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Freeware Game Reviews

Title: LucasManiac!
Genre: Adventure
Created with: AGS
Author: Marion Poinsot
Author's Website: Click here
Download Link: Click here (author's site is a French message board so not quite sure where the game is on that!!)
Download Size: 4Mb

Overview

LucasManiac! is a tribute to several old LucasArts games. You play Bernard, one of the characters from Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle, in a bid to save Ed (another character from the same games) and stop the Green Tentacle inadvertently wreaking havoc in the LucasArts universe by putting characters in the wrong game. You have to visit six different games to obtain the modules in order to put the characters back into the right game. You visit 6 games – Star Wars, Loom, Indiana Jones (possibly “The Fate of Atlantis”, not one I’ve played), Zak McKraken,The Dig, and Monkey Island, solving puzzles and putting things right. So for instance, Zak is rapped in the Indiana Jones game, but won’t leave until he’s given a crystal he’s looking for – he gives you a crystal he doesn’t want, which needs to be given to another character, while Luke Skywalker is trapped inside Loom looking for his droid, who is disabled in a circus in Monkey Island… you get the idea. So basically it’s a case of visiting each game, talking to the characters, working out who should be where, how to get past obstructive characters, how to get the items you need etc. From start to finish I expect most players will complete the game in less than an hour, there are no tough puzzles and probably about 20 locations altogether.

However this is less of a game and more of a walk down memory lane – it’s pleasantly diverting enough on its own merits but really enjoyable if you have played some of the games it mimics. The graphics are ripped from the original low-res version (I think the Zak graphics are actually 4-bit colour!) so are obviously authentic, and the music is taken from the original games too. There are a few in-jokes – when you pick up the cashcard in the Zak McKraken section your character says “I didn’t even have to use the phone bill to reach it” – which you did in the original game – etc. You won’t get the in-jokes if you haven’t played the originals, of course. Some parts where the translation breaks down and you're presented with a load of French don't help! (Unless of course you can understand French.) Thankfully there are only a few instances of this. The interface is similar to the classical LucasArts interface, but even if you've never played one of their adventure games, you'll have no problem working out how to play.

Pros

Cons

Verdict

Graphics: 5
Sound: 5
Playability: 8
Longevity: 3
Overall: 5

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