Uh oh, probably going to get in trouble for this one
Some twenty years ago, my brother got a NES for Christmas, and one of the games he had was Maniac Mansion, a point-n-click adventure about a group of kids breaking into an old man’s house to steal his car and murder his hamster. (Also he’s an evil scientist who kidnapped the lead’s girlfriend.) I was definitely too young to understand it al all, but I did figure out how to get the characters to drown in the swimming pool, and that was funny.
Possible reasons for my younger self to need a good talking to aside, DotT is a sequel to Maniac Mansion featuring Bernard, the worst character from Maniac Mansion, and his two friends who weren’t in it at all, travelling through time to stop Purple Tentacle taking over the world. It’s all very humourous and cartoony, and rife with the typical off-beat solutions to puzzles that adventure games of the time are famous for.
It’s all very reminiscent of the people behind what is now known as Doublefine Productions, but… I don’t know. For some reason it doesn’t work for me in this one. It feels very similar in tone to Psychonauts which I thought was great, but DotT is missing something.
Also, just a personal opinion here, but I really dislike the art direction. It fills me with revulsion and always has for the many years I’ve known about its existence. I know that’s petty, and an opinion probably not shared by many, but this blog isn’t intended to be unbiased!
Fin or Bin:
It’s probably some kind of sacrilege to Bin one of the old LucasArts classics. I’m sure if this blog ever gets a larger following, people will find this post and hound me about it for the rest of time.
Recommended To:
You’ve likely played a Tim Schafer game before- Psychonauts, Broken Age, Brutal Legend, Grim Fandango. If you like what’s on offer in those, there’s enough of a similar direction and tone here that you should give it a try.
(Steam)