Home / Features /Loco Motive is a throwback point-and-click adventure perfect for Monkey Island fans ByKim Snaith 9 December 20249 December 2024
The 90s got a lot of things right. Music was better, movies were more original, comedy was actually still funny. And in the 90s, we still knew the meaning of a good point-and-click adventure game. Whether it was Broken Sword, Discworld or Monkey Island, point-and-click adventures were at the height of their game. Loco Motive, available now on PC, aims to capture the glory of the 90s point-and-click adventure game — and based on what we’ve played so far, it does a very good job of it.
Set aboard a luxury train, Loco Motive begins with the wealthy Lady Unterwald dropping dead while on stage. Naturally, foul play is suspected: this was a murder, not a natural death! And the perpetrator must be on board the train. As you play through Loco Motive, you’ll take control of three characters — a lawyer, an undercover spy and a crime novelist — all of whom are primary suspects. By exploring your environment, talking to other characters and piecing together an enthralling mystery, you’ll need to uncover what has really happened to Lady Unterwald.
With beautifully colourful pixelated visuals, Loco Motive looks every bit the part of a 90s point-and-click adventure game. You can even play it like one if you want, simply clicking around the environment to guide your character. We’re thankful for full controller support, though, and the fact you can directly control your character with the thumb stick if you’d rather. It’s actually a pleasure to control, and since interactive objects around the environment are highlighted by default, it’s easy to ensure you don’t miss anything.
Not that it makes Loco Motive a cake walk, however. Its puzzles still require a bit of outside-the-box thinking, with you using the environment and the items you’ve gathered in your inventory to make weird-and-wonderful combinations. Everything makes sense, at least — and if you do get stuck, there’s a built-in hint system to point you in the right direction.
Characters are fully voiced, too — and to a high standard. This is a quality production, aping only the best that the point and click genre has ever had to offer. If you’re a Monkey Island fan, you’ll find yourself right at home here: there might not be a pirate in sight, but in terms of tone and comedy, it has a lot in common. The dialogue is absolutely on-point, and we’ve got a big kick out of the visual comedy: picking up a huge desk fan and watching our smartly-dressed protagonist tuck it into his jacket’s inside pocket had us grinning from ear to ear.
We’re looking forward to playing more of Loco Motive and seeing where it’s thrilling but slapstick story goes. One thing is for sure: if you’ve ever enjoyed a point-and-click adventure game, this is well worth sinking some time into. And playing it is about as close as we’re ever going to get to going back in time to the 90s, more’s the pity.
Loco Motive is available now on PC and Nintendo Switch.
