A Tribute to LucasArts

As you all may have heard by now, something terrible has happened: LucasArts has been closed by parent company Disney due to disappointments with not much happening.
Sad news to be sure. Okay true LucasArts haven't really done anything of note in recent years but for a moment there, these guys were at the top of their game, delivering games that were lot's of fun and have stood strong against the march of time.

The LucasArts I knew were makers of superb adventure games. They were both real written and imaginative in their premises. They boasted puzzles that actually made sense and had a sense of humor that worked even when humor in gaming tends to fall flat on its face all too easily. These games had brilliant graphics complimented with gloriously rendered backgrounds and presented wonderfully realized worlds. And these games were designed by people who truly loved their craft and knew exactly what made a great game. Finally, LucasArts took chances with new IP - most of them paid off in dividends. They fostered talent and proved they were bursting at the seams with genuine creativity.

I spent this summer playing a lot of LucasArts adventures - namely Day of the Tentacle, the Dig, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Sam and Max Hit the Road and, of course, Monkey Island 1,2 and 3. Some of these I played for the very first time. From the perspective of twenty years, these games still hold up remarkably well and they certainly are impressive - even to someone who spent the early nineties as a one-eyed console devotee. What worked originally still works very well and it's a testament to building games that are well-designed. Indeed, these games were made by people who are genuinely passionate about what they do and it shows.
And whilst the LucasArts adventures may have been a mainstay of PC gaming twenty years ago, even if I wasn't aware of it at the time, it's hard to imagine PC gaming without the Midas Touch LucasArts has provided.

So here's to LucasArts and the adventure games they made. We've never seen anything like them and we probably never will again.