Thursday, 09 July 2009

• Classic LucasArts Adventure Games Now On Steam

  

  There was a special time in the early 90s, when CompUSA was still in business, when their shelves were stocked with tons of shiny PC games, and when the Star Wars and Indiana Jones properties didn't embarrass anybody.
  
  It was a time when LucasArts made worthwhile video games.
  
  It was... Shangri-La.
  
  That time returns this month when LucasArts and Valve's digital distribution portal, Steam, team up to re-release the classic adventure games of the 90s for a new generation of gamers. The list of games available so far includes:
  
  • Armed and Dangerous
  • Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
  • LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure
  • LOOM
  • Star Wars Battlefront II
  • Star Wars Republic Commando
  • Star Wars Starfighter
  • The Dig
  • Thrillville: Off the Rails
  
  OK, so there are some recent action titles in there as well. Republic Commando, a squad-based FPS about the Clone Troopers from Star Wars: Episode II, is probably the best of that bunch, but The Dig and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis are the ones you want to check out. They're 2D animated point-and-click adventures with Hollywood-calibre voice work and writing, and brain stem-strangling puzzles. Think Myst but actually aesthetically pleasing. They just don't make games like that anymore.
  

  

  Unless you count the Monkey Island games, which also see a resurgence this month thanks to a remake of the first game from 1990, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, as well as a monthly series of new games, Tales of Monkey Island.
  
  It's a great time to be a fan of old-school LucasArts games. It's a pain in the ass to try and get these dusty old DOS games running on our fancy new Vista/XP/Seven machines, so it's a godsend they're going up on Steam's easy-to-use service. And if you haven't experienced these types of games yet you owe it to yourself to see where games like Phoenix Wright, Hotel Dusk and the Room Escape series of Flash games got their inspiration from.
  
  Next, they need to re-release Grim Fandango, another point-and-click classic, and Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight with full multiplayer support.
  
  Have you gone on point-and-click adventures? Do games like The Dig, Grim Fandango and Fate of Atlantis interest you? Do you think classic puzzle/adventure games still have a place in today's crowded gamescape?
  

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