{"id":8930,"date":"2013-04-05T11:40:59","date_gmt":"2013-04-05T15:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/?p=8930"},"modified":"2013-04-05T11:46:17","modified_gmt":"2013-04-05T15:46:17","slug":"lucasarts-thanks-for-a-great-and-unforgettable-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/2013\/04\/lucasarts-thanks-for-a-great-and-unforgettable-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"LucasArts: Thanks for a Great and Unforgettable Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

As advanced a couple of days ago, LucasArts is no more<\/a>. Disney was the executioner, after buying Lucasfilm from George Lucas for $4 billion. So, roughly 30 years after its founding, we see one of the oldest game houses\u00a0disappear. But, the work of the talented people who worked there will certainly not disappear with it.<\/p>\n

I have very fond memories about many titles produced by LucasArts (or Lucasfilm Games as it was known by in the beginning), as I spent a good deal of my childhood playing their games. They will\u00a0always be in a special place in my heart.<\/p>\n

It all started for me with the action-adventure platformer\u00a0Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade:\u00a0The Action Game<\/a> (1989) for ZX Spectrum. I played on a ZX Spectrum 128, with a green\u00a0monochrome\u00a0monitor.\u00a0But, for some reason the game didn’t allow me to pass from a certain point, which was quite frustrating. However, as we tend to forget the bad things and only remember the good stuff, I still find that first experience with a LucasArts game to be a good one :)<\/p>\n

\"Indiana<\/p>\n

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Action Game (1989) - ZX Spectrum 128 (theraider.net)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Then, I played Loom<\/a>\u00a0(1990), a very fun and original graphic adventure with a quite complex fantasy story,\u00a0filled with\u00a0puzzles, where spells were invoked by playing a set of musical tunes. This was already on my PC with the DOS operating system.<\/p>\n

\"Loom<\/a><\/p>\n

Loom (1990) - MS-DOS (store.steampowered.com)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Then came the pirate themed graphic adventure\u00a0The Secret of Monkey Island<\/a>\u00a0(1990)\u00a0and\u00a0Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge<\/a>\u00a0(1991) shortly after. Challenging puzzles, a sense of mystery, and the (real) feeling of adventure. Those games really had an impressive atmosphere. A beautiful piece of art and an amazing experience.<\/p>\n

\"Monkey<\/p>\n

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (1991) - MS-DOS (pcdownstation.com)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In 1992 I played, and finished (as I usually always made a point to back then) the graphic adventure\u00a0Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis<\/a>. It was a somewhat tricky and difficult game. I remember to have a hard time grasping how to figure out the last few puzzles. The look out for\u00a0walkthroughs\u00a0and cheats was quite common in those days. I usually resisted those, because I always found cheating to be completely not fun. It was a good game and a good experience overall, but something about it didn’t feel quite right. The transitions were probably a bit too fast. I dunno.<\/p>\n

\"Indiana<\/a><\/p>\n

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992) - MS-DOS (gamefaqs.com)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Then I played the graphic adventure\u00a0Day of the Tentacle<\/a>\u00a0(1993), where we were supposed to solve puzzles using time travel while exploring different periods of history.\u00a0I remember very well to be surprised at the game’s art style and found it a bit awkward at first. But, I eventually absorbed the art style and found the puzzles to be quite challenging and fun, as usual in LucasArts graphic adventures. I also finished this one. It was a very rewarding experience.<\/p>\n

\"Day<\/a><\/p>\n

Day of the Tentacle (1993) - MS-DOS (dosgamesarchive.com)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

And then, what I consider to be LucasArts’ landmark game, and series, arrived. Its name:\u00a0Star Wars: X-Wing<\/a>\u00a0(1993). This was surely one of my best gaming experiences ever. My graphics card was poor. A Matrox Mistique 220 card, if I remember correctly. I was able to run the game fast no doubt, but at the cost of very lousy graphical detail. But, that was no obstacle for having a rich experience, oh no.\u00a0Star Wars: TIE Fighter<\/a>\u00a0arrived one year later and it proved to be a worthy sequel, if not superior in many aspects. Playing as the\u00a0villains\u00a0was never so much fun. But, who were really the villains anyway? ;)<\/p>\n

\"Star<\/a><\/p>\n

Star Wars: TIE Fighter (1994) - MS-DOS (starwars.wikia.com)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I played Grim Fandango (1998) graphic adventure, but for some reason I never finished it. However, it was a very good game as well.<\/p>\n

In 1998 LucasArts released the space 4X strategy game\u00a0Star Wars: Rebellion<\/a>. I will never forget that game. I remember that Gamespot catalogued it as one of the most\u00a0disappointing\u00a0games of that year. An infamous award no doubt, but still not the worst title of all. I had a lot of fun playing Rebellion, and I crave for another Star Wars 4X to come out still to this day.<\/p>\n

\"Star<\/a><\/p>\n

Star Wars: Rebellion (1998) - Windows PC (gameofthemonth.com)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The real-time space strategy game\u00a0Star Wars: Empire at War<\/a>\u00a0(2006) came close to fill that Star Wars 4X gap, but it was not quite there still. I played a bit, but for some reason I didn’t feel engaged enough. But, it’s definitely one of those games I still consider giving a second try.<\/p>\n

Finally, I also played the Star Wars: Jedi Knight series<\/a>\u00a0(1995-2003), although frankly I’m not sure which exact title, or titles, of the series I played the most. Memories are a bit hazy there. And, I also played a bit of the\u00a0Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic<\/a>\u00a0(2003)\u00a0RPG, and really enjoyed it for the most part.<\/p>\n

\"Star<\/a><\/p>\n

Star Wars: Jedi Knight 2 - Jedi Outcast (1995-2003) - Windows PC (megagames.com)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

And, well, I guess that was it for me regarding LucasArts games. For one reason or another I didn’t play any of their games since 2006. Star Wars: Empire at War, which I already mentioned above, was my last experience.<\/p>\n

Rest in peace LucasArts<\/a>. You may have died now, but the experiences that your talented workers have developed, help produce or licensed over the last 30 years, will surely be remembered.<\/p>\n

Well, these were my LucasArts memories. What’s yours? :)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have very fond memories about many titles produced by LucasArts, as I spent a good deal of my childhood playing their games. What about you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1668,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[177],"tags":[1265,1258,1264,1260,1261,78,1263,1267,1268,1269,1259,1266,82,1262],"class_list":["post-8930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-design","tag-day-of-the-tentacle","tag-disney","tag-indiana-jones-and-the-fate-of-atlantis","tag-indiana-jones-and-the-last-crusade-the-action-game","tag-loom","tag-lucasarts","tag-monkey-island-2-lechucks-revenge","tag-star-wars-empire-at-war","tag-star-wars-jedi-knight","tag-star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic","tag-star-wars-rebellion","tag-star-wars-tie-fighter","tag-x-wing","tag-the-secret-of-monkey-island"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1668"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8930\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}