Reseñas recientes de Cam💙Add💛Less

My rating: 9/10
Based on: two playthroughs (one full and one speedrun)
Check out my review of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

TL;DR: This remaster is what the 1991 original was to its predecessor: an improvement in almost every respect. The last game of the series with its creator Ron Gilbert at the helm couldn’t have asked for a more special edition. Witty, imaginative, hilariously irreverent masterpiece, which now looks, sounds and plays even better. Whoever said that dead men tell no tales must have never heard of LeChuck.

Full disclosure: As with many LucasArts adventure video games, I played the MS-DOS original around the turn of the century on my first home PC and it still holds a special place in my heart.

Pros:

(+) the main story following a young pirate novice, Guybrush Threepwood, set some time after the events of The Secret of Monkey Island (TSOMI) which takes him on a four-chapter quest for a legendary treasure across three Caribbean islands
(+) a full crew of unforgettable characters, both main and secondary, with a few old faces like your inexplicably estranged love interest Elaine Marley and zombified nemesis LeChuck, as well as many new enlistments such as Largo LeGrande, LeChuck’s right hand terrorizing the landlocked pirates
(+) helmed by the legendary Ron Gilbert, co-written and –designed with his protégés Tim Schafer and David Grossman, loaded deck-to-deck with their unique brand of wacky hijinks and comedic dialogue
(+) the original text-only script fully voice-acted by a professional cast, including Dominic Armato as Guybrush, Alexandra Boyd as Elaine and Earl Boen as LeChuck who all voiced originally their respective characters in the later entries of the Monkey Island series (The Curse of and Escape from)
(+) the original VGA 256-colour graphics, designed by the team under Steve Purcell and heavily influenced by the cartoonish aesthetics of the concept artist Peter Chan, fully reimagined with high-resolution 2D hand-drawn visuals, a lot of background details and modern effects added, preserving the original concepts and making the art direction possibly timeless
(+) the original MIDI soundtrack by Michael Land and Peter McConnell, utilizing the then revolutionary iMUSE audio sequencing system, completely re-orchestrated and expanded to its fullest Caribbean-flavoured potential with ambient sound effects that perfectly match the pirate theme
(+) the original point-and-click controls modernized, with the verb commands assigned to a radial menu and the inventory relegated to a separate window, which makes for quite an intuitive combination and a step-up from TSOMI: SE scheme
(+) the original and remastered versions can be seamlessly switched back and forth at a press of a button, with an option to retain the full voice-over from the remaster
(+) both the original and the remaster are better realized than their predecessors, the 1990 TSOMI and its 2009 special edition, in almost every respect: technically superior, longer, more expansive, populated and detailed, and with a great surprise ending to boot
(+) the puzzles are logically sound in general, though there are a few abstract ones, as well as quite a lot of backtracking to gather all the necessary items in order to solve them
(+) an impressive attention to details: extensive dialogue trees, a ton of missable character interactions, references, easter eggs, etc.
(+) the hint system with gradually more detailed suggestions introduced in the special edition offsets the minimal degree of hand-holding for the novices of the genre
(+) vast concept art gallery and developers’ commentary by the merry trio of Gilbert, Schafer and Grossman
(+) the added achievements
(+) perfectly playable with a mouse and keyboard, though analogue controllers are also supported
(+) English, French, German, Italian and Spanish subtitles and interface to choose from, but the audio is English only

Cons:

(−) longer than TSOMI, but can be completed relatively quickly if you know what you’re doing (I breezed through it in under 80 minutes on my speedrun playthrough)
(−) an infrequent but annoying bug wherein the menu keeps popping up when the protagonist has been left idling for too long, even during long non-interactive sequences
(−) I was unable to use any mouse controls when the game automatically reloaded after a particular timed sequence i.e. after I’d deliberately let Guybrush and Willie dissolve in acid for the achievement

My rating: 8/10
Based on: one full and one partial playthrough with both endings unlocked
Check out my review of Monkey Island 2: Special Edition

TL;DR: The 2009 special edition of the 1990 classic 2D adventure game is a proper remaster: it preserves the original story and quirky characters, while vastly improving the audiovisuals. Witty and charming as ever; beautifully looking and sounding as never before. Not much to shiver me timbers about, but deserves a jolly yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum.

Full disclosure: As with many LucasArts adventure video games, I played the MS-DOS original around the turn of the century on my first home PC and it still holds a special place in my heart.

Pros:

(+) the main story following the early exploits of a young pirate wannabe, Guybrush Threepwood, as he tries to prove his mettle on Mêlée Island™ and discover the eponymous secret of Monkey Island™ in a fictitious Caribbean setting
(+) a skeleton crew of unforgettable characters, with the crafty love interest Elaine Marley and the nefarious Ghost Pirate LeChuck aboard
(+) helmed by the legendary Ron Gilbert, co-written and –designed with his protégés Tim Schafer and David Grossman, loaded deck-to-deck with their unique brand of wacky hijinks and comedic dialogue
(+) the original text-only script fully voice-acted by a professional cast, including Dominic Armato as Guybrush, Alexandra Boyd as Elaine and Earl Boen as LeChuck who all voiced originally their respective characters in the later entries of the Monkey Island series (The Curse of and Escape from)
(+) the original heavily pixelated VGA 256-colour graphics, designed by the team under Steve Purcell, fully reimagined with high-resolution 2D hand-drawn visuals, a lot of background details and modern effects added, preserving the original concepts and making the art direction possibly timeless
(+) the original MIDI soundtrack by Michael Land and others completely re-orchestrated and expanded to its fullest Caribbean-flavoured glory with ambient sound effects that perfectly match the pirate theme
(+) the original point-and-click controls modernized, with the verb commands assigned collectively to a separate menu and individually to hotkeys, and the inventory relegated to a separate window
(+) the original and remastered versions can be seamlessly switched back and forth at a press of a button
(+) the dialogue tree, default click actions and (almost complete) lack of failstates or dead-ends were innovative in the genre at the time, a trail-blazing example followed since to this day
(+) the puzzles are usually logically sound: the only challenge comes down to finding the required items, figuring out the right sequence or (rarely) struggling with the controls
(+) the insult-and-retort swashbuckling mechanics, reminiscent of the taunt-heavy duels between Inigo Montoya and Dread Pirate Roberts in the 1987 cult classic Princess Bride or the Errol Flynn black-and-white movies, feel as fresh and creative as ever
(+) the hint system with gradually more detailed suggestions introduced in the special edition offsets the minimal degree of hand-holding for the novices of the genre
(+) perfectly playable with a mouse and keyboard, though analogue controllers are also supported
(+) English, French, German, Italian and Spanish subtitles and interface to choose from, but the audio is English only

Cons:

(−) noticeably shorter than many adventure games to follow its original release
(−) the point-and-click controls with the separate menus for verb commands and inventory items are not very intuitive by today’s standards
(−) no concept art gallery nor developers’ commentary, which would be a real booty for the fans, arrr!
(−) a frequent and annoying bug wherein the menu keeps popping up when the protagonist has been left idling for too long, even during long non-interactive sequences
(−) unskippable end credits
(−) no way to change the language in-game after the initial selection screen other than manually editing the settings file
(−) the achievements added to the Xbox version are conspicuously missing on Steam

My rating: 9/10
Based on: one full playthrough

TL;DR: Not your run-of-the-mill 3D platformer: its whimsical story, quirky characters, wildly creative settings, kooky writing, twisted art direction and wacky sound design all make it more than a sum of its parts. Chock-full of original ideas, meticulously crafted and polished by the inmates of the Double Fine’s madhouse over nearly five years of its development, it’s not only a labour of love but an masterful art piece in its own right.

Full disclosure: I own a box with the original PC version, have played it many times before and still consider it one of the best titles of the 2000s, so I’m definitely more than a bit biased.

Pros:

(+) a whimsical main story of Raz, a young boy who joins a summer camp for psychic cadets and discovers a sinister plot afoot, which I won’t spoil, if only because it’s so full of bizarre moments that any serious attempt to explain it can qualify me for a compulsory mental evaluation, if not a straitjacket outright
(+) an extraordinary band of instantly lovable and/or memorable characters with unique personalities (also of the split variety), mental powers/disorders, quirks and minor or major story arcs
(+) a wide array of crazy fun and wildly creative settings, both around the “real world” summer camp (which doubles as a hub) and inside the ten mind-boggling mental realms, complete with their own original visual styles, playstyles and challenges, as well as area-specific characters, enemies and items
(+) high-functioning comedic writing by Double Fine’s asylum warden Tim Schafer and its escaped in-patient, the brilliantly kooky Eric Wolpaw, who went on to write for Gaben Almighty himself (Valve’s Half-Life Episodes 1 and 2, Portal, its sequel and Left 4 Dead)
(+) fully and insanely well voice acted by a professional crew, including the animated series veteran Richard Horvitz as Raz
(+) the twisted art direction by the master sketch artist Peter Chan and cartoonist Scott Campbell that holds up even today, making the 2005 3D graphics look much less outdated by today’s standards
(+) the wacky soundtrack by Peter McConnell, Tim Schafer's frequent collaborator of Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle fame, excellently underscores each environment and synergizes with the goofy sound effects
(+) a variety of gradually unlockable and upgradable psychic powers (including pyrokinesis, telekinesis, levitation and more) that are a hoot to play with and constantly changing gameplay mechanics that keep you thoroughly entertained, at least mildly challenged and totally relieved when you finally beat a particularly difficult section
(+) the OCD-like attention to character and world development, with many missable placements, interactions and dialogues changing as the story progresses and fun little tidbits sprinkled throughout, even after you’ve beaten the game, which, in turn, rewards exploration
(+) the in-game menu provides a much-appreciated to-do-list and helps keep track of the insane amount of various and clever collectibles, mental or otherwise, including power-ups, emotional vaults to break into and baggage to sort out, as well as mental cobwebs to disentangle and figments to disperse, not to mention the “real world” cards, markers, scavenge items and yes, even brains (to kiss for some reason ;-)), all of which are worth collecting not only for the sake of completion but to level up your protagonist
(+) an extensive art gallery in several sets of “primal memories” unlockable through collectibles
(+) the madly immersive and multiple fast travel mechanics let you switch between the specific settings and whole “worlds” you’ve reached before and freely roam them at a moment’s notice, cutting down on backtracking which you might be doing quite a lot if you’re a completionist
(+) perfectly playable with a mouse and keyboard, but analogue controllers are also supported and even better
(+) the infamously difficult, rage-quitting horror of the finale was made easier as part of the 2011 re-release update for the more causal gamers out there, which I personally don’t mind at all

Cons:

(−) the early levels, primarily focused on learning the ropes, are admittedly not as cool as the truly mind-bending ones that come after
(−) frequent sound stuttering and skipping
(−) the low-resolution pre-rendered cutscenes look significantly worse than the in-engine visuals and remind you often enough that the game was originally released back in 2005
(−) occasionally unreliable controls and awkward camera angles while platforming or targeting in sections that call for pin-point accuracy and precision
(−) the noticeably short drawing distance with textures popping up as you move closer
(−) the psychic powers and most frequently used items could have been bound to hotkeys, eliminating the need to select them every time from a radial menu, which can get tiresome after a while
(−) collecting the elusive figments can be a chore: generously scattered around every level and rendered semi-transparently, they’re often difficult to spot among all the crazy visuals

Check out my reviews of other Double Fine’s games:
Broken Age
Brütal Legend
Day of the Tentacle Remastered
Full Throttle Remastered
Grim Fandango Remastered

My rating: 8+/10
Based on: one thorough 100% investigation
Check out my other reviews

TL;DR: An interactive police procedural movie with purposely outdated mechanics, brilliantly written and well-acted, a slow burn and a time sink that offers an engaging story to be discovered bit by bit, an immersive, nostalgic experience of the times gone by, truly worthy of the awards it’s received.

Pros:

(+) a slow-paced, but enthralling open-ended story as told by Hannah Smith whose husband went missing, served up in a series of interviews with this unreliable narrator conducted by police detectives
(+) seven longer interviews cut into nearly 300 smaller clips, accessed and put together piecemeal by the player, offering an almost voyeuristic insight into private, intimate details of Hannah’s life
(+) superb writing and direction by Sam Barlow who definitely has an ear for natural sounding monologues and an eye for the smallest of details
(+) very good performance by Viva Seifert as Hannah, the anchor of the whole narrative: convincing, natural, grounded; Seifert turns out to be a surprisingly capable actress for a professional singer, not of Jared Leto’s quality, perhaps, but certainly not of Britney Spears’ or Mariah Carey’s either; if that doesn’t convince you, she’s also easy on the eyes, her voice sounds quite pleasing and she actually sings and plays the guitar once or twice, performing a wicked murder ballad
(+) neither a pro-feminist nor anti-men propaganda, which was my initial concern before even running the game
(+) melancholy tracks licensed from the American musician Greg Zabriskie, shuffling occasionally as you discover new clips and different treads of the story
(+) unconventional, deliberately outdated gameplay mechanics with an authentic feel of the early 1990s technology: live video footage clips of a VHS quality are accessed by typing in keywords via an old-fashioned database interface on a retro desktop computer with a CRT monitor, complete with screen glares, reflections, scanlines and a 4:3 aspect ratio, propped up by the era-specific sound effects and ambience (loud keystrokes, buzzing of the fluorescent tubes, droning of the monitor, creaking of the computer processing data, screaming of seagulls, etc.)
(+) almost unadulterated immersion: the setting feels so authentic, in fact, that I could swear my eyes felt strained after a prolonged exposure to the screen and there was a distinct buzz in my ears after I’d used headphones for a while
(+) some covert time savers were artfully sneaked into the game: there’s a tutorial of sorts in the form of two readme files on the desktop and a database checker helping you keep track of your progress and the number of the clips yet to uncover, while those unseen are indicated with a helpful icon in the search results
(+) the pacing and the completeness of the story uncovered is up to the player, highly dependent on his or her proficiency at unearthing the clips through keywords, with a limit of five clips displayed at once, making for a unique, unrepeatable experience for each player and (possibly) each playthrough
(+) the rubbish bin contains a retro game of Reversi/Othello if you need a break
(+) the almost subliminal, blink-and-you-miss-it image appearing on the screen occasionally did really scare the heck of out me the first few times, making me question the evidence of my own strained eyes

Cons:

(−) its lack of action and slow pacing may bore some people to death (not me, though)
(−) the deliberately outdated visuals may be considered an eye sore by those who favour HD fidelity to good story-telling
(−) occasional overacting by Seifert
(−) no way to automatically sort the clips by time nor day, which will leave anyone with OC tendencies spending an inordinate amount of time doing it by hand, which could get tedious, given the number of clips
(−) no way to pause the clips or type in user tags while they’re playing, which leads to multiple viewings of the same old videos if you want to be thorough
(−) the low resolution and the filters added to the screen can be a real strain on the eyes after a while if you have a big monitor (the latter can be turned off, though)
(−) very limited language support (only English and Japanese at the time of writing), but there are subtitles, thankfully

My rating: 6/10
Based on: one full playthrough
Check out my other reviews

TL;DR: The remaster of this cult classic holds up as well as a bottle of spoiled wine: it gets the buzz on, but makes you cringe most of the way through. While offering a gripping story with real cinematic qualities and innovative mechanics ahead of its time, it is mired by outdated visuals (even remastered), QTEs and a slew of other issues, both minor and major. Still kinda fun to play, but hard to whole-heartedly recommend to anyone but a die-hard fan. As one of them, I sure hope this is not the definite edition.

Full disclosure: I first played the original around its release in early 2006 and I still have a box with it somewhere, but as much as I enjoyed the interactive storytelling, I didn’t finish it then, discouraged by the ridiculously frequent and difficult QTEs. After many years, however, I decided to give the remaster of this cult classic a second chance.

Pros:

(+) one of the best openings in the history of video games kicks off an instantly gripping story with parallel and intersecting plots that pit the fugitive Lucas Kane against the NYPD investigators Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles (the three POW characters) in a protracted, forty-odd-chapter game of cat(s) and mouse with many twists and turns along the way
(+) some parallel plotlines let you choose an order in which to follow the protagonists’ specific chapters, a few even let you switch back and forth between the protagonists in a single chapter with each of them given different tasks to accomplish
(+) the main cast is properly fleshed out through their interactions with secondary characters and their everyday environments, offering the player a chance to actively participate in their mundane professional duties or a peek into their personal routines and private musings
(+) solid voice acting by professionals, but suffers from the wooden writing occasionally
(+) mechanically ahead of its time due to its timed dialogues and illusion of choice (akin to Telltale games’ formula), emotional state meter (typical of today’s horror survival games), QTEs (a staple of the modern action adventure), multi-frame shots (reminiscent of 24 TV series), cinematic camera angles and extensive use of motion capture, all integral parts of an “interactive drama experience”, to quote the buzzword frequently invoked by the developers
(+) a wide mix of gameplay mechanics: item interactions, timed dialogue selections, QTEs (of a colour-coded Simon Says or alternate-button-mashing variety), timed interactive sequences, stealth sections; often combined within a single chapter
(+) a tutorial is included and highly recommended to learn the ropes and understand the mechanics
(+) atmospheric music by Angelo Badalamenti, a regular collaborator of David Lynch, and the late Normand Corbeil, a composer for the subsequent Quantic Dream’s PlayStation exclusives, Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls
(+) extra content preserved from the original in the form of movies (low-resolution making-of videos or in-engine clips), soundtrack, concept art and replayable action sequences, most of which can be easily unlocked by spending bonus points gathered by collecting bonus cards during a playthrough or awarded automatically upon every game completion
(+) the textures remastered in HD by Aspyr advance the visuals somewhat, making them look a little less outdated (the early PS3 era quality)
(+) the original and the remastered textures can be switched back and forth at the press of a button
(+) supports higher resolutions and widescreen aspect ratio, but the screen is still letterboxed with black mattes above and below to imitate a movie
(+) restores the original title and vision by including the nude scenes previously cut from the censored North American version (curtesy of GTA: San Andreas’ hot coffee controversy)
(+) playable with a mouse and keyboard (but somewhat inconvenient)
(+) adds partial support for a handful of controllers, though an Xbox gamepad is highly preferable

Cons:

(−) the story has a brilliant set-up but progressively runs out of steam with a noticeable tonal shift around the halfway mark as it begins to ditch gritty realism for the mystical and ultimately goes off the rails into the sci-fi territory, as if the developers couldn’t decide what movie genre they want to imitate and ended up aping several, turning the last act into a messy mashup of overly ambitious and hardly compatible ideas
(−) David Cage’s inconsistent writing: rarely brilliant, mostly passable, truly pretentious or overly expository at times, but his creative ideas are enough to keep you entertained at the very least
(−) a ridiculous amount of QTEs that can be so frantic and frustrating (even on Easy difficulty) as to at least distract from, if not obscure altogether the often drawn-out, over-the-top action sequences on screen
(−) the touted “interactive drama experience” is constantly undermined by typical gaming, immersion-breaking elements such as the collectible cards and talismans, on-screen prompts, or the above mentioned QTEs, emotional state meter and life indicator
(−) the stealth segments, as in many games with no proper stealth mechanics, are an unnecessary drag
(−) the mo-cap doesn’t really lend itself to the 2005 character models and animations, which makes the action sequences look floaty like Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions at their worst
(−) a distinct lack of modern quality-of-life features: the checkpoints are few and far between, which makes repeating some long action sequences over and over a real chore; unskippable cutscenes and dialogues are equally annoying if you want or need to repeat a whole chapter
(−) the remaster upgrades the textures, but the difference is not that noticeable, to be honest: I had to switch back and forth between them a few times to be sure which were which
(−) the original meshes are retained, making the models look as blocky as before
(−) the switch between the original and the updated graphics is not at all seamless, revealing the messy inner workings whenever you push the button
(−) the restored nude scenes feel pointless, and as awkward and robotic as ever
(−) no developers’ commentary, which is a unique selling point for many remasters
(−) keyboard and mouse controls are inconvenient at best as they sometimes require switching one hand between the keyboard and the mouse, especially in the sections involving both action sequences and dialogue

My rating: 9/10
Based on: two full and multiple partial playthroughs
Check out my other reviews

Pros:

(+) a purposely understated, open-ended story of a lone boy who wakes up in a dark forest, told without any dialogue through gameplay alone, with only a brief non-interactive sequences at the beginning and the end
(+) simple and clean, but creepy and nightmarish greyscale visuals coupled with film grain filter, high contrast, and a strategic use of focus and light sources let your imagination run wild every step of the way
(+) minimalist, often distorted ambient sounds with no music to break the eerie, haunting, almost palpable atmosphere of oppression and loneliness
(+) simple controls with a wide variety of clever environmental, mechanical and physics-based puzzles with hardly any repetition, each scenario presenting a different challenge or a twist on the tried and tested platforming mechanics
(+) frequent checkpoints and wickedly gruesome death animations make the constant trial-and-error less frustrating and gratifying in its own twisted way, each failure serving as a learning experience
(+) perfectly playable with just a keyboard, but even better with an analogue controller (it’s an Xbox 360 port after all)
(+) a very impressive little gem that takes less than 100 MB of space and doesn't require a high-end rig to run

Cons:

(−) can be considered too short for the asking price
(−) the ending may be considered anti-climactic and leave some players unfulfilled
(−) gets almost too easy if you play it often or long enough… or just to get your money’s worth ;-)

My rating: 7+/10
Based on: one full playthrough
Check out my other reviews

Full disclosure: The game was included in the Humble Day of the Devs 2017 bundle, so I got it pretty cheap.

Pros:

(+) an intriguing, open-ended story of a silent diver delivered primarily through gameplay, interspersed with some non-interactive cutscenes, in the vain of the 2012 masterpiece Journey, curated by the art director of the former, Matt Nava
(+) an underwater “walking” simulator with simple, relaxing and playful swimming mechanics that feel smooth almost like flying, with no combat, character progression nor failstates
(+) a tranquil palate cleanser offering a fully immersive experience without any HUD elements and the easiest challenges imaginable reduced to finding and pulling a switch or avoiding proximity to certain objects
(+) a definite eye candy thanks to its mesmerizing and awe-inspiring art direction with simplified graphics, but sharp, vibrant and breath-taking visuals with a rich variety of marine life all combined into one of the most lively and stunningly beautiful underwater ecosystems to date, powered by Unreal 4 engine
(+) each chapter sports its own colour pallete and biodome with a distinct flora and fauna
(+) encourages relaxation and peaceful exploration in search of the hidden collectibles
(+) dynamically changing, fully orchestrated music composed by Austin Wintory of Journey and Banner Saga fame

Cons:

(−) can be considered too short and inconsequential for the asking price, so it may be better to buy it on sale or in a bundle
(−) its minimalism verging on simplicity, limited interactivity and lack of any real challenge may discourage competitive gamers
(−) a PlayStation port with playable, but clunky keyboard and mouse controls (rebindable only in the Steam controller configuration), so an analogue controller is highly recommended even by the developers themselves
(−) a recurring issue with the diver unable to boost at the beginning of some sections that forced me to quit the game and load it again
(−) infrequent, but noticeable framerate drops on Ultra settings
(−) occasional texture clipping

My rating: 8/10
Based on: one full playthrough

Full disclosure: As with many LucasArts adventure video games, I played the Windows original around the turn of the century on my first home PC and I still have fond memories of it.

Pros:

(+) a high-octane main story set in a gritty near-future alternate-history universe, following Ben, a tough and gruff biker gang leader, as he gets mixed up in murder, corporate and vehicular warfare, and other manly exploits
(+) a motley crew of larger-than-life and memorable supporting characters like the elusive love interest Mo and the fiendish antagonist Adrian Ripburger
(+) relative freedom to explore the game world in each of the greater sections
(+) originally, one of the first games using a radial selection menu to complement the traditional point-and-click controls
(+) occasional bike-riding and/or -fighting sequences that go beyond the routine mouse-based adventuring and kick the gameplay into higher gear
(+) the dry, but witty writing by the dynamic duo of Tim Schafer (lead) and David Grossman (contributing), voiced with gusto by a talented crew including Mark Hamill himself in no less than 3 roles and many other professional voice actors, a feature truly unique back in 1995
(+) the rough-and-tumble, grimy, desolate but vigorous world envisioned in the original hand-drawn art designs by the masters Peter Chan and Larry Ahern redone completely, but respectfully and beautifully in high resolution and with full widescreen support
(+) the full-screen cutscenes are not only more plentiful, but better animated (and explosive) than in most other classic LucasArts titles
(+) the remastered high-powered SFX, licensed music and original tracks composed by Peter McConnell still rock and crank the whole production up to eleven
(+) puzzles with rational solutions that don’t require a PhD in abstract thinking, with the highlightable interactive objects and general objectives often laid out quite clearly in dialogue, but the specifics left for the player to figure out, all of which makes for a perfect starting point for the novices of the genre
(+) the original and the remaster can be switched back and forth at the press of a button
(+) newly introduced Steam achievements encourage exploration, inquisitiveness and sometimes quick reflexes
(+) a vast concept art gallery and extensive developers’ commentary by Schafer, Ahern and McConnell, with the lead sound designer Clint Bajakian, as well as the production manager Casey Acklee and the lead programmer Stephen Shaw
(+) perfectly playable with a mouse and keyboard, but analogue controllers are also supported
(+) expanded language options: full localizations in English, French, Italian and German, but only interface and subtitles in Spanish and Portuguese-Brazilian
(+) all in all, yet another hot rod saved from a scrapyard of gaming history, restored and pimped out by Double Fine

Cons:

(−) noticeably shorter than most other classic LucasArts adventure games
(−) unlike in most similar games of the era, the puzzles are not very challenging and the inventory items can’t be combined, which may disappoint the veterans of the genre
(−) the occasional action sequences can annoy the purists out there
(−) not enough hand holding for novices (many objectives are pretty self-explanatory and the interactive objects can be highlighted, but there’s no hint system to help you out, no journal nor check-lists to keep track of your progress)
(−) an unquashed bug had me stuck on a literal mine field, autosaved in place, forcing me to revert to an older manual save
(−) developers’ commentary automatically plays on top of the on-screen dialogue during some if the cutscenes and the subtitles often can’t keep up with the commentary

Check out my reviews of other Double Fine’s games:
Broken Age
Brütal Legend
Day of the Tentacle Remastered
Grim Fandango Remastered
Psychonauts

My rating: 9/10
Based on: one full playthrough

Full disclosure: I played and enjoyed the MS-DOS original around the turn of the century on my first home PC along with its predecessor embedded inside, Maniac Mansion, which I previously played on my Commodore 64 a decade or so back.

Pros:

(+) nutty storyline involving 3 playable characters (clever but awkward nerd Bernard, lazy but wise-cracking roadie fatso Hoagie and loopy but sassy Laverne) stranded in 3 distinct time periods (the present, the colonial past and the dystopian future) trying to stop a purple tentacle monster hell bent on world domination
(+) a varied cast of supporting characters including quirky archetypes, cheeky historical figures and anthropomorphic tentacles
(+) unique time travel, inventory sharing and character switching mechanics involving high-end, state-of-the-art porta-potties
(+) freedom to explore the interconnected time periods (worlds)
(+) the wickedly irreverent and hilarious writing by the supreme LucasArts trio of Dave Grossman, Tim Schafer and Gary Winnick, ranging from potty jokes and clever easter eggs to high-brow references, delivered through the remastered, deliberately cartoonish voice acting
(+) wacky, often slapstick humour and animations reminiscent of classic cartoons with the original hand-drawn art style by the masters Peter Chan and Larry Ahern redone completely, but respectfully and beautifully in high resolution and with full widescreen support
(+) the properly goofy SFX and music are a blast from the past, but hold up splendidly, especially remastered
(+) the classic point-and-click controls improved by substituting the original unintuitive SCUMM command syntax with a streamlined radial selection menu
(+) logically sound puzzles with only a few verging on the absurd, their solving aided a bit by some easily missable hints hidden in cutscenes, conversations and throw-away lines
(+) you can switch back and forth between the original and the remaster at the press of a button
(+) the first Maniac Mansion is still playable in-game, a feature unheard-of in 1993, but imitated many times since
(+) newly introduced Steam achievements make for thorough exploration and manic experimentation
(+) vast concept art gallery and extensive developers’ commentary by Schafer, Grossman, Chan and Ahern, along with the composers Peter McConnell and Clint Bajakian
(+) perfectly playable with a mouse and keyboard, but analogue controllers are also supported
(+) expanded language options: English, French, Italian, German and Spanish interface and subtitles options, but only English and German audio
(+) another fine and masterful remaster from Double Fine overall worth paying through the suction cup for (all puns intended)

Cons:

(−) developers’ commentary sometimes plays on top of the on-screen dialogue, which makes it confusing to hear
(−) infrequent, but annoying stops in character dialogue delivery while waiting for the subtitles to catch up
(−) some background dithering and low-framerate animations are more noticeable on a modern widescreen monitor
(−) occasional textual mistakes in developers' commentary subtitles (not enough proof-reading?)
(−) the first Manic Mansion playable in-game has not been remastered, only updated with a new menu, including a save/load/resume feature
(−) minimal hand holding (some easily missable hints can be gleaned from cutscenes or conversations, but there’s no journal nor check-lists to remind you)
(−) some of the more complex and multi-step puzzles may throw you for a (time) loop
(−) not nearly enough tentacles for hentai enthusiasts ;-)

Check out my reviews of other Double Fine’s games:
Broken Age
Brütal Legend
Full Throttle Remastered
Grim Fandango Remastered
Psychonauts

My rating: 7/10
Based on: a full playthrough with all of the challenges beaten and all of the Endless arenas unlocked
Check out my other reviews

Pros:

(+) “the most innovative shooter I’ve played in years” (sort of kinda I guess, but I’m obliged to say that anyway)
(+) 2-3 hours of the passable main story with a bit cheesy, but intriguing meta-narrative (a game within a game), which is just a warm-up for…
(+) … potentially countless hours of play with Endless mode (9 arenas x 4 modifiers) and 14 challenges of varied difficulty and victory conditions
(+) skill-based combat with strategic bullet-time mechanics that defy established FPS conventions but let you feel like an action movie star
(+) the game lets you record, edit and upload real-time replays of every level you play
(+) heaven on Earth for “good dogs”, as this game calls compulsive gamers
(+) minimalist, but sharp art design (reminiscent of Mirror’s Edge) and sparse, but juicy sound effects with no needless distractions
(+) very engrossing in short bursts
(+) slashing red dudes with a katana never gets old
(+) perfectly playable with a keyboard and mouse, though analogue controllers are also supported
(+) SUPER HOT SUPER HOT SUPER HOT SUPER HOT SUPER HOT…
(+) decent enough effort from a small team of my fellow Poles

Cons:

(−) constant repetition makes its USP (unique selling point) feel gimmicky and pretty tedious after a while
(−) the same levels recycled over and over and over…
(−) frequent texture clipping issues
(−) noticeable performance drops during the later waves in the Endless arenas with numerous enemies and a faerie of flying bullets, shards and other effects on screen
(−) glitchy Speedrun achievements (both unlocked before I’ve beaten all the levels)
(−) a painful lack of global leaderboards (for competitive players)