Day of the Tentacle Remastered

Day of the Tentacle Remastered is a game also given the name of Maniac Mansion II: Day of Tentacle.  It was developed in 1993 and it is a graphic adventure game which was developed under LucasArts.  It is a sequel of the game called Maniac Mansion. The plot of the game followers Bernard Bernoulli and his friends called Laverne and Hoagie. They attempt stopping evil under the name of Purple Tentacle. This is a sentient and a disembodied tentacle so that he does not take over the entire world.  The player has to take over the control of a trio and he should solve the puzzles while at the same time, they travel in the time in order to explore many periods of the history.

Tim Schaffer and Dave Grossman were the leaders of the game development. They had a pair that was carried over the limited number of elements given by the Maniac Mansion and he forewent the character selection aspect in order to simply his development.  The inspiration was gotten from cartoons of Chuck Jones and the history of USA.  This game is the eighth game from the title of LucasArts that uses SCUMM engine.

Game play

Day of the Tentacle Remastered of the Tentacle follows the point and the click and it is in the formula of the two dimensional formula.  It was first established under original Maniac Mansion. The players can direct controllable characters that are found around the world of this game by the use of the mouse of the computer. In order to interact with the world of this game, the player needs to choose a set of different nine commands that are arrayed at the screen like the pickup, talk to and use. They then have an object of the world and this was a last SCUMM game that uses the original interface of having a bottom of a screen being taken up over a verb selection and on the inventory. It starts with the next game that used Sam & Max Hit The Road while the engine had been modified in order to scroll using a concise list of the verbs with the right mouse button and to have an inventory on a new screen.

The Day of the tentacle uses the time travel most of the time and it is early in the game with three main protagonists which are separated around the effect of the faulty time machine.  A player after finishing some puzzles, he can freely switch within such characters and they interact in the world of the game in a separate time period. There are some inventory items which may be shared through placing an item at  Chron-o-Johns which are the modified and portable toilets which can transport the objects to another time period and other items have been shared by just  leaving an item in the past period and to be picked by the new character that plays in the future. The  changes that are made at the past time period can affect the future one and there are amazing  game puzzles that are based at  an effect of  time travel  and they are aging for certain items and the alternation of  the time stream.    The entire original game of Maniac Mansion may be played at the computer and it resembles the Commodore 64 in the Day of the Tentacle game. The practice had been repeated by many other developers but when the game was released, it had never happened with any other game

Plot

In five years after an event of Maniac Mansion, Purple Tentacle who is a mutant monster and also a lab assistant who was created by Dr Fred Edison, a mad scientist, drunk the toxic sludge that was found in the river behind the laboratory of Dr Fred.  Such sludge led him to grow the pair of the arms that look like flipper and he increased the intelligence rapidly and he has the thirst of the global domination. To stop this problem, Dr Fred decided to kill Purple Tentacle together with his brother who is harmless Green Tentacle. However, Green Tentacle sent the plea to get the help from an old friend called Bernard Bernouli.  Bernard got to Edison Family Motel together with the housemates who are roadie Hoagie and Laverne, medical students and they let out the tentacles. Purple Tentacle does escape in order to resume the quest he had to take over this world.

How to play Day of the Tentacle Remastered

To play the game, you should alter the timelines while trading the items between the characters. They use a malfunction time machine that was disguised like a portable toilet. Puzzle is brilliantly designed and it runs the joke of a character that was meddling carelessly with fabric of the time in order to achieve insignificant things such as changing of the constitution of America to make the items to appear in 200 years to come and the game is a source of the continuous amusement.

Being the game of 90s, there are some solutions to the puzzles that are absurd. However, some of the adventure of that era, they do feel unfair and they are deliberately obtuse.  The player has to pay attention to the environment and to list closely to the dialogue that yields the clues which push the player into the right direction.  Some of the puzzle may require the player to go to the walkthrough but as the time passes, as a player, you may need to settle into the weird logic of the cartoon.

Among the achievement of the game, there is a new addition to the remastered version and it is acknowledged if it is time to solve the puzzles.  The game is expressive, funny, colorful and wonderful game as the classic cartoons that inspired this game. It has a timeless humor while it has the right gags in the timeline of Hoagie and it may fall under your head if you are not familiar with the basics in the history of America.

Day of the Tentacle Remastered is found in just one location. It is a mansion that it is owned by the eccentric Edison family, however with every version, the mansion is different.  While playing in the present, it is seedy motel, while in the colonial times, it is an inn being that was used by the Founding Fathers of America in order to spitball a constitution.  In the future, it is headquarter for the villain, Purple Tentacle.  The background art of Peter Chan was inspired by Warner Bros from the cartoon artists like Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble.  It is stylish and it is found in three versions for the mansions and it has distinct personality. It is remarkable that with these few location, the game visuals do not feel repetitive.

For a remaster, the Double Fine studio of Tim Schafer has been able to do something splendid. Everything within the game had been redrawn so they look great in the high resolution; however, original art style is yet to be altered. It is the day of Tentacle that you may remember but with a fresh new paint.  When you do not like new graphics, it is easy to hit on the F1 and you will get old style.  It is possible to use the computer in the room of Weird Ed and you can play using original Maniac Mansion.

The development of the game

Double Fine had been able to get the original master tape that was used for the recording sessions of dialogue and they sound the best. It is weird to hear all these lines without any compression and it may seem that the actors recorded these sounds yesterday and not 23 years ago.  The game is based on simpler interface. The game comes with some extra. Schafer went to the archive of LucasArts where she found the original artwork of this game and it had been scanned to be included within the game. The game also has entertaining and insightful track that was recorded by original development team. The concept art galleries are desperately tedious but quality for the art within the Day of Tentacle with legacy from the game, make the browsing within the archive to be a delight.

Day of the Tentacle Remastered gives the chance to the player to revisit this game that has been known to be the best adventure that has ever been developed.