After listening to the latest OiO Podcast, combined with my love of Life Is Strange, I decided to dive into one of the forerunners of the graphic adventure genre: Full Throttle Remastered. It’s a genre I never really got exposed to in my youth. Can a 25 year-old game meet my expectations? Let’s find out.
- Rogue Hippo’s Review Score: 5.5
- Released: 2015 (Originally 1995)
- Hours to Complete: 5
Full Throttle Remastered is the remastered version of Full Throttle, which was released in 1995. The games are virtually identical, with the remastered version simply touching up the graphics and audio. The game follows the story of Ben Throttle, a hard-nosed biker, and leader of the Polecats. The story quickly revs into high gear when Ben is bushwhacked by some nefarious henchmen, and left for dead. Things go from bad to worse when Ben learns of a plot to ambush his gang and frame him for murder. To do this, Ben needs to solve a series of puzzles by finding objects and clues in order to clear any roadblocks in his path (both literally and figuratively).
What I liked: The voice-acting and story were easily the highlights of this game for me. The characters are entertaining, and the script is well-written with a nice combination of gravity and humor. I saw Mark Hamill’s name during the intro credits and kept waiting for his character to appear. It turns out that his acting was so good that I had been listening to him for the entire game without realizing it was him. Here’s a little taste of the voice work in Full Throttle Remastered:
What I Didn’t Like: Many of the puzzles didn’t feel intuitive, at least not for me. There are quite a few examples of this and I picked one out to illustrate: In the following scene, there’s some Meat in the refrigerator that you’ll need later in the game. The Meat is almost impossible to see. See if you can spot it in the next few seconds of this clip:
It turns out that horizontal brown line by Ben’s head is the Meat and you have to click on that perfectly or you don’t have the option to pick it up. I wish that this was the only instance, but there are many similar cases throughout the game where you have to click on a random object that blends perfectly into the surroundings; which leads me into my next complaint…
You’ll get stuck frequently, and it’s frustrating. It might be worth it if the payoff was proportional to the time spent mired in frustration, but that’s usually not the case. Generally, completing one frustrating fetch simply leads you to another other. Here’s a good example of where I got stuck for a looooong time: After finding the Bike Ramp that Ben needs to jump over a gorge, Ben keeps getting chased down by the CaveFish gang who take the ramp back. How do you escape? Watch 30 seconds of this video to find out:
Somehow, you’re supposed to know that instead of leaving with the ramp, you’re supposed to stop at that specific spot and use the sharp edge of the ramp to pry some lane markers off of the road, which will confuse the CaveFish when they pursue you. I’m glad it’s 2021 and not 1995 because I NEVER would have figured that out without Googling it. There were at least three, (or five) similar situations that caused me to take the easy way out and find for the answer online.
The end result of all those frustrating and unintuitive puzzles is that you spend a LOT of time wandering around clicking random things in Full Throttle Remastered. To illustrate this, my first playthrough took me 5 hours. My second playthrough (once I knew where everything was, and how to use it) took me 2.5 hours. That means I spent half the game wondering why I couldn’t escape the CaveFish, or simply using every object I had on every object on the map because I was stuck and out of ideas. Full Throttle Remastered is a lot like when the NFL Network replays a football game without showing the time between plays, and an entire game is really only 45 minutes of meaningful action.
The Good
- The story is what kept me interested in this game.
- The voice acting is top notch.
The Bad
- Many things weren’t intuitive at all.
- Getting stuck on a puzzle is really frustrating.
- There’s not much actual game here.
The Verdict
Full Throttle Remastered is equal parts fantastic storytelling and frustrating fetch quests. I really enjoyed the story, but I’m also relieved that I’m finished with this game. I’m glad I was able to try one of the precursors of the point-and-click/puzzle/graphic adventure genre but I don’t think I’ll be back anytime soon. If I’m ever in the mood to experience the story again, I honestly think it would be more enjoyable to watch the cut scenes on YouTube.
Until Next Time,
Rogue Hippo