Have you ever used the ‘you had to be there’ expression when you complete a narrative and you only draw blank expressions from your audience? This is the case with Full Throttle, the remastered edition.
It’s hard to explain how and why Full Throttle was important back in 1995. Maybe it was because it had style, personality and snappy one liners. Maybe because you played a wrongfully accused bad-ass biker that had to clear his name and maybe because you occasionally solved riddles by kicking and punching things. It’s hard to understand this today: you see, in Full Throttle Remastered you only have to press F1 to switch between the old and the remastered version, thus travelling back and forth 23 whole years at the push of the button. You truly wonder. ‘My God, was Sam’s face actually this splatter of pixels?’. ‘Did we really worship this game?’. Yes, we did.
Graphically, the remastered version is gorgeous. It’s actually unfair to call it a remastered version- the visuals are completely redrawn, not just filtered over with a jag-smudging gimmick. Furthermore, it’s refreshing to enjoy the remixed audio, especially the magnificent Roy Conrad (sadly no longer with us) and those sick guitar riffs in crystal-clear fidelity.
So what you see and hear in the remastered widescreen version of Full Throttle is definitely worth it. The engine underneath, however, still uses the old, eccentric laws of 90’s adventures, even if Full Throttle was insanely streamlined and simplified compared to the standards of that period. So basically you just highlight all hotspots of interaction (a courtesy to the console crowd), pick up what’s not nailed on the ground and click stuff until something works. This leads to a game that runs 4 to 6 hours long and if you add a weird bike-combat sequence that feels like an awkward mini-game, some of you might be perplexed by the shortness of it all (especially if you skip some of the dialogue options). If you really want to rush it (please don’t) you can complete Full Throttle in less than an hour.
So it’s very simple, basically. Like it or not, you all fall into two different age groups right now. As a remaster, Full Throttle is worth it and is far from a cheap cash-in (the last remastered game I played was Grim Fandango and its technical make-over was disappointing). So, group A and old guys: you can definitely spare 15 bucks for some hard rock nostalgia, especially for the developer commentary. Group B and new guys? Not so sure you’ll feel that you’ll get your money’s worth; and trust me, this is by no means a patronizing comment. Considering the new cartoon art style, some of you might mistake this for a Flash quickie you can play for free in a game-hosting site. It’s okay though. You kinda had to be there.
I strongly disagree about the new visuals, I think they took some once amazing pixel art and turned it into a very generic looking cartoon. Not saying you’re wrong, just a different view of the new art style. Glad you can play it in classic mode at least.
it’s a matter of taste, like you said, Do note, however that what you NOW call ‘pixel art’, was then ‘state of the art’. So basically they ‘remastered’ it into this era’s visual standards.
Sprite based adventure game graphics a la Monkey’s Island were absolutely NOT state of the art in 1995. There already were polygon based games around at that time which took that spot. Ridge Racer was released in arcades in 1993. Neither are crudely drawn vector graphics this era’s visual standards.
I love Full Throttle and I’m glad it got a rerelease but these new graphics are not looking too hot. Instead of redrawing everything, they should’ve just added a nice and well made CRT-shader. Pixelated games look much better on old timely monitors but since those monstrosities are forever gone from most homes, emulating the characteristics of a tube monitor is the next best thing.
To my eyes even huge naked pixels on a large flat screen look better than those redraws though.
I was barely finished being born when this came out it seems. Those new highlighting features will probably save me the pixel hunt, and hopefully I won’t need a walkthrough to play it. Though considering it’s the same people who made Grim Fandango I am not holding much expectations on logical puzzles.
As for the art, I am not sure I like this new “state of the art” art, the pixelated one gives off a rugged metal vibe, the remaster looks like a kiddy cartoon version of it. Personally I see the redraw not being faithful to the original. It looks like it screws up the tone too much.
I just hope I get the remastered audio with the older art.
It’s understandable. Do note that by pressing F1 and doing the old/new switcheroo, the audio changes as well, on the spot.
ALSO ALSO note, that the ‘cute retro pixel effect’ is bound to your display. It might be passable in a regular monitor. But if you have a large display or play on a med/large size TV, it’s not that pretty.
Aww man! So I suppose I have to live with lower quality audio.
That makes sense. Personally I can’t see myself ever hooking up to play a retro adventure game on a TV, but I understand that those who play on large displays or TVs will probably need the new art.
As a person who plays retro games I am happy when these old games get remasters so I can finally find an excuse to play or recommend to my idiotic friends who dismiss games based on graphics. But when the remasters mess up the originals artistry I can’t help but feel the gamers playing the newer one is missing something. I just wish these remasters were more faithful.
You mentioned you found the Grim Fandango disappointing technically, but I rather have some smoothing filter than a redraw that changes the feel of the game. I fear by giving pass mark to the remasters that mess up the artistry more devs will care less and less about preserving the integrity of the original.