If you enjoy this blog and would like to read my other adventure game retrospectives, here's a list of my previous episodes of this series:

• Episode 1: The Dig
• Episode 2: Atlantis: The Lost Tales
• Episode 3: Loom
• Episode 4: Drowned God
• Episode 5a: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis Part 1 & Episode 5b: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - Part 2
• Episode 6: The Journeyman Project: Pegasus Prime
• Episode 7a: The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time (Part 1)& Episode 7b: The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time (Part 2)
• Episode 8a: The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time (Part 1) & Episode 8B: The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time (Part 2)
• Episode 9a: The Legend of Kyrandia: Book One [Part 1] & Episode 9b: The Legend of Kyrandia: Book One [Part 2]
• Episode 10: D (The Game)
• Episode 11a: The Legend of Kyrandia: Hand of Fate [Part 1]& Episode 11b: The Legend of Kyrandia: Hand of Fate [Part 2]
• Episode 12a: The Legend of Kyrandia - Book Three: Malcolm's Revenge [Part 1] & Episode 12b: The Legend of Kyrandia - Book Three: Malcolm's Revenge [Part 2]
• Episode 13: Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb
• Episode 14a: MTV's Club Dead [Part 1] & Episode 14b: MTV's Club Dead [Part 2]
• Episode 15: A.D. 2044

Preamble

I'm going to start things off with a hot take. I've never been the biggest fan of Full Throttle. I respect the game and LucasArts being a preeminent studio willing to think outside the box, but the game is nowhere near my top five or even top ten list of the best adventure games of all time, which is how some rank Full Throttle. Now, I know I have been on record as saying I was in "Team Sierra" when the "Golden Age of Adventure Games" was happening, but that's not to say that I am so oblivious to the gameplay advances and quality writing found from LucasArts during its glory days. Nonetheless, with Full Throttle, a bunch of niggling issues about it have always rubbed me the wrong way. Some appreciate it taking the risk of moving away from LucasArts's SCUMM engine, though Loom beat it by a handful of years. Nonetheless, the skull-based interface is just as obtuse as the SCUMM engine, with its disparate parts fiddly and annoying to click on. I love the game's aesthetics and sense of style. Still, with the scope of the game far more narrow than previous LucasArts titles that preceded it, the game lacks the depth you usually associate with classic adventure games from LucasArts.

However, the most fundamental issue with Full Throttle has always been one that even its more ardent fans have to concede. Just as the game starts to open up and get interesting, it ends. Full Throttle was lambasted even at the time of its release as being short, and while my advancing age has made me more open-minded to quick games, Full Throttle is one that still feels like it demands an extra hour or two. Worse, the entire back half of Full Throttle feels incomplete. The opening chapter at Melonweed bleeds character, but unfortunately, the handful of set pieces that follow it do not continue that tradition. The highway sequence, especially the part where you must collect different weapons, feels like filler. It also remains the worst-looking level with a disorienting parallax effect that remains terrible regardless of which version of the game you play. The arena is a quick, mindless puzzle with a souvenir stall and a terrible demolition derby sequence. The penultimate level at the Corley factory is the most annoying in the game and lacks environmental style and a sense of exploration.

However, to avoid anyone accusing me of dogpiling on Full Throttle, rest assured that I still think people should play it. No game has ever captured the mood and tone of Full Throttle in the nearly thirty years since its release, and while limited, it shares a unique and compelling enough world that is worth exploring if you have never played it. The game's production values and voice acting are still a gold standard for the genre. Likewise, with Full Throttle boiling out the SCUMM engine and featuring a brisk playtime, the barrier to entry is so low it's hard to advise anyone not to seek it out if they haven't done so already. The latter of those positives also make Full Throttle an excellent game to recommend to anyone interested in exploring retro or older point-and-click adventure games. I'd still stick with The Secret of Monkey Island as my top recommendation for adventure game newbies. Still, Full Throttle deserves to be in the conversation if someone you are shepherding looks at the number of verbs they need to process with SCUMM-based or parser-based games and becomes overwhelmed.

So I Played The Remaster, And We Need To Talk About That

Now that I have diffused the handful of you who may have wanted my head after my first hot take, I will kick the hornet's nest again. I'm not too fond of the look of the remastered versions of the classic LucasArts games. They are the definitive versions of their respective games, and a toggle allows you to switch between the original pixel-based graphics and the modern cel-shaded or digital paint-based ones. But HOT DAMN, I think the remastered versions of The Secret of Monkey Island and Full Throttle look like absolute garbage. With Full Throttle, the game's original shading and deep shadows get pulverized in the remaster, which immediately mutes many moody environments at the start and end of the game. Conversely, processing environmental clues and detecting objects and items you must collect on various screens is a thousand times easier in the remaster. However, I think there was a better middle ground that could have been attempted here, given how good modern pixel graphics have gotten in the indie game sphere of today. Call me old-fashioned, but the original graphics just look better than the smoother and brighter pastels in the remaster!

The Intro Cutscene In The Original Version	The Intro Cutscene In The Remaster

Mercifully, the act of playing Full Throttle Remastered is considerably better than it is with The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition. As many of you know, when you play the Special Edition of The Secret of Monkey Island, you must bring up a utility wheel that functions similarly to the SCUMM verb-based engine in the original. While this was done as a necessary compromise to get the game to work on consoles, it is a clunky and unenjoyable way to play the game and, in my case, is the primary reason why I played the game entirely on the retro setting. Because Full Throttle always had a radial UI system that guides your exploration of the world and its many objects, it fares considerably better than The Secret of Monkey Island. Also, Full Throttle Remastered makes a handful of puzzles and sequences markedly easier than they were in the original game. For example, the brick wall puzzle is far more doable as the brick you need to kick with Ben has a noticeable backlight that immediately gives it away. I'll make a special note when we get to other significantly easier puzzles, but rest assured, there aren't that many.

However, there's one last thing I must mention about Full Throttle Remastered that bothered me to no end. A LOT of people enjoy the director's commentary with these remasters, and there's no denying that Tim Schaffer and the cadre of people he recorded with are funny and great storytellers. However, Tim Schafer is full of himself in this specific director's commentary. In particular, there's a point near the end of the game where Schafer says he feels that the story of Full Throttle is "complete" and that a sequel never got traction with the original team. That's outright historical revisionism, as we know that the LucasArts of old put considerable time, money, and staffing into making a 3D sequel to Full Throttle. Full Throttle 2, or Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels, was in development for three years and even had teaser trailers hyping it up at E3. Suggesting that a sequel was never a serious idea is disrespectful to those who worked on that project, even if it got canceled and never saw the light of day. There was even that awkward moment when Duncan Jones tried to get social media to convince Disney to greenlight his idea for a Full Throttle Disney+ T.V. series. Tim Schaffer is wrong, but let's get into puzzles rather than another soapbox of mine.

Puzzle Rankings

Prologue & Melonweed

Getting Out of The Dumpster And Getting Ben's Keys - [Rating: 2/10] - Man, the start of this game sure is fantastic! After a series of cutscenes perfectly set up the story, our protagonist, Ben, ends up in a dumpster and needs to find his way out. You accomplish this by selecting the hatch to kick it open and then moving Ben to the right of the dumpster. When he enters the bar, he'll notice the bartender and need to be aggressive with his dialogue options to get the keys to his motorcycle back. It's a perfect tutorial that decouples you from any parser or SCUMM-based preconceptions you might have going into a classic LucasArts game. The only reason why I'm bumping this up by one extra point is because the dialogue system in Full Throttle can be a pain. If you fail a dialogue check, in some cases, like this one, you have to reselect the person you need to talk to and pick a different option a second or third time before you can continue with the story.

Your First Bike Fight - [Rating 3/10] - I know some people like the motorcycle combat in Full Throttle, but I'm not one of them. Mostly, they are quick and painless, with you always knowing what you need to do to get past these combat sequences. The fights are utterly mindless despite having a basic notion of rock-paper-scissors as you get further into the story. My issue is that it's an awful feeling when we get to that highway level, and you don't have the tools to beat the person you have been matched up against. Also, when it comes to your first fight, I always need to remember that you need to worry about your left and right movements before you start mashing away with your hits. I have consistently maintained that I think Full Throttle should automatically center you with your opponent before the combat begins, and as you take hits, then you worry about your movements. It's not impossible to figure out, but it plays like nothing else you've ever experienced in a LucasArts adventure game, and there are only a limited number of times when you interact with this combat system. It always takes time and practice to get accustomed to, which will likely be the case with most people playing Full Throttle for the first time. However, the game's limited use of this system makes it hard for new players to develop proficiency with its mechanics.

Getting Stuff From Todd's Trailer - [Rating For The Original Puzzle: 6/10; Rating For The Remastered Version: 5/10] - After driving on the highway for a bit, Ben's motorcycle will eventually lose its wheel and result in him getting into an accident. Luckily for Ben, a newspaper reporter named Miranda transports him to a repair shop, and the mechanic, Maureen (i.e., Mo), relays to Ben the tools and parts she needs to fix his bike. While the town of Melonweed presents itself as an open world, there is a correct order in which you explore the city. The first tool you can get, which happens to be a blow torch, comes from a nearby trailer occupied by a grumpy man named Todd. To "borrow" his torch, knock on the door of his trailer, and when he is near the entrance, kick it in to knock Todd out and be able to search his trailer for objects and quest items. From the first floor, you must collect a lockpick from a cabinet and a slab of meat from Todd's refrigerator. You can find a torch on a workbench when you use a lift to navigate to Todd's basement.

The timing for knocking Todd out isn't impossible to figure out, and if you elect to have Todd blow off Ben without kicking the door out, Ben will make a quip about needing to teach him some manners, which is your clue to get physical. I am less enthused about the lockpick and steak in the first level of the trailer. Again, the remaster is slightly more generous about making these objects visible to the player, but knowing you need to open the fridge errs close to hidden object gameplay. In the original game, finding the lockpick is a frustrating pixel hunt. I understand that was a standard gameplay hook in adventure games of this era; trust me, I know that. Nonetheless, for people playing Full Throttle for the first time, I can imagine the sequence of steps at Melonweed tripping them up. Also, making the walk of shame back to the trailer to get the steak or lockpick, if you forget to pick them up the first time, sucks.

Stealing Gas From The Cops [Rating For The Original Puzzle: 5/10; Rating For The Remastered Version: 6/10] - What drives me somewhat crazy is how the game automatically transports you whenever you pick up an item Mo needs. I feel the game should only send you to Mo once you have all three things she requires, but being reminded of what you need to do next after completing one part of this sequence is a gimmie to the player by the designers. A nearby petrol tower has the gas Mo needs to get Ben's bike running again. When Ben approaches the building, there's a gate with a lock he can quickly unlock using the lockpick he found in Todd's trailer. Also, don't forget to pick up that padlock before leaving the tower. Unfortunately, when Ben attempts to climb the tower to "borrow" some gas, it sets off an alarm that sends a police hovercraft his way. You must re-attempt this sequence if you are not quick about moving Ben to a shady spot behind a pillar. While Ben hides in the shadows, the police attempt to find him and leave their hovercraft unattended. This turn of events allows you to open the gas cap on their vehicle, and you can use a hose on the gas cap to funnel gas to the can after using the mouth portion of the skull icon on the hose.

The Gas Tower Hiding Spot In The Original	The Gas Tower Hiding Spot In the Remaster

This puzzle exemplifies how the remaster's art style can make solving puzzles harder. Because the shadows in the remaster are far less pronounced than in the original, it is more challenging to figure out the correct positioning of where Ben needs to be behind the pillar. In the original pixel-based art, the shading pops out far better, and the shadow effect while Ben hides is far more apparent. The part of this sequence involving the gas can is easy to figure out, and in fact, it reminded me of a similar puzzle in Fate of Atlantis, which predates this game by about three years. My only quibble is that this is one of the few times you must use the mouth/taste command to solve a puzzle. Otherwise, that command is reserved for providing flavor text when exploring new environments and is rarely necessary.

Getting The Forks From The Junkyard - [Rating: 3/10] -There's one last environment to explore in Melonweed before beating a hasty retreat: the junkyard. Unfortunately for Ben, the entrance to the junkyard is locked. However, he can get past this problem by using the padlock you remembered to pick up when first entering the gas tower to lock a sliding door, allowing Ben to climb a chain to get into the junkyard. In the center of the junkyard are a car magnet crane, a ton of derelict cars, and a vicious guard dog, which makes exploring the yard all but impossible. To deal with the dog, put the meat from Todd's fridge in a blue car below the magnet crane to trap the dog. Then, move Ben up a ladder to operate the crane to drag its magnet down three times and up three times. This action allows Ben to search a pile of rubble that contains the forks Mo needs to fix Ben's bike. This puzzle is a last "gear check" before you leave Melonweed, and as long as you have the tools necessary for success, I think it is a clever and fun sequence. My only complaint stems from the perspective the game forces you into when you operate the crane. It's a terrible angle that makes knowing where to move the magnet harder than it needs to be.

Getting Past The Police Blockade - [Rating: 2/10] - After Mo repairs Ben's bike, the game transitions to a cutscene that shows that a police blockade exists on the only exit out of Melonweed. To break this police entourage, return to the gas tower and have Ben touch the same ladder that triggered the alarm the last time he visited there. The police will then leave their blockade, and Ben automatically leaves town without additional input. There's a quick transitional sequence in which Ben returns to Mo's repair shop to find it abandoned. While there, he needs to check a pile of junk to figure out he needs to go to the long derelict Mink Ranch. I'm bumping this entire sequence up one extra point because backtracking to the tower is a weird design choice. Again, Full Throttle is guilty of a lot of copy-paste gameplay that its fans sometimes overlook, and this set piece is an early example.

Mink Ranch, The Highway, & Mine Road

This part of the game is STILL UGLY!

Investigating Mink Ranch - [Rating: 1/10] - Before Ben goes to Mink Ranch, he first needs to return to the Kickstand Bar to find Miranda, the reporter from earlier, to get a summary of what has happened to Ben's biker gang. The Polecats, Ben's pose, are being framed for the murder of Malcolm Corley by Adrian Ripburger as part of Ripburger's ploy to gain control of the legendary Corley Motors, the last domestic motorcycle manufacturer. Believing Ben when he says he's being set up, Miranda gives Ben a fake ID he needs to show a truck driver in the bar to get past another police blockade. Also, while in the bar, we watch a news report that relays the status of Ben's biker gang. When you arrive at the ranch, enter a cabin and locate some pictures to find clues about Mo's past. Next, move some pillows to find a tire iron that you then use to open a trunk underneath a bed. Everything here is straight and to the point. I'd hazard to call this more of an extended cutscene than anything else, but it fills in some gaps about the worldbuilding and main story and does so with the same spectacular voice acting that graced the start of the game. I have no complaints.

Dealing With Nestor and Bolus On The Highway - [Rating: 5/10] - Well, it's time for the worst part of Full Throttle: the highway. The highway is not the most challenging part of the game. Instead, I find it the most tedious and monotonous part, with you needing to repeatedly loop around the same dull highway sections before you find the area you want to explore. When you first drive through the highway, Ben stands next to a crashed semi-truck full of fertilizer. It would be best if you had Ben use the tire iron on a wheel on the semi-truck, which causes it to move slightly. Grab some of the green fertilizer, and upon using Ben's bike, you should trigger a short chase sequence with Nestor and Bolus, two of Ripburger's goons. The solution is to dart back to the overturned semi-truck, and if you remembered to use the tire iron on the truck, they crash their car. When you investigate the crash site, use the tire iron on the fender of the wrecked vehicle, and lift a hover unit.

This part is far from the worst segment of the highway section of the game. Nonetheless, the sequencing can get tricky, especially if you forget to turnabout to the semi-truck when Nestor and Bolus chase after Ben. There's no "fail state" to worry about in this game, but re-engaging with this puzzle is annoying because every part and level in the highway is miles away from the other parts. The entire road is stretched to a painful degree, and with it being the worst-looking part of the game, regardless of which version you decide to play, it's not exactly the most exciting level to deal with. If you miss one exit, looping around to get back to it results in aimless backtracking sessions that feel like a waste of time.

Getting The Necessary Weapons On The Highway - [Rating: 7/10] - This part of the game sucks. I was not too fond of it in the 90s and still hate it today. I'm sorry if you like the style and presentation of the motorcycle fights, but praying to the RNG goddess to be nice to you as you play one of the worst versions of rock-paper-scissors wasn't fun when this game first hit the shelves, and it still sucks today. When you explore one of the ends of the highway, you find out that the bridge to the Corley Motors factory is in ruins. When you explore one of the highway exits, Ben should come across the former leader of The Polecats, Father Torque, who gives you the rundown on what you need to do to get over the bridge. Ben will need a hover unit, booster pack, and ramp. Unfortunately, the ramp is currently in the secret lair of the Cavefish gang, and locating this lair requires a set of goggles from one of their gang members. However, Ben can't simply go up to a Cavefish gang member and hope to nab their goggles. Instead, he needs one of two possible weapons to position himself correctly to attack any given Cavefish gang member. With Full Throttle being an adventure game from the 90s, all this is easier said than done.

To get to the goggles, you need to find bikers with a mace, chain, booster pack, chainsaw, and board, hopefully in that order. As I suggested earlier, there's a light element of rock-paper-scissors with only the biker with the mace beatable with Ben's fists or starting tire iron, with the other bikers remaining unbeatable until you get additional weapons. The issue with this puzzle is immediate. The game randomly spawns the bikers Ben confronts, and it's very likely at the start of this sequence, he ends up in a fight he cannot win. The game also does not eliminate bikers you have already beaten from its rotation, and the jerk with the chain can steal weapons you try to use on him and are not careful. Of the many ways the remastered version of the game has been designed to make playing Full Throttle easier and more enjoyable, the fact it still fails to de-dupe the instancing of the bikers on the highway is aggravating. During this playthrough, I got the mace and chain without much difficulty, but the game spawned an unbeatable confrontation with a Cavefish biker three times in a row. On top of that, the timing and positioning with some of the biker fights, the Cavefish one being the most evident example, is far tighter than it needs to be, with you often needing to re-attempt the same battles more than once before you figure things out. There's the female biker with the chainsaw, whom you can only beat if you use the fertilizer on her, but you must be close enough to use this item. Overall, I'm not too fond of this part of the game. It's an incredibly tedious affair that overstays its welcome and becomes tiresome.

Finding And Robbing The Cavefish Lair - [Rating: 5/10] - When you finally manage to grab a pair of goggles, use them in Ben's inventory, and when an icon pops up on the screen, click it to enter the Cavefish lair. While in the cave, move right to find the ramp Father Torque mentioned. Have Ben hop off his bike and then have him hook the ramp to the back of his motorcycle by clicking on it. Move to the left once, but before attempting to exit the cave, have Ben leave his bike to unhook the ramp to block a set of reflectors which causes chasing Cavefish gang members to veer off course and crash into a cave wall. If you forget to do this step, Ben ends up out of the cave without the ramp and needs to find the lair using the goggles again. Even after all these years, the extra step with the reflectors always gets me. The point of the Cavefish using special visors to know which direction to turn is one Father Torque makes when you talk to him. Still, it is not a hint that immediately helps you figure out why Ben can't steal the ramp without redirecting the reflectors. Besides that point, this puzzle is relatively short and painless.

Jumping Over The Gorge - [Rating: 1/10] - When Ben leaves the cave, he automatically sets up the ramp to the correct position. However, Ben needs to learn how fast or what angle he needs to be at to make the jump successfully. To help him, find a plaque to review the items required to make the jump and when to time the booster pack. As long as you have the needed motorcycle upgrades, the game triggers the cutscene wherein Ben makes the jump without breaking a sweat. This puzzle is another gear check puzzle wherein the only thing preventing you from solving it is if you are missing something. If you examine the plaque and neglect a trinket, Ben will chime in what he needs and even posits where to find it. For that helpful game design, I'm giving this my lowest mark.

The Stadium & Corley Motors

Stealing Your First Bunny Toy And Getting Its Battery - [Rating: 3/10] - After Ben pilots his motorcycle over the gorge, he ends up in an arena nearby a canyon that he believes leads to the headquarters of Mo's biker gang. Unfortunately for Ben, the entrance to this lair appears to be mined. When you enter the stadium, you find an older man named Horace running a souvenir store. After some introductions, Horace welcomes Ben to try out one of his best-selling toys, a remote-controlled race car. When Ben uses this device, the batteries run out, and Horace turns to try and get his toy working. With his back turned, observe the stand and then have Ben steal one of the yellow rabbit toys for sale. Have Ben return to the canyon and use the toy rabbit on the ground, which causes it to trigger one of the land mines. Luckily for Ben, a battery survives the explosion, and he can pick that up and add it to his inventory. The signposting that the yellow rabbits are vital has always been poor, and the communication of the game's expectations for using them is even worse. Nonetheless, with this act limiting you to just a few explorable locations, it's pretty easy to put two and two together here.

Stealing A Box Of Bunny Toys And Using Them To Get Past The Minefield - [Rating: 5/10] - Return to the souvenir stand and use the battery on the spent toy car. Have Ben use the toy car to make it veer through the turnstile leading to the arena, which Horace notices and becomes upset about. When Horace runs after the toy car, have Ben steal a box of toy rabbits. Return to the canyon entrance again and use the box of toys on the minefield, but be very careful to pick the rabbits up before they trigger any of the landmines. The trick with this puzzle is to use the toy rabbits one at a time until they trip a landmine. After starting an explosion, move Ben to the location of the blast, and then use another toy until it triggers another landmine, and repeat this process until Ben ends up at the Vulture's hideout. Using too many of the toys inefficiently will result in you needing to steal an additional box. When I first played the game, I thought you just used the box, and if you got lucky, you would only need to use two or three of them before Ben got to the next cutscene. The fact you can do that feels like a red herring the programming team should have designed out of the game. That and frantically collecting the toy rabbits after using the box on the minefield doesn't feel good. Correspondingly, tone-wise, this puzzle feels entirely out of place.

The Demolition Derby Puzzle - [Rating: 5/10] - First, when Ben ends up in the Vulture's headquarters, have him call Mo "Diapered Dynamo" to prove he didn't kill Malcolm Corley. After an extended mission brief, I can only imagine was purposefully directed and written to resemble the Death Star mission brief during the climax of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Ben ends up in a demolition derby. As Mo's assistant explained earlier, Ben needs to use a ramp to bounce on top of an orange car to cause it to stall. Then he needs to push it to the right and over the ramp. The position of the orange vehicle causes Ben's car to land on top of a blue one, which results in a massive explosion. While Ben is enflamed, have him run to the box seats in the arena to cause the whole stadium to catch fire. To deal with Nestor and Bolus, hop on the orange car and when the blue car rams it, jump on it. When the blue car is positioned next to a fire pit, run into it to cause the two goons to drive into the fire. The game automatically triggers a new cutscene once the demolition derby is complete.

This statement will be another occasion where I diverge from the consensus on Full Throttle, but I HATE THIS SEQUENCE! It's so incredibly fiddly, as positioning the orange car is a complete pain in the ass. Bumping it to the bottom right corner of the arena and then through the ramp never feels good. There's also a slight timing element to when you should use the ramp, and missing your cue or window is endlessly frustrating. Worse, the game constantly interjects with cutaways taunting you to work quicker, despite there being no actual timer. Waiting for the various cars to get in the correct position during the second half of the puzzle is zero fun, though with this being more of a waiting game, it's far from being an unattainable chore.

The Brick Wall Puzzle In The Original	The Brick Wall Puzzle In The Remaster

The Brick Wall Puzzle [Rating For The Original Puzzle: 10/10; Rating For The Remastered Version: 5/10] - This is the "big one." When Full Throttle was first released, this one puzzle resulted in more people calling into the LucasArts hotline than any other part and was one of the most common calls made to the service short of The Dig and the stump disc swapping joke in The Secret of Monkey Island. It's also something the remaster deliberately makes considerably easier. Before we get to that, after the demolition derby, it is CRUCIAL you examine the floor of Mo's hideout to notice a six-digit code. Afterward, when Ben exits the hideout, he must find a secret entrance to the Corley Motors factory. To locate this tunnel, Ben must kick a brick wall in the right place AND at the right time. The rock he needs to kick is slightly above the left-most post where you start. To time things correctly, wait until all of the meters on the screen are no longer moving or shaking and kick the rock. Sounds easy, right? Well, it sure is in the remaster, but this task was downright impossible in the original game!

As I said earlier, the remaster has the common courtesy of having a backlight to the rock you need to kick. That alone cuts the difficulty of this puzzle in half. Finding the stone in the original game was nearly impossible because it perfectly blended into the brown wall texture. The other problem with this puzzle was that finding the correct position to kick the rock could take you so long that you could forget about the timing aspect of the puzzle. Mo's assistant makes one quip about needing to time Ben's kick to the rock, but that's far from enough piggybacking the game should have done before throwing this puzzle at you. Likewise, the remaster is far more generous about where you need to click because I remember feeling like the clickable area for the rock in the original game was five to ten pixels big. If ANY of you remember how bad this puzzle was in the original game, please, drop a comment so I don't feel like I am going senile.

Unlocking The Floor Safe [Rating: 4/10] - Remember that six-digit code I mentioned earlier? When Ben finally enters the Corley factory through the secret entrance, he'll quickly find a safe in a nearby desk. The combination to this safe is 154492, and after you input this code, Ben picks up a film reel and pass card. Normally, I have erred towards the generous side when it comes to password-based puzzles. Most of these are simple fetch quests as long as no dexterity-based minigames are involved. The issue with this puzzle is that there are a variety of six-digit codes in Mo's hideout, and none of them are especially well-labeled to suggest which one applies to the safe. It's also a slight leap of logic to return to the hideout to find this passcode, as your first reaction is to search the factory and desk for clues on how to open the safe. Nonetheless, opening the safe is straightforward once you figure things out.

Ruining Ripburger's Presentation - [Rating: 2/10] - After Ben nabs the film reel and keycard, he must find a hallway to the right of the desk. To enter, he needs to use the card on a card reader and then find a room with a projection system, and you can witness Ripburger droning about his vision for Corley Motors. While in this room, pull the motor lever and then the lamp lever twice to break the projector. If you are not quick enough, security will cause Ben to leave the room and result in you needing to try again. After Ripburger's speech comes to a standstill, exit the projector room and find a middle space that allows Ben to use photos that prove Ripburger murdered Malcolm Corley. Doing this causes a new cutscene to trigger, which transitions the game to a chase sequence on the highway. The timing element of using the lever on the lamp for the projector is a bit quirky, but for the most part, this is an easy task to pull off and is meant to transition the player to the game's climax. It's a fun and cinematic moment that quickly juxtaposes to the highlight of the whole game: the final chase sequence.

The Grand Finale

Getting Into The Airplane While Ripburger Pilots His Semi-Truck - [Rating: 3/10] - This is the best part of the game! While the game meanders a bit in the middle, its conclusion is fantastic, and the final battle against Ripburger has an almost Mad Max 2 vibe. When Ben ends up on Ripburger's semi-truck, click on a panel below a window and snatch Ripburger's cane the moment he sticks it out. Open a different panel below the window and use this cane on a fan; eventually, Ben will end up in an engine compartment. Use Ben's tire iron on a fuel line to cause Ripburger's truck to stop moving and end up inside Mo's airplane. Again, everything you need to do here is simple and more about providing a visual spectacle. You needing to mess around with the two panels, and the game calling back to the tire iron after an extended hiatus is slightly contrived. Nonetheless, with the final result as cinematic as it is, it's hard to complain.

Inputting The Correct Commands On The Airplane Monitor - [Rating: 2/10] - While inside the airplane, Ripburger turns on the defensive batteries on his truck to try and kill Ben and Mo. Deciding to boot Ripburger from the plane, one of Mo's gang members directs Ben to use the plane's control panel to push him out. You can accomplish this by climbing a ladder and then selecting the "Take-off," "Post Take-off," "Gear," and "Raise Gear" commands, and in that order. These commands cause Ripburger to jolt out of his truck and become stuck on one of its gun batteries. Getting to the panel is easy enough, and with only four possible commands on the monitor and their order being reasonably easy to figure out, it's hard to find too much fault in this puzzle.

Dropping Ripburger To His Death - [Rating: 3/10] - It's time to get Ripburger his just deserts! With him hanging onto a lone gun turret, enter the cockpit of his truck and then use a monitor there. After selecting the monitor, click "Main Menu," "Defense Menu," "Machine Guns," "Control," and finally, "System Off." With that, you drop Ripburger to his death, but if you want to see a slightly humorous optional scene consider selecting "Fire" before you drop Ripburger. Nevertheless, having one monitor-based puzzle was fine, but having two in a row feels like the design team ran out of ideas. I will also boost this score by one point compared to the previous one because there are more inputs to select, and their order isn't as apparent as in the last puzzle. But a minor complaint if I do say so myself.

Correctly Leaving The Airplane So Ben Doesn't Die - [Rating: 4/10] - Hey, will you look at that? You can die in this game! Most people I know screw this sequence up on their first try, and I'm one of them. When you reach the final puzzle in the game, Ben finds himself inside the airplane moments before it falls into a gorge. However, if you try to run out of the airplane, he'll shift the plane's balance resulting in his death. Instead, the game wants you to have Ben use his motorcycle to quickly drive out of the teetering plane before it falls over and explodes. This scene is excellent, but not having the bike visible enough on this final screen was the wrong call. Ben ducks away to the left as if he's Bugs Bunny putting on a new outfit to out-wit Elmer Fudd. I also feel like the point of Ben's bike being in the plane is not clear enough in general. As I said, this puzzle is designed in a way that guarantees you mess up at least once when playing the game your first time, and that doesn't sit well with me.

Should You Play Full Throttle? (Answer: Sure, Go For It!)

All my grousing aside, I still think people should give this game a shot if they haven't checked it out already. No other game looks and feels like Full Throttle and the creativity that guides its world design and setting is undeniable. And while the game has its share of gameplay-based hiccups here and there, the absence of the SCUMM system and its short playtime make this game an incredibly welcoming experience for adventure game newcomers. For those of you who played Full Throttle years ago and want to test your nostalgia, there's something to gain from buying the remaster. I strongly recommend you play the game with the original pixel-based art, but hearing Tim Schaffer chat with others who worked on the game is a delight, even if you must take his word with a grain of salt. Also, the skull-based interface holds up remarkably well, and the same applies to the game's voice acting.

I caution that you go into Full Throttle with realistic expectations. Its brief story has some lulls that cause it to feel like a partially completed idea. Some levels feel like "filler," and the game sports some downright infuriating puzzles. While I respect the people who present this game as an all-time highlight of LucasArts's "Golden Age," I cannot support that mindset. LucasArts had other titles that are more fully realized and played better than Full Throttle years before its release, and that's not up for dispute. When you compare this game to the peaks of Monkey Island, Fate of Atlantis, or even the Sam & Max series, Full Throttle feels like a fun but aberrant experiment one or two steps above Loom. I give it all the credit it deserves for doing something different and weaning LucasArts away from the SCUMM Engine, but that's where I stand when it comes to deliberating its historical legacy. It's a great game that gave Tim Schaffer the commercial industry clout he needed to go out and make bigger and better games.

Also, here's an archive of me playing Full Throttle live on Twitch!