It should be no surprise that my next review is another LucasArts game, Full Throttle Remastered. Full Throttle was released in 1995 on CD ROM(!), applying the familiar LucasArts model of absurd puzzles, witty dialogue, brilliant art, and no deaths.
You play Ben, the leader of a biker gang named the Polecats and an aficionado of kicking stuff to make it work. Unlike other LucasArts characters such as Guybrush, Bernard, or Zak, Ben is no-nonsense and not afraid of anyone or anything. Not even snakes. When I grow up, I want to be like Ben.
As with your typical point and click adventure, Ben is a fish out of water and interacts with characters and objects with a tickle of the pixelated cursor. Ben’s dilemma is that he’s being framed for murder. As a result, he loses touch with his gang and must pick up the pieces to clear his good, or badass, name.
Full Throttle Remastered PS4 Review
The remastered version has characters and animations redrawn in super-sharp HD, improved 3D modelling, and redone audio—including the rawk soundtrack—for our eyeballs and earholes. Full Throttle does keep the same interface – a verb wheel, as opposed to Day of the Tentacle Remastered’s verb list.
Highlight a point of interest, and you can either talk/lick it, pick it up/interact with it, or kick it. That’s how I function daily: licking or kicking random objects. You can also press up on the D-pad to highlight areas you can interact with. This is definitely a plus, as I remember playing the original and getting stuck in an area where you have to kick a crack in the wall. It was highly infuriating, but it’s simple now.
Approximating a 25-year vintage, Full Throttle Remastered does have its issues. The action sequences where you fight other bikers and the general travel on the bike are very choppy, framerate-wise. I don’t get technical often, but even I noticed the slowdown. I encountered this when I had the original game, as my PC wasn’t beefy enough to cope, so from my perspective, it’s normal.
Ear Of The Jackal
The opening sequence featured The Gone Jackals, and the piece sounds as good now as it did over 20 years ago. Full Throttle opened my shell-likes in more ways than one. This was quite possibly the first game I played that had fully spoken dialogue. Without a doubt, Roy Conrad, who voiced Ben, sounds terrific, and the original recordings remain.
But it was Mark Hamill who stood out as Ripburger. It wasn’t until a replay back in the mid-’90s that I realised that Mark Hamill was indeed Luke Skywalker. I mean, it makes sense, what with the George Lucas connection (they were lovers), but I had no idea he was a voice actor, too. This was before the internet. Wow – before the internet.
Like most Full Throttle fans, I was pleased to hear that a sequel was in the pipeline, but regrettably, it never materialised. Sometimes, these things are for the best, as the game can remain on a pedestal without anyone saying the sequel ruined it. Still, I would have liked to have had the opportunity at least, but I assume they also didn’t want to proceed without Roy.
It took a few nights to complete, as I now have a thing for unlocking trophies on the PS4. It’s the little things. I’ve also switched my PS4 theme from Grim Fandango Remastered to Full Throttle Remastered, and I love the ambience it creates, forever immortalising one of the more memorable, if brief, point and clicks of the 90s. Fans of the genre must seek this one out.
