Day of the Tentacle Remastered

I have a love-hate relationship with point and click adventures, particularly those of Lucas Arts. On the one hand, they can be a breath of fresh air compared with the action games out there. Although I generally don't mind, the vast majority of games are focused on fighting things, and it's quite refreshing to play a game where other actions take place, and in theory I like that they attempt to challenge you through puzzles, but here is where the problems begin. Too often, the puzzles are just too illogical or non-intuitive, and although it has other things to recommend it, Day of the Tentacle definitely falls into this pattern too often.

Tentacle is a follow-up to the one that arguably started it all for Lucas Arts, Maniac Mansion. Although I had played that title for the NES as well as many of their games, I did not play Tentacle until the recent remaster was released. Without any caveat, I can say that Double Fine did a fantastic job remastering the game. Just like the previous remastering of The Secret of Monkey Island, you have the option to switch back and forth between the original game and the remaster, and it's remarkably faithful. Everything has been redrawn and retouched, but everything is the same, just higher fidelity. It also features a commentary track from the development crew, which is an uncommon feature for a video game but not unwelcome. Since I had never played before, I played sans commentary, but it would surely help breathe new life into the game for long time fans.

How is the game, itself? It's basically what I expect from Lucas Arts, warts and all. On the positive side of things, the visual are just outstanding, regardless of whether you are playing the original or remake. The game is highly colorful and extremely well drawn. Every character is distinct and the animation is fluid, so it's almost like watching a cartoon. The story follows on the Saturday morning cartoon feel, but it also has elements of B-movie horror, which is an odd combo, but it does work. The characters are highly stereotypical following archetypes like the mad scientist, the nerd, and the stoner. It isn't always as funny as it seems to want to be or as funny as Monkey Island or Sam & Max Hit the Road, but it's amusing enough.

The gameplay is slightly different from the usual adventure game in that you control three separate characters in three separate times, and you will have to switch between them to complete the game. This helps to make the game stand out from similar titles, but it also introduces the main source of my frustration with the game. There are times when your actions from the past will affect the future, and this is a very nice mechanic, indeed, but these moments are somewhat few and far between. Unfortunately, the majority of the puzzles focus on trading items between the characters, and it's rarely obvious who needs which item. Many of the puzzles come down to trial and error, so you will spend a lot of time trading items fruitlessly, and to trade items you must backtrack to a specific location. In effect, what could be an interesting tweak on the usual, just ends up making the game more tedious.

Despite this major flaw, I did enjoy playing Day of the Tentacle. However, I would not say it is one of the better Lucas Arts games, and I think it's probably not a coincidence that it was not made available again until more recently. I had wanted to play it for some time, as it was frequently cited as one of their best, but for me, it is rather just one of the most prototypical games in their oeuvre. If you are a fan of their games, you may as well try this one, too, but this does not break the mold in any significant way.