Full Throttle Remastered

I played the original back in the late 90's so was excited to see an HD remake and pre-ordered it to show my support. Whilst overall I enjoyed the gaming experience I feel that it could have been so much more. I’m sure most people are aware of the story Full Throttle so I won’t go into too much detail. My biggest complaint is that the HD version loses the ominous and grungy feeling of the original. It is a little to smooth/slick and just feels cartoonish in comparison. As an example, when on the mine road in the original the skies are dark and threating, in the HD version it’s just a little cloudy. By pressing the F1 key you can jump between the two versions – which I did constantly – and across the board the HD remake is just brighter (not in a good way). Don’t get me wrong, the HD version adds widescreen support and a lot more detail which is a welcome addition but for me it fails to retain the feel of the original. My only other issue is the controls whilst on the bike or in the derby car are still just plain awful and should have been improved in this release and there are some janky/abrupt transitions between scenes and dialog that just feel a little off. All the other controls and interactions are fine, as per the original. On the positive side the HD sound is fantastic – much clearer and vibrant. The extras such as concept art and jukebox are nice additions, but I would have liked the music to be separate MP3 files so I could listen to them elsewhere (I do like the music in this game)! Full Throttle is still a great game (though not the longest, perhaps 2hrs) and this is a competent version, but I just feel the HD graphics could have been more faithful to the original feel.

This game has always been amazing. Having it remade in HD is a dream come true. However, the magic was interrupted by glitches throughout the game. The new graphics feel... outsourced. There are multiple times when characters become misaligned from the 3D backgrounds. I first noticed it when Ben rides his bike from any side angle: you can see his hands out of sync from this handlebars. It happens all over the place, and it also happens in the final encounter, which involves characters in front of a 3D truck. Also, the addition of widescreen really ruins one puzzle. There were several times I couldn't get the inventory window to go away (without selecting an item). Still a worthwhile purchase, but I almost feel I was better off playing the original using ScummVM.

----- ENGLISH REVIEW ----- I never played the original game when it was released and I discovered this game on GOG when they were advertising it. I got curious because it looked funny and had a great music, and guess what? The game is like they show it in the trailer, the story is great, the music is great and it have a lot of jokes. The game is not perfect, and sometimes it feels “old” for who is used to new games, but this is part of his appeal. It took me almost 5 hours to finish, but it can take more, it depends if you are used to this kind of games with puzzles. ----- RECENSIONE ITALIANA ----- Non ho mai giocato il gioco originale quando è stato rilasciato e ho scoperto il titolo qui su GOG quando lo stavano pubblicizzando. Mi sono incuriosito perché sembrava divertente e aveva una musica eccezionale, e provate a indovinare? Il gioco è esattamente come lo mostrano nel trailer, la storia è grandiosa, la musica è grandiosa e ha un sacco di battute. Il gioco non è perfetto e qualche volta si sente che è “vecchio” soprattutto per chi è abituato ai giochi nuovi, ma anche questo è parte del suo fascino. Ci ho messo quasi 5 ore per finirlo, ma può essere più lungo, dipende da quanto siete abituati a questo genere di giochi con puzzle.

I never played the original game but heard great things about it throughout the years nonetheless. I got this remastered edition and was pretty excited to give it a try, so I played through the whole thing one Friday night. The game itself is a solid adventure game with great mechanics, puzzles, art, voice acting, and sound. I can see why it would have been highly praised back in the day and the remastered features in it do look like a great addition to the game. The only downside to it is that I expected more from the story. It is not a bad story, but I expected something deeper after all the hype generated. It was a bummer, since story and narrative is the aspect I usually look forward to the most. It started as something really promising, but the ending did not fulfill my expectations. Nevertheless, it is a great adventure game that I am sure fans of the genre will enjoy.

Full Throttle was a mind-blowing experience back in the 1990s and I think it's safe to say the remastered game holds its own even without the nostalgia glasses on. Graphics have been updated to suit modern screens, music and sounds remastered and become much more crisp, while nice add-ons such as developer commentary and stand-alone jukebox playing in-game music are added. The purists can always go back to the roots by changing relevant options. Now, after the remaster came out, many lamented that the game is too short (which is funny seeing as these days shorter games seem much more acceptable and gather very good press. HLTB lists an average play time of 6h which is about accurate if you have never played the game and don't use walkthroughs. Let us remember that this is only marginally less than how long it takes to beat Gemini Rue, the point-and-click adventure everyone was raving about despite crappy graphics (come on, let's not make the whole "oh, but it's pixel art" excuse) and so-so sound. Full Throttle is much more to the point and in your face, with unique charisma (there are simply no other adventure games in a remotely similar setting), witty writing and great production values (the original still looks and sounds better than many pixel-art adventures released recently). So yeah, I'd rather take one hour less of playtime but have intense and memorable experience rather than spend double that time pixel-hunting my way out of badly designed puzzles and listening to uninspired dialogues. Some also complain about "easy" or "terribly aged" action scenes. Well, this is an adventure game, and the whole point of the action here is not to test you reflexes but rather solve a puzzle embedded in the game world in a form of the action piece by finding the correct weapon-enemy combination and a sequence of actions in a car derby. The bottom line - if you like adventure games and value games for the experiences they give you rather than the time you are staring at the screen, this is a good buy, especially if you have never played the original. It's well worth extending the playtime by going through the second time with commentary on - it's actually quite interesting for those who have heard of Lucas Arts and Tim Schafer before :)