"Roy was one of the sweetest guys you'll ever meet, and a joy to work with. It was hilarious to watch him act, and see (the) stern, gravelly voice of Ben coming out of this gentle, soft-spoken man. ... We had been through boxes of audition tapes without much luck — when you advertise that you're looking for a tough, biker character, you get a lot of guys trying to be tough; growling, yelling, and forcing a lot of attitude — and then we put in Roy's tape, and out came this effortless, deep, rich, bass sound. And that was that. We didn't ... listen to another tape." —a Full Throttle dev, on casting the part of Ben

As a rule, I'm not a fan of adventure games – they are too limited, in terms of gameplay, to qualify for true "game" status, far as I'm concerned. I see them more as extended visual novels – with linear gameplay, limited scope and no replay value to speak of... Which should speak volumes when I say Full Throttle is one of my favorite games and (save, possibly, Grim Fandango) the best adventure game I had ever played.

An adventure lives by its story and Full Throttle's is, aptly, lean and Vmax-paced (and I'm talking the uprated '09 here – with the honking 1679cc V4). You play Ben, head honcho of the Polecats, who runs into the owner of Corley motors (the "last motorcycle manufacturer in the country"), Malcolm Corley. Malcolm is so taken with Ben that he wants him to ride escort to a Corley shareholder's meeting, but Ben's having none of it. His refusal sets events in motion that snowball quickly from Another Day's Riding to murder, leaving you to help Ben out of the (literal) dumpster that he finds himself in.

In terms of gameplay, Full Throttle is hardly a challenge. Where other adventure games can either be so chock-full of points of interaction Excessive Pixel-Hunting is needed to get ahead; or so convoluted in their design puzzles take forever to suss out, Full Throttle offers a clean, sparsely populated world that will seldom thwart your efforts or overexert your noggin.

As befits a game whose contextual action menu is 50% "punch or kick," puzzles are simple and consist mostly of either properly getting into the mindset of a 100-and-change kilo biker who lives by his principles and fists, timing things correctly or, occasionally, both. I do think past reviewers did the puzzles a slight disservice by calling them "simple", though, as – though they may require straightforward solutions – some are, nonetheless, quite clever.

Puzzles aside, the mid-to-late game introduces some quasi-action, button-mashing sequences that see you fight rival bikers, but they are brief and don't outstay their welcome.

That the artwork and animation are phenomenal should come as no surprise. Between concept art by the talented Peter Chan (who worked as a background artist on Monkey Island 2, Day of the Tentacle and – oh, yeah – Grim Fandango; and would go on to storyboard Star Wars: Episode I); animation by Larry Ahern (a long-time LucasArts vet); and the overall brilliant spit'n'polish one would expect of a LucasArts production (not for nothing but – when it wasn't shoveling more Star Wars slop out the door – the studio knocked out some Genuine Gems like The Dig and Gladius); it's not at all surprising Full Throttle looks like a graphic novel and flows like a first-rate anime.

The sound, likewise, is stupendous, with professional voice actors stepping in for roles that would have previously been staffed by in-house talent. Listen closely and you'll hear the guy who was Brain (of Pinky and the Brain), a lady that voiced Lola Bunny in Space Jam, Mark Hamill (!) as the main baddie (hot on the heels of his magnificent performance as the Joker, in Batman: The Animated Series); and little-known Roy Conrad who may not have had much of a career, but is, was and ever shall be the Man Who Was Born to Be Ben.

A score arranged by Peter McConnell (who composed music for pretty much every LucasArts game mentioned, as well as Psychonauts, Brütal Legend and Broken Age); and select tracks from the Gone Jackals' second studio album, Bone to Pick, flesh out the sheer aural joy and set the tone for a quick, down-and-dirty story told at breakneck speed.

At just four hours long, Full Throttle has been criticized for being too brief, but I think the length is fitting for a tale about a man living at 100 miles per hour. There are no grand reveals here. No intrigues, no plot twists or turnarounds: just a smooth stretch of blacktop, a fast bike and a guy bound for the horizon.

The Remastered version of the game offers modernized graphics and a few extras (like Peter Chan's original sketches, a jukebox's worth of tunes or – shudder – audio commentary), but nothing that really redefines or adds to the core experience. It's nice stuff to have, but nothing outright amazing.

If you want to enjoy a brief foray into a bleak but intriguing world, ride a v-twin that sets everything on fire at the least twist of the throttle, play an adventure classic or simply experience the rare instance of a game that Gets Everything Right, give Full Throttle a try. Like all the best rides, it'll leave you fulfilled and, at the same time, wanting so much more.

Pig Recommends:

• -if you like your adventures more sci-fi-y (and not the least bit serious), try Space Quest I (the VGA remake, if you can get it), IV and V for some grand, spoofy, space opera fun; while the games are mostly parodies of better-known productions, they've got enough heart to stand on their own merit and lace a lot of humor into Roger's interplanetary/time-spanning adventures;

• -for adventure genre classics, look to The Dig and Grim Fandango; the former has a good enough story Alan Dean Foster wrote a novelization of the game, while the latter ties with Full Throttle for my favorite adventure game of all time and offers a beautiful, epic tale of enjoying life to the fullest – even when you happen to be quite dead;