Although George Lucas is predominantly known for his Lucasfilm brand that produced iconic movies like Star Wars and Indiana Jones, he also founded LucasArts. Before the company moved solely into publishing and licensing, LucasArts was one of gaming’s most respected AAA developers.
The company began making games in the mid-80s and continued until Disney’s acquisition in 2012, but it was the 90s where LucasArts shone brightest. They were predominantly known for creating graphical adventures, some of which are still considered among the very best in the genre’s history today.
LucasArts also published many great games from other developers in the 90s, like Star Wars: TIE Fighter and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, but this list will only feature games that the company developed themselves.
10 Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II is one of the many Star Wars video games that LucasArts released. It offered players the chance to live out their fantasy of being a Jedi or Sith, with excellent lightsaber combat and numerous force abilities like Choke for Sith and health restoration for Jedi.
Unsurprisingly, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II is the only entry on this list that doesn’t fall under the genre of graphical adventure.
9 Loom
Loom differentiates itself from LucasArts’ other graphical adventures with its intricate and fleshed out plot that is based more on storytelling than witty humor.
The game is also unique for the musical distaff, which can create spells with its four-note tunes. Loom was released in January 1990 and set a high benchmark for all of LucasArts’ subsequent 90s games.
8 The Curse of Monkey Island
LucasArts’ Monkey Island series is one of the most iconic and well-recognized graphical adventure series in the genre. The Curse of Monkey Island is the third game in the series, and the final one to use point and click mechanics before the series returned in 2009.
The point-and-click genre was quickly becoming outdated upon The Curse of Monkey Island‘s 1997 release, as 3D games like Super Mario 64 and Quake marked the beginning of the end for the genre’s AAA status. But The Curse of Monkey Island showed that the genre wasn’t going to go out without a fight.
7 Full Throttle
1995s Full Throttle put players in control of Ben, a biker gang leader who is framed for murder. Unconventionally for the time, the game featured high-quality voice actors, such as Mark Hamill.
Full Throttle Remastered released in 2017, significantly updating the graphics and bringing the game to PlayStation users for the first time.
6 Sam & Max Hit The Road
Iconic comic book characters Sam and Max were transformed into graphical adventure heroes in 1993. Sam & Max Hit The Road took the pair on a trip around the United States as they search for a bigfoot named Bruno, a once frozen carnival attraction.
The game epitomized much of what LucasArts’ games were known for in the 90s, with well-written, genuinely funny dialogue and unorthodox puzzle solutions that rewarded players for thinking outside the box, however ridiculous the solution may have seemed.
5 Day of the Tentacle
Day of the Tentacle‘s unique plot took players on a time-traveling adventure as the game’s three main characters attempt to change the course of history and stop the mutant monster Purple Tentacle from taking over the world. The time-machine malfunctioned though, sending the three protagonists to different points in history. Time-travel is the core component to many of the game’s puzzles, as the player can switch between the three protagonists and send items to one another.
Double Fine productions remastered the game in 1993, releasing it on PC, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, and OS X devices.
4 The Secret of Monkey Island
The first game in the Monkey Island series, The Secret of Monkey Island engrossed gamers into its fictional Caribbean setting and introduced the world to the loveable fool Guybrush Threepwood.
In 2009, Empire listed The Secret of Monkey Island as the 47th greatest video game ever made. 2009 was the same year that a special edition of the game was released, which greatly improved the visuals and added voice acting.
3 Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge
The Secret of Monkey Island‘s successor, Monkey Island 2, LeChuck’s Revenge, narrowly edges the first game to a higher spot on this list. LucasArts didn’t try to fix what wasn’t broken and kept much of the gameplay, puzzle-design, and wit from the first game.
LeChuck’s Revenge ranks higher though as it featured some of LucasArt’s most memorable puzzles, such as the spitting contest, skeleton dance, and devilishly infamous monkey wrench.
Much like its predecessor, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge had a re-release special edition.
2 Grim Fandango
The point and click genre’s day in the sun ended in style with one of Metacritic’s highest-rated games of all time, Grim Fandango.
Grim Fandango’s memorable story and cast of characters took influence from vastly different places, like film noir, Mexico’s Day of the Dead, and Aztec mythology. The game was recognized for its quality, winning numerous awards that included IGN’s Adventure Game of the Year award, and GameSpot’s Game of the Year award.
Grim Fandango was remastered in 2015, coming to consoles and mobile devices for the first time.
1 Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis isn’t just known for featuring some of the most ingenious puzzles that LucasArts ever created but also for its incredible story based around the lost city of Atlantis that rivals Raiders of the Lost Ark as being Indy’s best adventure ever.
The game is one of the few on this list not to have been remastered, but it did feature as an unlockable in the 2009 Nintendo Wii game Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings.
![\"IT電腦補習](\"http://itteacheritfreelance.hk/test/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/logo2-2.png\"){kind=logo}
www.itsec.hk
www.itsec.vip
www.itseceu.uk
Leave a Reply