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Day of the Tentacle isn't just arguably the best adventure ever made, but the Platonic Form of the genre in all its puzzle-solving, dialogue-tree ripping, twisted brain logic joy. It might not be the most exciting, nor has it the best story - it lacks the drama that intersperses Monkey Island's comedy, and even Sam and Max has more bite. And hey, maybe your tastes lean towards Tex Murphy or Quest For Glory rather than puzzle-box adventures that pit you against the designers' fiendish imagination. That's cool and understandable and indeed totally groovy.If, however, you think of the genre in terms of puzzles and comedy and those sudden moments of insane realisation that leave you sneaking to the computer at 2am on a school night, then I'm calling it. Day of the Tentacle is the best adventure game ever made. Ever. It is artistry in point and click form; a pitch-perfect example of how to make cartoon logic feel coherent, how to have a game full of dialogue that never outstays its welcome, and how to make it all feel utterly effortless.
Here's the premise: having drunk its fill of mutagenic sludge, courtesy of mad scientist Doctor Fred's Sludge-O-Matic machine - a device that exists solely to pollute a nearby river, because if he didn't have something like that in his lab the other mad scientists will laugh - evil Purple Tentacle sets off to conquer the world. It's too late to just run after him, apparently, so instead Doctor Fred comes up with a simpler solution - have three teens go back in time to yesterday and just switch off the machine before everything goes where hentai can only dream of.
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