Day of the Tentacle Remastered

I was in high school when LucasArts released Day of the Tentacle, which was a huge step forward in video game design and arguably the best game written in SCUMM. With cartoon animations and voice acting that felt more like the work of a Hollywood animation studio than the work of computer programmers, the game made jaws drop. What really won over hoards of fans, however, was the blisteringly witty humor that pervades scene after scene. Ultra-nerd Bernard, dim-witted Hoagie and deranged Laverne head to the mansion to rescue the tentacles who have been chained up by Dr. Fred. This adventure takes all of a minute to complete. Unfortunately, this leaves Purple Tentacle free to enact his plan to enslave all humanity. Good thing Dr. Fred has a time machine to send the kids back and stop the mess from ever occurring. Only the machine glitches and Hoagie ends up in 1780s Philadelphia while Laverne is stuck in a tree in the distant future. Hilarity ensues as the gang tries to put things right, which involves pulling a few pranks on the founding fathers and dressing an ancient mummy as a sort of human poodle for a futuristic human show (think dog show). For decades I've smiled at the thought of Hoagie tricking George Washington into cutting down a kumquat tree by convincing him it was actually a cherry tree. This remake is essentially the original with completely redrawn HD graphics. Never fear, though, as the animators were painstakingly careful to preserve the feel of the original. This feels like how the game would've been if the technology existed in the 90s. Though it's a sequel to Maniac Mansion, the story stands on its own and you really don't need to know about the evil purple meteor that once held Dr. Fred in thrall. Still, if you want to learn that story, it's tucked away as a bit of an Easter Egg. That's right, the original Maniac Mansion in all its 80s 8-bit glory is included, though you'll need to make some progress in DOTT to unlock it.

It truly has earned it's place as one of the greats, even over 30 years ago. They have made some advancements, technically since then with the genre, the game does show some aging. The remaster updates some of the slightly archaic features, such as highlighting relevant things on the screen, a great feature modern games implement. The graphics look how we remembered, but they are objectively much better. I didn't switch back to the older style once really, because it's how I remember it. It's a very faithful re-resolution giving fans what they think they remember. We grew up on CRT, at the time, DOTT looked like this way to us. You'd have to be alive then to understand... I've played it so many times that I just flew through it mostly. I got stuck once, but it's just because I was speed running it, and I forgot something that I had already done, that needed a follow through to continue the story. I can tell you that it's very well designed, but sometimes its tedious to go back and forth swapping items between characters, especially before Laverne isn't free. I was playing expert level and still was a little annoyed, if I forgot something. You have 3 characters tha you shift between, each are collaborating with one another. So you are trying to plan, remember all the things you need to do, and share between them to solve puzzles. It's brilliant design but probably not without any frustration for new comers. I got to the tentacle flag pole with Laverene and then beat myself up, how the heck did I forget the crank!? It still made me laugh out loud a few times. I can't look at it with fresh eyes and cant really judge it as an adult. As a kid, we spent years beating this game, before walkthroughts, hints really existed. I'd like to think that as an adult, I'm better at puzzle games. The game is famous for it's cartoon-style humor. I haven't tried the commentary but if for nothing else, the bonus features, updated graphics, make this worth revisiting.

First off, the game is excellent. Even though I was too young to experience this game when it was originally released, it still gave me a lot of nostalgia for other point-and-click games I played in the mid-90s. I found myself flipping between the remaster and the "retro" style throughout my playthrough. Having never played the game before, my first impression was that the remastered art style was rather unimpressive when compared to the ambitious graphics of the original, and I think that may be somewhat true when looked at with a modern eye. However, after flipping through the artwork my takeaway is that the remaster delivers on what the creators intended to create 30 years ago, in fact much of remastered environments match their original artwork better than the original. Flipping back and forth between the two, I think they did a fantastic job of capturing the art style. My only critique is that the music in the remaster is done more subtly than the original which to my ear is excellently composed and sequenced, but to be honest I think most players will appreciate that and you can always switch between the 2 in realtime which is sweet. The game made me laugh out loud a few times, which is not easy to do, I would highly recommend this game if you already like adventure games or you are thinking of trying one out.

My favorite game of all time period.

The remastered version of this game is absolutely stunning and beautiful. It still includes the original version of maniac mansion too, so you're basically getting two games for the price of one) I always liked dott more than the monkey island games and the same seems to go for the remaster. The graphics are beautifully enhanced and do not look as, well, alien? and weird as on the monkey island remasters, though that's just my opinion. As with the remasters of Full Throttle and Grim Fandango, some audio commentaries from the developers are available on certain screens. Some are really interesting and offer cool insights into the making of the game. Offers everything which the original had and more. But also lets you switch back and enjoy it as it was. Wholeheartedly recommended for adventure game fans.