The world of video games has brought us a lot of bad news throughout history. Unexpected closings, projects canceled for unknown reasons and companies that have disappeared when we all thought they would last forever. But of all the ones you can remember right now, the most painful came to us in April 2013 when the new owners of LucasArts, Disney, made the closure public of the company. Don't you still feel a prick in your chest just remembering it?
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Although at that time all the projects they had underway were canceled (that Star Wars 1313, for example), a little over a year ago, in January 2021, we learned about the return of Lucasfilm Games, the original name of LucasArts, as manager of the intellectual properties created by George Lucas's company, so his new role will be to collaborate with other developers to bring their best-known franchises to the world of video games: Star Wars or Indiana Jones but also Monkey Island, as you surely already know after the announcement of a new installment that we will have for sale in 2022.
But between his (first) birth at the end of the 70s, his farewell in 2013 and the subsequent return in 2021 there is a whole story that deserves to be told, and not only through their video games best known, but their names. It seems unbelievable the amount of material that LucasArts had already consecrated and at their disposal, capable of selling only with the name (as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc.), made famous by original IPs, created from scratch. And that has a lot of merit.
The Story: From Lucasfilm Computer Division to Today
Although the actual founding of Lucasfilm Games dates back to 1982, When videogames already assault the domestic sphere thanks to the first and second generation consoles but, above all, to those 8-bit microcomputers that are beginning to arrive in stores (Commodore VIC 20 or Sinclair with its ZX81 and then the ZX Spectrum), we must go back a bit to 1979, when in full production The Empire Strikes Back George Lucas creates a specific area to investigate everything that has to do with computers and their potential capabilities. That is when the Lucasfilm Computer Division was born, which, in 1982, became independent and over the years it would end up becoming Pixar.
It is in that same 1982 when Lucasfilm Games was born as such and its first decision was to collaborate with the leading company in the video game market at that time. Indeed, It is about Atari, which dominates the market with its 2600 model, practically at the gates of the crash of 83. From this collaboration the first two jewels of the Californian factory were born, such as Ball blazer y Rescue on Fractalus that had a long way to go in the following years with versions for practically all the computers of the time.
That first period already indicated ways and by the middle of the decade they were already experimenting with the concept of graphic adventure. So much so that the company took advantage of the adaptation of a film produced by George Lucas himself to start that path of glory of a genre that practically belongs to him by right: Labyrinth, the film starring David Bowie, begins on Commodore 64 as if it were a text-only conversational adventure and when we buy the movie ticket and the session begins… the first embryo of what we will later see in jewels like M, The Secret of Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, etc.
Lucasfilm Games existed as such until 1990, when a profound reorganization of the company resulted in a name change, so will from that moment be known as LucasArts Entertainment Company, an area separated from the rest of Lucasfilm's legs, which include Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), focused on special effects for film and television, and Skywalker Sound, specialized in sound reinforcement for large film productions, above all.
In any case, before going with the games that have marked the history of LucasArts, we are going to remember some technologies developed by the North Americans and that have allowed them to print that unique stamp that for years fell in love with a good part of the gaming community: a quality Extraordinary graphics, an unforgettable story level, a corrosive and absurd humor and a mania for self-referencing itself and its franchises that have delighted millions of users. Or is it that nobody remembers where the SCUMM Bar is?
The Magic Words by LucasArts
That pioneering spirit of Lucasfilm in general, but of the area of ​​videogames in particular, It helped him create some technologies that were ahead of their time and that today seem absolutely common in a video game, although it was thanks to those of George Lucas that they took their first steps in the 80s and 9s. Don't you remember those magic words? Here we leave you the two most important.
Imus
Interactive Music Streaming Engine is the name that LucasArts gave to a great idea that consisted of create a unique musical atmosphere in your video games, and that is capable of reproducing a specific theme from the soundtrack depending on the dramatic touch that each phase needs. Adventure, suspense, mystery, tragedy, comedy... you just have to ask iMuse for help so that we feel the action in the most faithful way imaginable, creating a dynamic, unique soundtrack that fits like a glove in the action that we are starring in. The first title that included it was The Secret of Monkey Island 2 LeChuck's Revenge.
SCUMM
As in the previous case, SCUMM was born as a necessity, that of creating an engine for graphic adventures that could allow LucasArts to develop new projects more quickly. It is a base that allows you to manage the actions, objects and mechanics that the game hides in the form of scripts that manage the logic of the adventure. As in the case of iMuse, It is the acronym for Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion, and as you can guess, indeed, the reason for its development was the fault of one of his most remembered adventures. Specifically, the second after Labyrinth for Commodore 64. As you can see, it was the first engine as such.
Grime
When SCUMM couldn't keep up with the times, LucasArts developed a new engine for its adventures. Its name was GrimE (Grim Edit) which already it was capable of handling 3D graphics. The first title, as you probably guessed, was Grim Fandango and was not used as much as the original designed from M.
The best LucasArts games
The list of LucasArts games is gigantic and it would not make sense to name them all so, if you like, we are going to point out those that really still live in the hearts of gamers, some more and others less, but in general influential releases that have carved out a path of success that countless studies have copied over the last four decades. These are:
Ballblazer (1984)
A very simple game, with a sporting spirit and that mixed doses of basketball with soccer. a futuristic theme that years later had a remake for PlayStation much closer to the original idea of ​​Lucasfilm Games. In the year that it came out, it turned out to be very interesting and fun.
Rescue on Fractalus (1984)
Lucasfilm Games came up with a game of ships with scenarios generated with fractal graphics that made the imagination of the players fly. A very simple development, limited by hardware of the computers and consoles of the time, but which already helped George Lucas's company to forge a good name.
The Eidolon (1985)
Lucasfilm Games once again uses fractal graphics to take us inside caves where giant beasts live. An extraordinary title, very funny and that it represents that spirit of the time where developers and players were discovering and experimenting with new ideas hand in hand.
Labyrinth The Computer Game (1986)
First of Lucasfilm Games' masterpieces. The first sketch of what will be the company's fondness for graphic adventures and that left all those who wanted to relive the movie starring David Bowie at home speechless. Commodore 64, as always, leaving its mark of extraordinary quality with an absolutely unique game.
Habitat (1986)
Now that massive online games are our daily bread, Lucasfilm Games already released one over 35 years ago. Habitat It mixes social elements, chats and scenarios and avatars where players can interact with other participants who connect to their servers. Just above you can see an interesting promotional video for this idea that was several decades ahead of the massive multiplayer online fever.
Maniac Mansion (1987)
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What to say about this classic. The adventure that marks the starting point of a genre which, with changes, remains in the collective imagination as one of the funniest and most revolutionary in history. That crazy mansion, with diabolical inventors and wacky visitors marks the moment when Lucasfilm Games began to make fun of everything. Or is it that no one remembers his acid sense of humor? Let's play it man!
Zak McKracken (1988)
Success M led Lucasfilm Games to exploit the concept of graphic adventure. A crazy plot, with aliens and invasions, gives rise to madness only within the reach of Californian geniuses. It wasn't that popular in its time but over the years it gained more and more recognition from fans.
Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain (1989)
In addition to those adventures, Lucasfilm Games demonstrated in the 80s that they had a special fondness for flight simulators. Their Finnish Hour is one of them, and it wouldn't be the last before taking the leap to a galaxy far, far away thanks to the magic of Lawrence Holland and his Totally Games.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Lucasfilm Games brings out the heavy artillery with a game based on a movie that at the end of the 80s swept the box office. The Indiana Jones trilogy came to a close looking for the chalice of eternal youth and the pixels turned that film into a superb graphic adventure, which reproduced step by step each scene where we had to solve puzzles based on dialogues and actions seen in theaters. Who does not remember this game?
Night Shift (1990)
Lucasfilm Games jokes about its own company and launches this game, more discreet, but which sets the tone for how much fun Californians have. As operatives at Industrial Might & Logic, we must keep the machinery that relentlessly manufactures merchandise and items based on Star Wars and other franchises created by George Lucas. Is there something more fun?
Loom (1990)
https://youtu.be/H0aJu0bKBO0
One of Lucasfilm Games' most remembered games was actually a little sales fiasco, which prevented the completion of the planned trilogy on The Great Guilds. Although it is strange, it maintains that magic of the SCUMM spirit and all the complexity of the puzzles, characters, settings and setting of the house. Another masterpiece.
The Secret of Monkey Island (1990)
We come to the game that revolutionizes video games. The one in which all the virtues that were glimpsed in previous graphic adventures come together and that create one of the most beloved character sagas. Guybrush Threepwood, the pirate LeChuck or Eleine take us by the hand through the Caribbean on an adventure that is part of popular culture. The best game from Lucasfilm Games?
Monkey Island 2: Le Chuck's Revenge (1991)
The continuation of The Secret of Monkey Island it was an extraordinary leap in quality, taking advantage of the improvement of PC hardware (especially). The story expands new (and impossible) puzzles appear, characters and settings, and the plot depth reaches levels of absolute madness. The humor is overflowing and the laughter is continuous and, by the way, pay attention to the end because it will have a lot to do with what we will see in Return of Monkey Island.
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe (1991)
Totally Games creates a new combat simulator based on events of World War II and becomes one of the reference companies of the genre. It is noticeable that Lawrence Holland is completing stages until his great creation that will arrive just two years later. This Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe It came to have expansions that lengthened the campaigns of combat between allies and Nazis.
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992)
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Two years later comes the one that should have been the fourth Indiana Jones movie. Thus, at least, it was implied at the time because the story was the work of George Lucas himself. Even so, everything remained in the video game but the plot, the characters and the settings are a delight that consecrates LucasArts as the best company in the world in the graphic adventure genre.
Super Star Wars (1992)
The games of Star Wars for consoles they had been quite discreet until then, although LucasArts, fed up with the versions developed under license by other companies, decided to take the bull by the horns. As a result of this decision, the trilogy of Super star wars for Super Nintendo (with Super Empire Strikes Back y Super Return of the Jedi). Before, we had already had very good NES cartridges based on Episodes IV and V of the galactic saga.
Maniac Mansion Day of the Tentacle (1993)
LucasArts once again shows the world that it is the best. The second part of M is a catalog of superb virtues that begin with its graphics, continue with the characters and end with an amazing story with time travel. The perfection of this game is surely complete and defines the highest moment of its own philosophy capable of dazzling users.
Sam & Max Hit the Road (1993)
LucasArts evolves, filling the screen with graphics and removing the bottom with the classic actions of SCUMM games. The engine now decides the default orders depending on the mouse click we make on an object, which helps speed up everything that happens in the adventure. Once again, the technology is at the level of the story, the protagonists and the hooligan tone of what happens on stage.
X Wing (1993)
Star Wars it was in the background although it is with this X-wing That's when we really started dreaming of piloting Rebel fighters attacking Imperial bases. Lawrence Holland creates a fun game, easy to control and with 3D graphics that, for the time, were a milestone. Star Wars ships in 3D!
Star Wars Rebel Assault (1993)
In the 90s the word multimedia became fashionable. In other words, the CD-ROM format as a place to store video scenes to later surprise us with games like Rebel Assault. It is a killer with a lot of argument and phases that we play on rails. In other words, the game takes us along a predetermined path while we end the dangers that lie in wait for us. Now it looks like a suitcase, but in its day it was an absolute shock of what technology was beginning to give us.
Zombies Ate My Neighbors (1993)
Although the natural territory of LucasArts is the PC these years, from time to time it makes the leap to consoles and, with the help of the Konami distribution, they develop this marvel that is a tribute to the horror and fantastic movies of the 50s and 60s. Monsters, aliens, ghosts and two protagonists who move through a scene full of enemies and some graphics as wonderful as remembered. A jewel.
Ghoul Patrol (1994)
Success Zombies Ate My Neighbors It emboldened LucasArts, which redeveloped a game with very similar mechanics, but now set in a world full of zombies and ghosts. Funny as few and with an extraordinary sense of humor that 16-bit console players fell in love with.
T.I.E. Fighter (1994)
Following the success of X-wing and the rebel missions, it is the turn of the Empire. For the first time we put ourselves in the hands of Darth Vader and his generals to attack the Rebel Alliance positions. Lawrence Holland puts us at the controls of classic ships like the TIE Fighter, TIE Bomber, etc. A classic among classics.
Full Throttle (1995)
Graphic adventures are whatever LucasArts says and Full Throttle It is another of the geniuses that are born from the Californian factory. A biker as cool as an eight, impressively beautiful settings and, for the first time, a whole collection of animated sequences that launch the genre into a new dimension. If you haven't enjoyed it, what are you waiting for?
The Dig (1995)
This game is a little wonder. It is a story born from the mind of Steven Spielberg and that at some point it was rumored that it would have a movie version. The story of the asteroid that heads towards Earth and hides a mysterious secret is a joy that, although it moves away from the humorous tone of the other adventures, has its own magic. The one that exudes the creative genius of ET the alien.
Star Wars Dark Forces (1995)
In full fever Doom, LucasArts did not hesitate to give the universe a push Star Wars with a masterpiece of what everyone now calls as shooters. A story that ended up being canon, monumental settings, gigantic ships, puzzles to solve and many hand-to-hand combat against imperial soldiers. It was the first time we thought we were part of the Rebel Alliance. Dark Forces gave rise to a saga of extraordinary titles such as Jedi Knight, etc.
After Life (1996)
This title is unknown to LucasArts, but it gives an idea of ​​how from time to time they threw the blanket over their heads and developed a game that had nothing to do with what was seen up to that moment. strategy and management Sim City only in the afterlife, with versions of heaven and hell that we had to guide to take souls to their final rest. Weird, weird, but keep in mind...
Star Wars Shadow of the Empire (1996)
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Game that begins to reveal moments unexplored by the original movies. on this occasion we will live events that occurred between The Empire Strikes Back y The Return of the Jedi, with a character who became famous in the franchise: Dash Rendar. In it we relived the battle of Hoth and taking advantage of the Nintendo 64 hardware (and PC) we were able to enjoy space combats and third-person action phases never seen before.
Herc's Adventures (1997)
Again LucasArts returns to the consoles. To PlayStation specifically, with a game that inherits the visual style and joke of the Zombies Ate My Neighbors y ghoul patrol, but focusing the argument on Hercules and all the imagery of Greek mythology. Fun, weird but with that spirit LucasArts pervasive.
Outlaws (1997)
Shooter in the first person that is a tribute to the spagetti westerns of Sergio Leone. A game with a great story, better music and, for the first time, a really entertaining multiplayer. A rare bird within the LucasArts universe but which is remembered as one of the best released in the second half of the 90s.
The Curse of Monkey Island (1997)
The Secret of Monkey Island came back six years later with a complete facelift that puts a cartoon on the screen. It was evident that the saga had to evolve and its story was liked, although it was not as surprising as the first two. Proof of this is that Ron Gilbert, with Return to Monkey Island, He has decided to ignore it and not follow anything that they tell us in it. It's the third by release date, but that's it, although the reference to the bumper car in the intro will have to explain to us someday what it means now.
X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter (1997)
Lawrence Holland and his Totally Games reach their peak. The instant they manage to touch the sky: PC hardware already allows you to apply textures, more graphic quality, we can choose sides to fight with two separate campaigns and, as if that were not enough, we find online multiplayer. Why do we want more? Finally we can fight against friends in space battles like the ones in the movies.
Grim Fandango (1998)
LucasArts does not forget the genre that has brought it so much glory and creates one of the most perfect adventures in its catalogue. A story of the dead who are very much alive in an absolutely amazing world where everything smells like a classic, from the 30s. It is the first to use the GrimE engine, the one that replaced SCUMM and at the time it was a complete success, admired and valued both by the players and by critics and the specialized media.
Star Wars Rogue Squadron (1998)
https://youtu.be/qZsuQ0U9Xfo
Nintendo 64 saw the arrival of a game focused only on space combat, but without pretending to be a simulator. It was like taking the Shadows of the Empire and leave only the ship phases. A success, hilarious, with all the charm Star Wars and that on GameCube it had a second installment that further improved the formula of the original. In these times, games Star Wars they are still admired.
Star Wars Rebellion (1998)
Si Afterlife It was rarer than a green dog, we don't even tell you about this anymore. A game of strategy, diplomacy, resource management but with an almost board game format. With a board of planets that we must conquer for the Empire or the Rebel Alliance. Those who liked the slower and more thoughtful action will definitely love it.
Escape from Monkey Island (2000)
With the arrival of the XNUMXst century LucasArts (which was already beginning to lose a bit of steam) throw a quarter of The Secret of Monkey Island. A game already designed to be released on consoles and operated with a gamepad, which wasn't bad, but had lost some of the charm of the originals. We cannot say that it is a bad game, because it is not, but it is light years away from the lucidity of the first two and, surely, also of the third.
Star Wars Empire at War (2006)
LucasArts dares with an RTS (real time strategy) where we can manage a side, create structures, build an army and finish off the adversary. Here we not only have the Empire but, as Episodes I, II and III had already been released, other factions appear. It was very celebrated and really served to bring Star Wars to a dimension, up to that moment, unknown.
Star Wars Battlefront (2004)
Finally, we highlight a franchise that survived beyond LucasArts itself. Star Wars Battlefront is an adaptation of the multiplayer idea of ​​the Battlefield from DICE, but with troops, weapons and vehicles from the galactic franchise. An extraordinary title that you can still enjoy on current consoles through Star Wars Battlefront II.