Final thoughts (probably includes spoilers)

[Martli]

#11694

So I saw a few people have finished the game now so thought I’d break out the summary thoughts into a separate thread where we can have spoilers.

I’d say overall I enjoyed it, but wasn’t blown away like I was by other LucasArts adventure games. I definitely prefer Loom, Monkey Island, and Day of the Tentacle over this. Most of my thoughts below are also probably captured by others in the first impressions thread, so no major original thoughts here I’m afraid. I also used the universal hint system a bit to help speed things up, and might have enjoyed the game better as a kid with time…

The good:
1) The story is pretty random/creative and generally fun, I thought some of the supernatural elements like the vortex were a welcome inclusion. It was good enough to keep me playing but not so captivating that I couldn’t put turn off the computer

2) The Graphics are decent, and I know that’s not really all that important in an adventure game, but credit where credit’s due. As Pix mentioned it’s fullscreen and there’s even a few cool 3D bits (like the gondola up to the top of the ball of twine

3)There’s a few annoying adventure game things that this game DIDN’T do – namely, unnecessarily annoying mini-games and long cut-scenes. The mini-games were easy enough and the cut-scenes not too long. Toonstruck could have learned a thing or two from this game!

4) the music is pretty good, not too overpowering (though I couldn’t get my volume settings to stick!)

5) The puzzles are challenging without being too moon-logic I think. I did struggle a bit but probably could have got there if I had the time to figure it all out.

The not-great-but-I-can-live-with:
1) Interface takes a bit of getting used to, and I really didn’t get used to it

2)I thought the dress up game was going to be like a way to make them change costume for different puzzles but it turned out to be completely unneeded, I pulled out way too much (figurative) hair trying to work out how to use it.

The annoying:
1) Like many of you pointed out, it’s not always obvious you can go places. I had this quite bad at the end getting to the hot-tub, could not for the life of me figure out how to get there

2)Some of the non-standard UI stuff was hard to figure out, like how to control the speed of the binoculars, which I had to google to figure out how to operate.

So all-in-all, a decent game and not a disappointment, but in my view, there are better places to start in the LucasArts catalogue.

[dr_st]

#11696

Thanks for this thread. I was thinking to post one myself, but it didn’t feel right to do so.

You see, I treated this game opposite to Toonstruck – I knew I would not have had much time to play it, so I just used a walkthrough to quickly run through. It also wasn’t the original walkthrough included in the hintbook, but something printed from the internet by the previous owner of the boxed copy I purchased. Turned out to be accurate enough, and the few parts that it missed were easy enough to figure out.

I agree with almost every sentiment you shared – despite the undoubtedly cool atmosphere and colorful graphics – most other adventure games I’ve played – I’ve been more captivated by.

Having read the First Impressions thread I had been expecting the interface to be somewhat cumbersome, and so I’ve read the manual in advance and figured out things would be much simpler if I use the keyboard shortcuts whenever possible, which I did.

SPOILERS BELOW…

I agree about the hot tub and the binoculars being confusing. Probably if the walkthrough didn’t tell me that I need to go to the hot tub, I wouldn’t even know it’s an option. As for the binoculars, the fact that you need to PICK UP the wires, instead of USE them kept me stumped for a good few minutes.

I am not sure I would have figured out that I’m supposed to put the UV bulb in the flashlight and move it around randomly inside the dark ride before I can use it on something.

I found the concept of mini-games inside the main game refreshing. They are not very interesting in themselves, but it’s a nice bonus, specifically for the younger audience that might enjoy coloring, dress-up and battleships. But, yes, if one hadn’t read the manual, I can see how one might pull hairs trying to find use for the optional mini-games that aren’t part of the storyline.

[firefyte]

#11697

Having recently had to replay this (past two years) to test out if a bug existed in SCUMMVM and replaying it now, I did find that it wasn’t as tedious as before because I remembered some of the more difficult/tedious puzzles.
I find it to be a better game on first sitting than in later ones, with more gags and looking around and completely useless dialogue and mini-games.

As was with this era in total, the manual is a mandatory part of the game.

I remember the final puzzles for the totems to be a bit meh and quizzical first time around, and even this time I simply didn’t remember where the last ‘pond’ was and how to get there, which requires a bit better telegraphing on how to get around and what to do.

Overall I find it less enjoyable vs. other Lucas games, although due to the lack of seriousness still better than the dig.

I can understand the US-centric viewpoint which is a bit of a downer, although they were rather well known in Europe, such as ‘completely useless landmark for a place that is otherwise not known for anything (see ball of twine)’ or a fast-food chain which is everywhere, but has a bit of local flair (I assume people noticed while visiting each Snuckey’s location).

Having played the TellTale games also for this month, I can see where some of the (internal) political and geographical commentary comes from.

Too bad we never really got the comics here before the game.

[butterburp]

#11698

Ah, I can now reveal the puzzle that had me almost pulling my hair out.

**
SPOILER AHEAD
**

At one of the Snuckey’s, when you go inside, Max proudly announces that he has to take a dump. So you ask for the keys, give them to Max, and he goes off and does his business. It never occurred to me that you had to go outside and steal the keychain itself (a rasp) before Max comes back. I don’t think I even bothered to inspect the keychain in the first place…either that or I had no idea what “rasp” meant.

There were a few other puzzles that I needed hints for, but that was the one that would have had me giving up, had I not seen the solution in a magazine.

Still, I will always remember this game as the motivation for going on a multi-bus trip to a suspicious-looking warehouse in San Francisco, to get my first Sound Blaster card. My maiden voyage into the wonderful world of multimedia.

[Eulisker]

#11700

Haha. I can imagine that. But one golden rule of adventure games is: if someone goes to do something on a screen and you get the controls back, you have to act!

I could not for the life of me find the lens and resorted to a hint for that. But that is completely on me. I even looked at it in the beginning but did not pick it up.

I am in Bumpusville. I have the feeling i am close to the end. Let’s see how long this still is.

[dr_st]

#11701

>> But one golden rule of adventure games is: if someone goes to do something on a screen and you get the controls back, you have to act!

That’s indeed a good rule of thumb. I remember its application in a few point-n-click games – LucasArts as well as others. 🙂

[TigerQuoll]

#11714

Even after I knew about the hot-tub and had visited it a few times, I still had trouble getting Sam to go there!

[Eulisker]

#11728

Ok i am finally finished with the game as well. Overall i like it very much. I can see the game beeing very america centric as a negative but for me the whole thing was so absurd that it did not really bother me too much. I have no concept of these roadside attractions nor does the bigfoot myth mean anything to me. But the whole thing is so turned up to 11 and not necessarily reliant on you being familiar with any of that that i do not feel like it detracts from the game.
What carried me through the whole game is the amazing writing of the whole thing. There is so many zingers in there and the banter between both protagonists is so consistently funny. It was the strongest point of the whole thing for me. Some characters are pretty fun too. The constantly swearing mechanic in the biggest ball of twine (Thimbleweed Park does something similar but much worse imho), the posh british country singer or the yabbering bigfoot lady. All great characters.
Animation and backgrounds are top notch too.
I was not too fond of the final puzzles. The whole Totem thing felt pretty tacked on. And don’t get me started on the hot tub. That could have been handled sooooo much better. The chief mentions he is going there, you can see him going there and i still could not go there. Phew.

Overall i had a great time. I think i am going to play this with my kids sometimes. If i can get them playing something besides Minecraft.

E: Quick edit. The controls did not bother me too much. It is a bit inprecise, the constant clicking to change actions was a bit much but it did not keep me from playing. LucasArts later stuff handles this much better.

[TigerQuoll]

#11731

I have to say, I was not bothered at all by the American culture. It’s kind of what the game is about – the game is literally called “hit the road”, evoking the great American road trip. The setting, vibe, theme and everything of this game is “Americana”.
I would not tone it down any more than I would tone down the British references and humour in Discworld.

[Eulisker]

#11741

This is not really a final thought but I bought a max plushie a while back.

It sits in my wife’s office on top of a shelf at the moment.

They were made by a company called „Uncute“ (they had a different name when I bought it but I don’t remember) and later also had an accompanying Sam. I did not buy that though. Now they are sold out.

[DJ_HiP]

#11746

Very cool, just looking at ebay new versions of that plushie are quite expensive!

[Dreamkid]

#11748

>> the constant clicking to change actions was a bit much but it did not keep me from playing.

Does that mean you consider Sierra adventures a bit much?

I also had some trouble with the binoculars. I never beat Max at Car Bomb either. Pretty solid game, though, although I always liked Day of the Tentacle better

[Eulisker]

#11750

In sierra games you can go to the top of the screen to change your actions. That was way more elegant than this. But as i said. It was not too distracting.