death-throes, with Sierra abandoning its assorted Quest franchises after the company changed hands and, with the mediocre reception of Escape from Monkey Island, LucasArts also said farewell, journeying to new pastures in a galaxy far, far away.
They left behind a mountainous legacy, helping to weave not only the adventure game genre, but in turn influencing the industry as a whole. These are games that illustrated what gaming could be – far beyond the simplicity of early games; these titles showed us how, through story, humour, and cerebral puzzles, gaming could be something more than a simple distraction. These precursors of modern gaming had been discarded, though their lessons lived on through the inspired individuals who have brought their teachings with them into the current games industry.Telltale Games, through their own episodic model, had been managing to profit from the genre for the past number of years. However, the greatest boon that had been received in the ten year absence was at E3 2009, where LucasArts announced the return of the Monkey Island franchise. Along with Telltale's own Tales of Monkey Island, they lead the charge with The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, a remake of the original title in the series. With HD artwork, recreated musical score, and complete voice-over from the recognised cast, the nineteen year old game had returned in stainless glory. Yet it never forgot its own lineage.
The original version of the game, created with the SCUMM engine, was available to be played at the touch of a button. This system, the Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion, had been used throughout the late '80s and '90s in creating a large number of adventure titles, while changing and evolving to adapt to ten years of technological progress in an industry that was still passing through its infancy. With The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition becoming a massive success, including recent launches on Mac and the PlayStation Network, the remake of the sequel is also nearing release, as Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Special Edition.
Here at GamesRelay, we're always looking towards the future. LeChuck's Revenge will release this summer, and like the first, should be a guaranteed success. LucasArts will then have to look back at their catalogue and see what else they can retrofit, what else they can deliver to inspire a new generation of fans. In our humble opinion, these would be our top five choices:
#5: Loom
Loom was a high-fantasy adventure game designed by Brian Moriarty, whose features were quite different from the adventure games that came before it. Instead of using ordinary verb interfaces, the game's actions are all commanded through music, with different tunes performing different actions. It was novel for the time, and there hasn't been anything directly like it since.
Loom is set in the future, where a Weaver's Guild had learned the power to weave threads into the fabric of reality. In the role of Bobbin Threadbare, you must stop a creature called Chaos who had been summoned to this plane of existence from another dimension. With many throwbacks to mythology and a strong setting, it was completely unlike anything LucasArts has made before or since. This could also be a very special release for them, as the original game was intended as the first part of a trilogy. This never materialised due to scheduling issues, but if LucasArts were to remake this title, it could potentially be a springboard to completing the trilogy anew. LucasArts has shown that they're willing to experiment with quirky concepts, like Lucidity, and could possibly be persuaded to do so. Otherwise, a remake would be no more than an unnecessary and cruel tease.
The fantasy setting could benefit greatly with the leap to HD art and sound, and, although voice acting was recorded for later versions of the game, fresh voice-work could be done if the trilogy were to materialise. LucasArts has been sitting on this potential franchise for a long time, and with the advent of digital distribution, there is no better podium upon which it could make its return.
#4: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Indiana Jones has always been a popular figure, but this original instalment has been heralded as a masterpiece of the adventure game genre. With its clever puzzles and engaging story, the game would have been just as timeless as any of the films, were its age not showing.
Set in the prelude of World War II, the game begins with a Nazi agent taking a strange metal bead from Indy after discovering it inside a small statue held in the Barnett College collections. Teaming up with yet another one of Indy's female companions, Sophia Hapgood, they both find a way to travel to the Lost City of Atlantis. Uniquely, there are three different "paths" in which you can progress through the game, from the Team Path, in which Indy is accompanied with Sophia throughout the game, the Wits Path featuring more complex puzzles, and the Fists Path containing more fight scenes, before all the paths combine leading up to the endgame.
The depths of ancient ruins would transfer over well to updated art, and the tinny Indiana Jones theme that plays as the game starts up illustrates just how much an improvement to the sound quality could enhance the experience. The voice-acting wasn't particularly well done in the original version, so a new, concerted effort in this regard could make the game an even better remastering. If LucasArts uses its sway to get Harrison Ford to take on his famous role, the impact would only be greater, and could potentially lead to further Indiana Jones adventure games in the future.
#3: Maniac Mansion
The game that led to the creation of the SCUMM engine is another choice for a revival. Despite the age and the lack of experience that went into its creation, Maniac Mansion proves to be an important part of the early stages of the industry. Being one of the first adventure games to abandon the laborious and flawed parser system of inputting verbs and nouns manually as text to interact with the game, SCUMM used the point-and-click system, allowing the player to choose from a preset palette of verbs and using the mouse to point out the items in the background. Other now accepted aspects of the medium, such as multiple different ending and allowing the control of more than one character both made their debut here.
Many years after a meteor crashed on the grounds of the Edison Mansion, four college students are following the trail of a missing cheerleader, who they believe has been taken hostage by the Edisons. They all charge into the mansion to try and find and rescue her. Along the way, they encounter strange abominations of nature such as sentient, talking tentacles and Ed Edison. It is mostly a parody of a horror B-movie, and while its plot never treads into the grandiose, this is an important part of gaming history that should definitely be revisited.
Being the first SCUMM game, it is also the most primitive, yet there are few games from 1987 that can boast this level of sophistication. A remake would allow LucasArts to give the game a full voice cast, and the improved graphics and further improvements to the SCUMM interface in the subsequent years could be put to good use.
