“Basic vocabulary” edition.
Adventure games are the bastard stepchild genre of the medium. Sure, once upon a time they were cute, but somewhere in-between all those irritating deaths and those irrational mindgames, they somehow became as welcome as a fart at a funeral.
And yet, like Lazarus, they live on. To anyone interested in building a greater appreciation of gaming as a medium generally, they’re important; for many years, adventure games were the staple. Forget about your FPSs and forget about your RTSs – back in the day, most of what was available were magnificently mindbending masochistic experiences, and we liked it that way, damnit!
This week, we’re taking a look at five games that, if played, should help build a basic appreciation of some of the high points of the genre; unlike many other examples, these still hold up today. It’s not an exhaustive list and nor are they the best of the genre. However, they’ve had enough of an impact that as far as staples and meme creation go, they’re among the strongest.
Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island is the poster-boy of good adventure game design; it stands out among adventure games for its relatively logical puzzles, its excellent use of humour, its strong art direction, and its excellent pacing. If you haven’t already played the re-release on 360, PC, or iPhone, you’re only hurting yourself.
At its core, The Secret of Monkey Island represents the blueprint of what an adventure game should be. It’s accessible, it’s well-written, and it features extremely strong characters. And, in an amazing display of design, it doesn’t sacrifice puzzle difficulty to achieve any of these – Monkey Island‘s an enjoyable romp even for an experienced puzzler. If there’s one adventure game you should play before you die, this is probably it.
Day of the Tentacle
If there’s a second adventure game you should play before you die, it’s probably Day of the Tentacle. Designed by Dave Grossman (now at Telltale Games) and Tim Schafer (of Full Throttle, Psychonauts, and Brütal Legend fame), the game’s just simply bizarre. It features giant hopping tentacles, psychotic medical students, and time travel. And, that’s in the first 30 minutes!
Here’s the thing though – even with all the insanity, it works. And, it works brilliantly – the puzzles are almost all spectacularly logical and consistent with the universe. The writing and timing is excellent. And, if that’s not enough, it even featured its predecessor, Maniac Mansion, as a fully playable game on a computer within the game – genius!
Day of the Tentacle is what you graduate to once you’ve finished Monkey Island; the fact that it hasn’t been remade yet is a crying shame. It’s the game that for many, defined the peak of the genre. Regardless of whether adventure games are your cup of tea or not, not to experience it is like deliberately avoiding ever playing Halo – the only thing you’re doing is hurting your own breadth of experience.
Sam and Max Hit the Road
Sam and Max Hit the Road comes a close second to Day of the Tentacle, except instead of tentacles, it features a psychotic rabbit and a trigger-happy detective dog on an investigative roadtrip around middle America. The humour is equally as excellent and the environments are at times slightly more bizarre, but the single thing that holds this one back is the scale of it. It’s big, big enough that while the gametime is significantly extended, the puzzles become at times hair-pulling. It’s still eminently possible to beat it without a walkthrough, but it’s difficult enough that many never completed it without the use of a walkthrough.
Still, it’s a tight example of an excellently designed adventure game that’s just this side of a Mensa-level challenge. If you really wanted to see how masochistic adventure games could get, feel free to crack open Hitchhikers Guide the Galaxy – let me know when you solve the Babelfish puzzle on your own. Actually, don’t bother – I’ll probably be dead by then. Sam and Max‘ll give you a taste of where adventure games sometimes went without beating you into quivering submission. The thing is, it’s such a good game, you probably won’t even mind the frustrating bits. At least, not too much.
Grim Fandango
Grim Fandango‘s another product of one of gaming’s most accessible auteurs, Tim Schafer. At its core, it’s the story of the main protagonist’s voyage of self-discovery. Of course, being Schafer, the main protagonist is a Mexican reaper who works for the Department of Death and who’s side-kick is a mechanic demon. No, not a demon mechanic – a demon who’s also a mechanic. Yeah, Schafer’s got somewhat of an over-active imagination …
Even though it was a commercial failure, there’s a few reasons people keep giving Schafer money to develop new games. This is one of them. The characters and their motivations are real, the environments fascinating, and it’s more than a little emotionally moving; there’s probably not a better gaming example of film noir around. Just be warned – when you get to the forklift, look up a walkthrough. Trust me.
Riven
Ah yes, the wildcard of the lot. Many would expect Myst, but to most, Riven had the more developed world. Riven, despite all its pacing flaws, offers a singularly unique experience – very little of the world is explained and almost all must be interpreted. However, unlike other more abstract games, everything you see when playing has a reason for existing. It’s often not important to the plot or the overarching story, but the environments and tools have stories in their own right, accessible to those who are willing to spend the time reflecting on them.
The puzzles are consistent and not overly punishing, but the pacing is a known point of contention; this is very much a game to be savoured. Despite this, it’s still among the best examples of a world-creating adventure game and, for any gamer worth their salt, very much worth experiencing.
Related posts:
Tags: insanity, schafer, three headed monkey, worlds
My happiness continued to grow the more I scrolled down this page. I myself have accomplished the first four out of the five games you mention, and all, Riven to be excluded because of my not playing it, are wicked little gems.
This article indeed needed to be written.