When it comes to film licences, one company has a major edge over the others. Lucasfilm is the software branch of film director George Lucas' formidable empire, so it's only natural that it gets the chance to produce games based on some of the greatest adventure films to date. Indiana Jones is the biggest name in the Lucas stable and games-players across the world have already marvelled at Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure.

Thankfully, it isn't just 'big name stars' that gain all the attention over at the California ranch. There can hardly be an Amiga owner who isn't familiar with The Secret Of Monkey Island, the adventure game that became one of the most talked about games of the '90s. The quality graphics, wonderful sound effects, music and humour that made up the adventures of Guybrush Threepwood went to prove that Lucasfilm is more than just another vehicle for Lucas' movies.

Since the release of those two games, Lucasfilm has been a hive of productivity, developing not just new titles, but sequels to old ones and new programming systems. The biggest improvement that the new range of games will have is the iMUSE music programming system. Given that this stands for Interactive Music and Sound Effects, you probably get a pretty good idea of what it's all about. In a basic sense, a game that uses the iMUSE system will have mmusic and effects that 'follow' the player's actions, changing and adapting as the player issues different commands.

A good example of this is in Monkey Island 2. When Guybrush enters the swamp area, a spooky melody starts to play. When he climbs into the nearby canoe, a faint backing tune is added. As he paddles off towards a mysterious shack a slow drumbeat starts, and when he finally enters the shack, the whole tune comes to a crescendo. Should the player deviate from this course (doubling back on himself, for example) the music will rise and fall accordingly.

The two biggest products being worked on are the aforementioned Monkey Island 2 and Indiana Jones And The Fate Of Atlantis. There are plenty of other projects in the pipeline, though, including adaptations of the Star Wars saga (an arcade version of which has just been released for NES consoles), a game (or games) based around the upcoming Young Indiana Jones television series (which premiered recently in the States) and conversions of most of its existing titles to CDTV, enhancing them with improved graphics and sound, and adding speech.

In fact, Loom is to be the first CDTV Lucasfilm game to appear and is a full 'talkie', with speec completely replacing the text. With most of the other games to follow, you can't help but wonder if Harrison Ford will provide Indy's voice and we can only guess at who'll be brought in to play Guybrush.

Previous Next

The first new release that Amiga owners will be able to enjoy is the sequel to the legendary adventures of Guybrust Threepwood. Monkey Island 2 sees the return of his arch-enemy, the ghost pirate LeChuck, and takes Guybrush on a journey to discover the real secret of Monkey Island (which will come as a real shock). The plot was originally all part of the original game's, but owing to its size, it was cut in half and used for the follow-up.

The sequel introduces three new islands to Guybrush's word plus a host of new characters (and a couple of old ones you might recognise, such as Stan the used ship salesman, now selling used coffins).

The story begins with Guybrush suspended over a huge pit, holding onto a vine in one hand and an extremely heavy chest in the other. Suddenly, down comes another rope and he's joined by Elaine Marley, his true love from the first game, who's curious as to what's going on. As Guybrush begins to relate his tale, they all start to fade out and the player begins the game.

Monkey Island 2 sees a couple of 'firsts' for Lucasfilm, namely the use of the iMUSE system for the music and hand-painted, digitally scanned backdrops for the graphics. The result is a stunning mixture of sight and sound and should keep you enthralled for a good few months at least. Expect to see it on the shelves around May.

Previous Next

Lucasfilm's other 'biggie' is the fourth adventure to feature everyone's favourite archaeologist/adventurer, Indiana Jones, this time exploring the mysterious city of Atlantis. This is a unique Indy adventure: it isn't an adaptation of a film, but was designed purely from scratch. You may have already had a chance to read the story thanks to the recently released Indiana Jones And The Fate Of Atlantis comic book (available from most good comic specialist shops).

Indy's quest starts when he's visited at his college by a mysterious German with an ancient statue. Unwittingly, Indy causes the statue to release a tiny glowing bead, which the German promptly snatches and tries to escape with. A chase ensues but all Indy manages to capture is the man's coat, containing a couple of names and addresses. One of these leads to an old fame of Indy's, Sophia Hapgood, who is currently performing in a stage show all about Atlantis. The duo team up and embark on a perilous adventure that stretches from one side of the world to the other, ending up, eventually, in the fabled city of Atlantis itself!

Once again, Indiana Jones And The Fate Of Atlantis utilises the iMUSE system, together with a remarkable graphics process known as Rotoscoping. Real-life video tapes of people involved in certain actions (walking, running and sitting around, to name but a few) are fed into a graphics program and literally painted over. This gives a much more realistic appearance to all the characters.

Indiana Jones And The Fate Of Atlantis is still being worked on at the moment and Lucasfilm are expecting it to be finished towards the end of the year.