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FTII, Larry Holland Game in PC Gamer 31 Aug, 2002, 10:42 / 20 comments


The current (October 2002) issue of PC Gamer U.S. Edition has two short articles with screenshots about both the upcoming Full Throttle II and the new WWII flight/action game from Larry Holland (creator of the XWing series, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe and others). Sean Clark, director of FTII says the following about the game's story:
Sean Clark: Ben, the leader of a biker gang, gets himself entangled in a greedy plan to destroy a town and, more importantly to Ben, all the roads. In the process of preserving this dingy corner of the world he meets, greets, and beats up a menagerie of tough and gritty characters, and goes toe-to-toe with a variety of other gangs. Oh yeah, and he gets to blow up a lot of stuff, too.
And in response to the adventure game genre being dead:
Sean Clark: FT2 is an adventure game at its core but we're using action elements as a means to create more immersion. [...] The first game tried to address this desire, but was limited by the technology available at the time. If that leads people to call the newer game a hybrid, or bemoan that it isn't a "pure adventure," so be it. Regardless of how you classify it, FT2 will be fun and unique.
One slight eyebrow raiser (not really an eyebrow raiser according to Remi) in the FTII article was the caption reading "Yeah, it's an adventure game. But what would a Full Throttle game be without some old-fashioned ass-whomping? And with a big grin, too." Did Ben really smile all that much the first time around?

As for the untitled Larry Holland WWII game he says that, like his previous air-combat games at LucasArts, it will focus on action more than true-sim instrumentation and whatnot, and be based around a "compelling story-driven single-player experience." For the full interviews and colorful screenshots, drive to the nearest book store and pick up the current issue of PC Gamer.
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20 Comments

  • 8t88 on 10 Sep, 2002, 19:33…
    I Post As Sensimia Strangler on #monkey-island channel :)

    I'm an adventure gamer at heart. Loved them since my first PC. As long as it follows the genre, keep ?m comin'LucasArts!!!
  • BooJaka on 01 Sep, 2002, 04:22…
    I live in England (like many other people here) and as a result can't get at the US PC Gamer. Can someone scan in at least the screenshots? Please?
  • Dave on 31 Aug, 2002, 16:52…
    The most alarming thing about this news is the line:

    "FT2 is an adventure game at its core but we're using action elements as a means to create more immersion. [...] The first game tried to address this desire, but was limited by the technology available at the time."

    This seems to imply that FT1 would have had more action in if the technology had been available at the time, which I don't reckon is true. I think it had just as much as it was designed and intended to, and no more or less. The line above, therefore, seems a spurious argument to try to justify more.
  • invisibelle on 31 Aug, 2002, 19:50…
    I just read that as meaning that the action was somewhat lame. The secret that is missed, I think, is that the action in FT was really all puzzles in disguise.
  • Kingzjester on 01 Sep, 2002, 08:27…
    Fellers, I can't help but laugh heartily at all that is said here... You really are adventure gamers with religious zeal -- and then you object to my church. Here we have conservative interpreters of the dogma who refuse to acknowledge that God could have made the game otherwise, that the words of the interview are heresy since they should be taken literally, and the liberals who question how figuratively the words should be taken to apply to the previously established norms. It's funny.
  • Dave on 01 Sep, 2002, 16:14…
    Amen, brother. The work of Our Lord was sent down from the Heavens in its perfect form for our succour. Sean Clark shalt be cast into the underworld for his blasphemous views. Or at least, with the literal interpretation of them.
  • Kingzjester on 31 Aug, 2002, 12:55…
    "Regardless of how you classify it, FT2 will be fun and unique."

    HOLY SHIT! HE'S MAKING A POLITICALLY-CORRECT RETARDED GAME!!!

  • Cursed Tuna on 31 Aug, 2002, 15:08…
    lol =)
  • LucasTones on 31 Aug, 2002, 12:05…
    Full Throttle II will be as good as it should be, regardless of genre. I hope.
  • Cursed Tuna on 31 Aug, 2002, 11:29…
    sean clark rules.
  • Mad Lord Snapcase on 31 Aug, 2002, 11:15…
    I still have to ask what level of action play they mean. Discrete sequences? Continous hybrid gameplay? Continous hybrid gameplay divided into discrete sequences? Discrete Hybrid Sequences as a portion of a continous demi-hybrid gameplay? Discrete non-hybrid sequences as a portion of continous demi-hybrid gameplay? Level-divided demi-continous hybrid gameplay? Integrated sequences into continous hybrid gameplay or discrete sequences not integrated into (non-contimous, non-hybrid) gameplay? Or the reverse, discrete but integrated sequences into continous non-hybrid gameplay vs. discrete non-hybrid sequences not integrated into continous hybrid gameplay?
  • Trapezoid on 31 Aug, 2002, 14:55…
    Actually, it's just a Windows Solitaire clone with bikes on the backs of the cards.
  • Cursed Tuna on 31 Aug, 2002, 15:07…
    hell... i knew it!
  • Remi O on 31 Aug, 2002, 11:02…
    I wouldn't say Ben smiled his way through the original game, but he did grin more than a few times. It's really not something to raise your eyebrowse over too much.
  • invisibelle on 31 Aug, 2002, 11:28…
    (this is Jake) - he smiled like 2 times. When he was doing the wheelie or however you spell it, and when he flashes that cheesy grin on the bike outside of Mo's. He's grinning left and right in the FT2 trailer.
  • Remi O on 31 Aug, 2002, 12:37…
    Think you better replay it. From the top of my mind, he grinned whenever he solved one of the puzzles related to fixing his motorbike at Mo's. He was also laughing with Corley inside the Kickstand, and I believe he did one of his grins near the souvenir stand by Corley Motors. I obviously didn't count his smiles last time I played it, but suggesting that it's out of character to flash a grin while pulling a wheelie, and kicking some guy's ass isn't entirely correct.
  • invisibelle on 31 Aug, 2002, 12:49…
    (Jake again) shh. false. ?
  • Kingzjester on 31 Aug, 2002, 13:03…
    If there was anything I liked in EMI it was the animation -- it was very well done. Alas, in my humble opinion, that same sort of florid clay-motion should be dimmed down in the interest of the generally marble-faced Ben and Moe who never really opened their eyes. The grins that were shared with the world were more of the Clint Eastwood kind than Jack Nickleson ilk. The bouncy hair we see on Moe (I think that is her at the end of the trailer) is a tad too jellyesque....
  • Jake on 31 Aug, 2002, 10:48…
    It's time to save a small [x] from large overbearing and likely corporate [y] to make life safe and happy again for [z]'s everywhere. I think this happened in Full Throttle 1, Escape From Monkey Island, and Sam & Max Hit The Road. I could be wrong though.
  • Marek on 31 Aug, 2002, 11:14…
    Agreed. I saw many parallels with EMI. Ehm, and "roads" being threatened? By what, a highway? Tourists? WHAT??

    I'll just be a little bit worried about the story until we hear some about it.