Full Throttle

"Great game but feels way too short"

It's the future, I guess. Not much is given in the way of setting, but it doesn't really matter. Full Throttle is a very interesting, if all too brief, adventure game.

You're Ben, leader of the Polecats and proud customers of the Corley Motors empire. ''Pond slime'' exec Adrian Ripburger (voiced by gasp, Mark Hammil) murders Corley himself and pins the blame on your gang. As the only one not in jail, it's up to you to prove the innocence of your buddies.

So what does this mean? First you have to find the keys to your bike to pursue the bad guys, then you have to beat up a bunch of other bikers, then it's on to letting the world know of the gang's innocence. And finally, a showdown with your archenemy. All in a nicely animated and voice acted world that's a little offbeat like all Lucasarts games, but not as downright satirical as Sam and Max or Day of the Tentacle.

Besides the usual find items, use them to solve puzzles and advance through the game deal, there are also one or two sections where Ben has to engage in bike-to-bike fights with other chopper punks. Here he can, and will need to, acquire a variety of weapons from his opponents (use the skull mace! use the skull mace!) to win against certain other bikers and advance. Should Ben be dismounted by his foe, however, no harm is really done. After a short crash scene, he just dusts himself off and keeps riding the road. Like many other Lucasarts games, even if you die, you're not really dead in Full Throttle.

While Full Throttle looks, sounds and plays great, if you're a seasoned adventure gamer and the arcade sequences don't get away from you, it's nothing you can't solve in about two hours. And it feels like even less. Space Quest 3 didn't seem like a short game, King's Quest didn't seem like a short game. Full Throttle has more content than either and it does feel too short after you finally see Ben ride off into the sunset.

It would've been cool to see what this would've been like pushing it onto a second disc to make it more fulfilling. The feeling of length is all I have to complain about. But play this game anyway if you're into point and click adventures. You'd really be cheating yourself if you don't.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/05/04