Let's go exploring!
Maniac Mansion is one of the best loved of the early Lucasfilm point-and-click adventures, and stands alongside Fate of Atlantis, Last Crusade and Day of the Tentacle as a classic of the genre. It does look a little dated these days but it remains an enjoyable romp that is both historically important and a lot of fun to play. The story here revolves around a creepy old mansion, where it is rumored that weird experiments and other such goings on occur, like crashed meteors. When local girl Sandy goes missing, it's up to our hero Dave and his chums to venture into the mansion and find out just what is going on. One of the game's clever ideas is the way you start out by choosing who is going to accompany you on this adventure, and during the game, you can switch between them, with each one having different ways to solve puzzles. The main gameplay is now familiar point-and-click stuff, but this was one of the earlier entries and actually laid down many of the concepts we now take for granted. Although Maniac Mansion is certainly showing its age, it remains a truly entertaining game which should be played by anyone with an interest in the genre or games of significance. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but thanks to the witty and cleverly written storyline, this doesn't really matter much and you'll soon find yourself sucked into its crazy world. The puzzles here are satisfying and fun to solve, while interaction is made easy by the slick interface, and the visuals are old-school but full of personality. All in all, a top notch adventure.
