Toonstruck (1996)

Intro

Toonstruck is a point & click adventure game starring Christopher Loyd back when he was pretty big (BTTF 1-3, Addams Family 1-2). You're a cartoonist who ends up in a mildly amusing cartoon world that follows "cartoon rules". You get stars by having someone else hit them, you motivate an elephant to run by scaring them with a mouse, that kind of thing.

The Good

The game was apparently a huge flop, despite all the money poored in. It looks nice, the occasional cartoons are decent and it also features voice acting by Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson) and Tim Curry (who coincidentally would later star in Addams Family 3). There's also a handful of funny jokes, like your character asking an anthropomorphic cow if they're not supposed to be on all fours.

The Bad

Toonstruck suffers from the usual p&c adventure game flaws. No map to quickly move between areas and see where you can do something, no hint button, no journal/quest list and lots of annoying slow text & unskippable bits. Also, nothing about the setting, story and characters is particularly interesting. There's a footman who is an actual foot, that's about it. It's also fairly short because they decided to cut the planned game in half to make a sequel.

Conclusion

I wouldn't recommend it unless you're really into adventures about cartoon stuff.

I hadn't heard of this game until very recently, and that's a shame. Its concept — a real-world cartoonist trapped in a world of cartoons — is impressively executed for the time. Christopher Lloyd's delightful, scenery-chewing performance compliments his surroundings extraordinarily well, and he's joined by a phenomenal cast of A-list voice actors (including Tim Curry, Dan Castellaneta, Frank Welker, Tress MacNeille, Jim Cummings and Robb Paulsen, to name a few). Some of the jokes show their age more than others, but the performances exceeded my expectations.

Like a lot of point-and-click adventures, I struggled a bit with some of the more obtuse puzzle solutions. But I never struggled with the game's interface, which is simple, streamlined and intuitive.

Toonstruck was infamously divided in half by its publisher shortly before release in hopes of a swift sequel. When its sales suffered from poor marketing and shifting industry trends, it left Drew Blanc's future as undefined as his surname. While this makes the game's conclusion somewhat unsatisfying, it's still a worthwhile story to experience.

If you’re a fan of point-and-click adventure games, I’d go as far as to say that this game is a requirement. It’s an absolutely wonderful game. After a good introduction you are greeted with comedy and your stereotypical assumptions challenged in the most humorous way. Despite it’s simplistic and colourful design, this game is far from juvenile. I was amazed how every character I met had it’s unique quirks, wants and needs, creating an enriching experience. Every conversation had conveyed meaning, history and personality. I would even potentially recommend this game to players who aren’t that heavily into point-and-click games. This is one of those games that could entertain a wider spectrum of players. In a way, I can’t believe I hadn’t discovered this game sooner, as it’s clearly a gem from the golden age of point-and-click adventure games.

I want to add that the automatic mount created for direct Steam usage made the in-game experience glitchy as hell, so I mounted it myself via ScummVM without issue.