The 90s will always be remembered as the most glorious era that graphic adventures livedbecause during those years such essential games as Grim Fandango, Hollywood Monsters, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Monkey Island were published, and of course we cannot forget the splendid Day of the Tentacle.
Also known by its name in Spanish, that is, day of the tentacle, is the continuation of Maniac Mansion and for many one of the best graphic adventures that have been developed in all of history. The original title was published in 1993 by LucasArts and 23 years later this great cult classic was brought back to life in remastered form with Day of the Tentacle Remastered.
It does not matter if you played it at the time or if it is the first time you would give it a try, because thanks to the Xbox Game Pass subscription you can download it on your Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S or also in pc. A good way for you to see first-hand the potential of this game that boasts an average score of 86 on Metacritic.
In this graphic adventure, the leading role falls on a group of three friends: bernarda nerd and who acts as the team leader; Hoagie, a somewhat peculiar rocker; and The verne, a somewhat crazy girl. All of them will go to Dr. Fred’s laboratory in the same mansion where the first title of the saga took place, since their objective will be to travel to the past.
The reason is because the evil Purple Tentacle has drunk from a radioactive waste somewhat poisonous that has caused a mutation in his body so that arms emerge from him, which seems to be enough for him to now decide to conquer the world. For this reason, it will be necessary to travel just inside the day to prevent this event from taking place.
However, the latrines in the form of time machines that they use for this suffer a catastrophe. Unfortunately for our charismatic characters, Hoagie travels 200 years into the past, at a time when George Washington himself was present, while Laverne ends up 200 years into the future at a time when the Purple Tentacles have gotten away with yours and the dystopian world has become yours. For his part, Bernard will remain in the present.
From there is when this crazy adventure will really start, so funny and with some dialogues that give off a very intelligent humor, especially for the crazy situations in which each of them will be involved to reunite. To do this, they can use the latrines to send objects to each other, regardless of the number of years that separate them.
There is no doubt that this is one of the main mechanics of the game, as is the interact with the environment itself, because this will also take its toll on the timeline. In this way, something that happens in the past will affect the present and the future. All these are details to take into account to solve some of the numerous and convoluted ones that are emerging, although on all of them it must also be recognized that they are very original. In general, the difficulty is very well balanced to make it so entertaining from start to finish.
Basically the gameplay consists of collecting objects, combining them and using them with characters or elements of the environment, although another detail that makes this adventure so special is its artistic section so colorful that it seems entirely that we are facing a cartoon movie. For its part, the soundtrack is not particularly relevant, but it is appreciated that all the dialogues are dubbed, in English, yes, with Spanish subtitles.
Even so, those who want to remember old times can always opt for change graphics and sound to the original at the touch of a button, which serves as a step to better observe the changes that have been made. Now everything looks sharper, with more fluid animations and maintaining at all times the charm and essence that made the original title so special, which is why the remastering is so exceptional.
Among other changes, in its version for consoles the interface is not so invasive and the menus are more intuitive, being able to access all these options easily even if you play with a controller. Anyway, if any of the puzzles chokes you, an option has been provided that highlight important objects around in order to be clearer that something must be done with them.
For the rest, to make this remastering even more complete, an image gallery with illustrations and sketches has been included, but the most special of all are comments from the great Tim Schafer and the rest of his team, so that they can comment on aspects of the adventure as we play. A great way to learn more about the background of Day of the Tentacle and the curiosities of why, after 30 years, it is still so remembered.
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