"Y'know, LucasArts are pretty damn good at these"

And here we go again. I'm guessing that if you've bothered to look for reviews on this game, you're fairly familiar with the whole LucasArts graphic adventure system (and this game, like most of them, works off the SCUMM engine), so this review, bar the next paragraph, will be largely aimed at point 'n' click vets. That's not to say that DoTT doesn't offer something for newbies too...

The PC graphic adventure scene was very big in the early Nineties, mainly thanks to the phenomenal titles that LucasArts were releasing (I strongly recommend Monkey Island, Sam & Max Hit the Road and Indiana Jones & the Fate of Atlantis). The whole genre is based around lateral thinking and puzzle-solving, so you prefer to solve all of life's problems with your trigger-finger, steer clear (and stay the hell away from my house). In essence, the story throws up long-term objectives, such helping a character get home, then throwing up lots of little obstacles to that objective - like being trapped in a prison cell guarded by a giant tentacle 200 years in the future. Using the range of actions available to you (Push, Talk To, Pick Up) etc, you interact with the objects, people and environments around you to try and solve these puzzles. For example, to get out of the cell, you could convince the guard that you're going to throw up, get taken to the doctor and try and escape from there. It's all very cleverly done; LucasArts have had a lot of practice.

Story
Dr Fred Edison's been experimenting, and the slime that he's pumping out of his laboratory is wreaking havoc with the environment. For a start, it's created a demonic super-intelligent Purple Tentacle hell-bent on taking over the world. Oops. Never one to despair, Dr Fred uses his time travelling toilet, the Chron-o-John, to send three plucky teenagers, Hoagie, Bernard and Laverne, back through time to before Purple Tentacle was created, so they can switch off the slime machine and avoid the whole problem. Unfortunately, like most American-made electronic goods, it doesn't work properly. Hoagie finds himself with Jefferson and Washington, Bernard finds himself back where (and when) he left, and Laverne ends up in a futuristic tentacle-controlled dystopia. You take control of all three as you try to get them home and stop Purple before it's too late.

Presentation
DoTT hasn't got eye-bleedingly good bump-mapped graphics or deafening 7.1 surround sound, but that's not important. In fact, for a point 'n' clicker, it looks and sounds pretty good. The bold colours and cartoony graphics fit well with the silliness of the story, and the fact that there's any voice acting at all is a step up from older games. It's not half bad either.

Gameplay
Pretty bloody good. The whole thing is really funny, not in a laugh-out-loud way, but definitely enough to make you smile, especially when you find yourself entering a mummy into a beauty contest or blowing up George Washington's false teeth. The dialogue is good too, well-thought-out enough to drop hints so that you don't get too stuck, but with a few gags to keep you interested. The puzzles themselves are well-paced and challenging, and experienced point 'n' click fans will enjoy the new spin provided by the three-player puzzles and time-travel gameplay, since success often depends on you sending the right objects back and forth through time to be used by one of the three teens.

The only criticism that I'd level at DoTT's gameplay is that occasionally the puzzles are too obscure. It's partially down to the off-the-wall humour and the whole time-travel thing, but I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that ''Use Hamster with Microwave'' is a little bizarre. It's true that slightly bizarre puzzles tend to give these LucasArts graphic adventures their challenge, but it seems a tad more problematic in DoTT than in other games.

Verdict
If you're into this genre, DoTT would be a fine addition to your collection. If you're a newbie but are generally good with lateral thinking, you should definitely consider this game. If you're completely green at this sort of thing, this probably isn't the title to cut your teeth on. I'd recommend Monkey Island 2 (which has an Easy mode) or Sam & Max instead.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/13/04