Your Amiga and Commodore Computer HomeAmigaLove is a friendly and knowledgeable community with a growing Games Library for fans like you!
Sign Up

Maniac Mansion

Amiga game review, ADF downloads, screenshots, ratings and insights
The first game released from the SCUMM engine by Lucasfilm Games, and one of the most fondly remembered when the topic of point-and-click text adventures comes up in conversation. This "godfather" of graphic adventures influenced the genre of games ahead of it. Is it the most polished and easy to play? No, not hardly. But for the Amiga version, the addition of a mouse made the game much more natural to play (even though most played it with joysticks and gamepads on other platforms).

Maniac Mansion is an interactive a comedic horror story that pays heavy homage to B-movie clichés. And it has some quirks about it. The characters often look straight out at the user, awaiting his commands. Also, the perspective is always entirely perpendicular to the "back wall" of each game screen. So while predictable it's also rather static feeling. But the characters, plot and dialogue greatly make up for the the graphical peculiarities. This is a classic for a reason - it's a lot of fun (although it can be a bit hard at times) and has massive replay value as there are endless ways to play it and finish it. The Amiga version is easily the best port that came out with the original releases.

Side-topic: check out the fascinating story about the port for the NES, Lucasfilm's first cartridge for the system, by Douglas Crockford. Spoiler: the NES version was made Rated G (or a very low PG) for a younger audience, and the communications between Crockford's team and Nintendo are fascinating.

Back of the Box:

Lucasfilm Presents Maniac Mansion

"Pardon the mess... it's all those brain donors"

Ever since that meteor landed, strange things have been sighted at Dr. Fred's old mansion.

Disembodied tentacles hopping around. Chainsaws in the kitchen. Plants with unusual appetites. An odd glow from the swimming pool.

And now, sweet Sandy the cheerleader is in Dr. Fred's clutches. So round up your pals, take a deep breath, and get ready of the weirdest, funniest adventure of your life.

"Graphic adventure of the year."
RUN Magazine, Power Play, Isaac Asimov Magazine, Commodore Magazine

"A cross between the Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Addam's Family... diabolically fun."
Colombia Daily Tribune

"Ingenious Puzzles..."
The New York Times

"Brilliant use of 3D graphics."
RUN Magazine
4.3
3 total votes

Screenshots

Comments

Write a comment