The world of video games has given us a lot of bad news throughout history. Unexpected closures, projects canceled for who knows what 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, announced the closure of the company. Don’t you still feel a prick in your chest just remembering it?
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 his best-known franchises to the world of video games: Star Wars or Indiana Jones but also Monkey Island, as surely already you 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 departure in 2013 and his subsequent return in 2021, there is a whole story that deserves to be told, and not only through his best-known video games, but also through his names. It’s unbelievable the amount of material that LucasArts had already consecrated and at its disposal , capable of selling only with the name (such as Star Wars , Indiana Jones , etc.), which became famous for original IP, created from scratch. And that has a lot of merit.
The Story: From Lucasfilm Computer Division to Today
Although the real foundation of Lucasfilm Games dates back to 1982, when video games already invaded 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 his ZX81 and then the ZX Spectrum), we must go back a bit to 1979, when in full production of The Empire Strikes Back George Lucas created 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 would end up becoming Pixar.
It is in that same 1982 when Lucasfilm Games was born as such and his first decision was to collaborate with the leading company in the video game market at that time. Indeed, it is Atari, which dominates the market with its 2600 model , practically at the gates of the 1983 crash. The first two jewels of the Californian factory are born from that collaboration, such as Ballblazer and Rescue on Fractalus , which had a lot of success. traveled in the following years with versions for practically all the computers of the time.
That first period was already pointing 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 to glory for a genre that practically belongs to it by right: Labyrinth , the film starring David Bowie, begins on the Commodore 64 as if it were a text-only conversational adventure and when we buy the movie ticket and the session begins… it begins what is the first embryo of what we will later see in gems like Maniac Mansion , 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 change in the name, so that from that moment it will be known as LucasArts Entertainment Company, an area separate from the rest of the Lucasfilm legs that they include Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), focused on special effects for film and television, and Skywalker Sound, specializing in sound 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 a good part of the gamer community fell in love with for years: a quality extraordinary graphics, an unforgettable level in the stories, a corrosive and absurd humor and a mania for self-referring to itself and its franchises that have delighted millions of users . Or does no one remember where the SCUMM Bar is?
The Magic Words by LucasArts
That pioneering spirit of Lucasfilm in general, but of the video game area in particular, helped him to 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 who took their first steps in the 80s and 9th. Don’t you remember those magic words? Here we leave the two most important.
iMuse
Interactive Music Streaming Engine is the name that LucasArts gave to a brilliant idea that consisted of creating a unique musical atmosphere in its video games , and that is capable of reproducing a specific theme of 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 we are starring in. The first title to include it was The Secret of Monkey Island 2 LeChuck’s Revenge .
SCUMM
As in the previous case, SCUMM was born out of a need , to create 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 as 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 due to one of its 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 their adventures. His name was GrimE (Grim Edit) which was already capable of handling 3D graphics. The first title, as you might have guessed, was Grim Fandango and it wasn’t used as much as the original designed from Maniac Mansion .
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 chiseled a path of successes that countless studios 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 it came out, it turned out to be very interesting and fun.
Rescue on Fractalus (1984)
Lucasfilm Games came up with a ship game with scenarios generated with fractal graphics that blew players’ imaginations away. A very simple development, limited by the hardware of the computers and consoles of the time, but which already served to make George Lucas’s company a good name.
The Eidolon (1985)
Lucasfilm Games once again uses fractal graphics to take us inside caves inhabited by giant beasts. An extraordinary title, very fun and that represents that spirit of the time where developers and players were discovering and experimenting 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 speechless all those who wanted to relive the film starring David Bowie at home. 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 launched one more than 35 years ago. Habitat 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 of this idea that was several decades ahead of the massive online multiplayer fever.
Maniac Mansion (1987)
What to say about this classic. The adventure that marks the starting point of a genre that, with changes, remains in the collective imagination as one of the funniest and most revolutionary in history. That crazy mansion, with diabolical inventors and quirky visitors marks the moment when Lucasfilm Games began to make a joke of everything. Or is it that no one remembers his acid sense of humor? Let’s play it now man!
Zak McKracken (1988)
The success of Maniac Mansion led Lucasfilm Games to exploit the graphic adventure concept. A crazy plot, with aliens and invasions , gives rise to a madness only within the reach of Californian geniuses. It was not so popular in its time but over the years it was gaining more and more recognition from fans.
Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain (1989)
In addition to these adventures, Lucasfilm Games showed in the 1980s that they had a special fondness for flight simulators . Their Finnest Hour is one of them, and it wouldn’t be the last before making 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 swept the box office in the late 1980s. The Indiana Jones trilogy was closing looking for the cup 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 takes on its own company and launches this game, more discreet, but that sets the tone for how much fun Californians have. As operators of Industrial Might & Logic, we must keep the machinery that tirelessly manufactures merchandising and objects based on Star Wars and other franchises created by George Lucas active at night. Is there something more fun?
loom (1990)
One of Lucasfilm Games’ best-remembered games was actually a minor sales fiasco, preventing the planned Great Guilds trilogy from being completed. 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 arrived at the game that revolutionizes video games. That in which all the virtues that were glimpsed in previous graphic adventures converge and that creates one of the most beloved sagas of characters. 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: LeChuck’s Revenge (1991)
The sequel to The Secret of Monkey Island was an extraordinary jump in quality, taking advantage of the improvement in PC hardware (especially). The story expands, new (and impossible) puzzles , characters and settings appear, and the plot depth reaches levels of absolute madness. The humor overflows 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 the Second World War and becomes one of the reference companies in the genre. It is noted that Lawrence Holland is completing stages until his great creation that will arrive just two years later. This Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe came to have expansions that lengthened the combat campaigns between the Allies and Nazis.
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992)
Two years later comes what 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 establishes LucasArts as the best company in the world in the genre of graphic adventures.
Super Star Wars (1992)
The Star Wars games for consoles had been quite discreet until that moment, 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 Super Star Wars trilogy was born for Super Nintendo (with Super Empire Strikes Back and 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 proves to the world that it is the best. The second part of Maniac Mansion is a catalog of superb virtues that begins with its graphics, continues with the characters and ends with an amazing time travel story . 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, fills the screen with graphics and strips the bottom with classic SCUMM game actions. The engine now decides the default orders based on the mouse click we make on an object, which helps to streamline everything that happens in the adventure. Once again, the technology is up to the story, the protagonists and the thug tone of what happens on stage.
X-Wing (1993)
Star Wars was in the background, although it is with this X-Wing that we really began to dream 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 shooter with a lot of plot and phases that we play on rails. In other words, the game takes us along a predetermined path while we finish off 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 for these years is the PC, from time to time it makes the leap to consoles and, with the help of Konami’s distribution, they develop this wonder that is a tribute to the horror and fantastic movies of the years 50 and 60. Monsters, aliens, ghosts and two protagonists who move through a scenario full of enemies and graphics as wonderful as remembered. A jewel.
Ghoul Patrol (1994)
The success of Zombies Ate My Neighbors emboldened LucasArts, who returned to develop a game with very similar mechanics, but now set in a world full of zombies and ghosts. Funny like few others and with an extraordinary sense of humor that 16-bit console players fell in love with.
TIE Fighter (1994)
After 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 positions of the Rebel Alliance. 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 what LucasArts says and Full Throttle is another of the geniuses that are born from the factory of Californians. A biker as cool as a figure 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 Extraterrestrial .
Star Wars Dark Forces (1995)
In the midst of Doom fever , LucasArts did not hesitate to give the Star Wars universe a boost with a masterpiece of what everyone now calls shooters . A story that ended up being canon, monumental settings, gigantic ships, puzzles to solve and many hand-to-hand combats 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 like Jedi Knight, etc.
After Life (1996)
This title is unknown to LucasArts, but it gives an idea of how from time to time they messed around and developed a game that had nothing to do with what had been seen up to that moment. Strategy and management like Sim City only in the afterlife, with versions of heaven and hell that we had to guide to take souls to their last rest. Rare, rare, but keep in mind…
Star Wars Shadow of the Empire (1996)
Game that begins to reveal moments unexplored by the original films. This time we will live events that occurred between The Empire Strikes Back and 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 (and PC) hardware we were able to enjoy space combat and third-person action phases never seen before.
Herc’s Adventures (1997)
Once again LucasArts returns to consoles. To PlayStation specifically, with a game that inherits the visual style and fun of Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol , but focusing the plot on Hercules and all the imagery of Greek mythology. Funny, strange but with that LucasArts spirit that permeates everything.
Outlaws (1997)
First- person shooter that is an homage to Sergio Leone’s spagetti westerns . A game with a great story, better music and, for the first time, really entertaining multiplayer. A rare bird within the LucasArts universe but one that is remembered as one of the best of those released in the second half of the 90s.
The Curse of Monkey Island (1997)
The Secret of Monkey Island returned six years later with a complete facelift that puts a cartoon movie on the screen . It was clear that the saga had to evolve and his 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, has decided to ignore it and not follow anything that they tell us about 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 some day what it means now.
X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter (1997)
Lawrence Holland and his Totally Games reach their peak. At the moment in which 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? We can finally fight against friends in space battles like the ones in the movies.
Grim Fandango (1998)
LucasArts does not forget the genre that has brought him so much glory and creates one of the most perfect adventures in his catalog. A story of the dead who are very much alive in an absolutely amazing world where everything smells classic, 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 the critics and the specialized media.
Star Wars Rogue Squadron (1998)
Nintendo 64 saw the arrival of a game focused only on space combat, but without pretending to be a simulator. It was like taking Shadows of the Empire and leaving only the ship phases. A hilarious success, with all the charm of Star Wars and that on GameCube had a second installment that further improved the formula of the original. In these times, the Star Wars games are still admired.
Star Wars Rebellion (1998)
If Afterlife was weirder than a green dog, we won’t even tell you about this one. 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 more leisurely and thoughtful action will love it without a doubt.
Escape from Monkey Island (2000)
With the arrival of the 21st century, LucasArts (which was already starting to run out of steam) released the fourth part of The Secret of Monkey Island . A game already designed to be launched on consoles and handled 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 from 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 opponent. Here we not only have the Empire but, since Episodes I, II and III had already been released, other factions appear. It was very celebrated and really served to take Star Wars to a dimension, until that moment, unknown.
Star Wars Battlefront (2004)
Finally, we highlight a franchise that survived beyond LucasArts itself. Star Wars Battlefront is an adaptation of DICE’s Battlefield multiplayer idea , 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 .
