Full Throttle

Full Throttle is one of the greatest games I've ever had the pleasure to play. It's definitely not up for best game, though. It has minor control issues, and for a sierra-type puzzle solver, the answers to some of the stuff you have to do is downright mean. The storyline is the best I've ever seen, ever and I never plan to see one that equals it, either.
This game did a few things:

It entertained all sorts of people for what had to have been 10ish hours of gameplay.

It had a roleplaying game modeled after it, for the FUDGE system, which was totally great, as well.

It completely made a tiny band famous. The Gone Jackals were this little biker band that had one cd out, and someone on the game team found or knew them, and realized their perfection for the role.

The game follows a basic storyline that Corley Motors, the only bike manufacturer left in the world's owner is killed, and your gang is framed for it. You have to set things right, and kick a little ass on the way. Mark Hamill did several of the voices, including the main bad-guy. Within its bounds are held exploding bunnies, a bike that can jump the grand canyon, a destruction derby, and some totally great music. If you know anyone that can get you this game, play it.

Don't forget the credits, either. Biker haiku, Japanese names, and Supporting Cats.

You're Ben - beaten, framed for murder and left for dead on the roadside. You've got a lump on your back and a feeling in your gut that the road you're on is about to get a lot rougher.*

An amazing adventure game from back before Lucas jumped the shark, Full Throttle still holds up today thanks to adequate graphics, a great story, and fitting voice and sound work. Full Throttle starred Ben, a member of the Polecats, and a biker who's 100% bad-ass. Ben starts off the game betrayed, and his band has been left for dead. In typical anti-hero fashion (think snarling, take-no-crap biker), Ben must uncover the corruption (a heartless bureaucrat, Adrian Ripburger - voiced beautifully by Mark Hamill) behind the leading 'hog company, Corley Motors. Along the way, he meets the girl, a tough mechanic named Mo, and kicks some biker ass. Very linear, and short (10 hours), but entertaining gameplay situations made it worthwhile:

• An entire section involved cruising down old mine roads in a beastly 'Corley', and beating the crap out of members of different gangs. Eventually, you learned which weapons would work against the different gangs.. some required brute force (chainsaw, crowbar), others a more subtle alternative. (bag of flour)
• A beautifully-done 'destruction derby' with nice arcade action. This was part of a spectacular 'end game', with tons of stuff blowing up.
• Two puzzles involving rigging up your bike for some stunts. In the first, you need your bike to escape the town of Melonweed; in the other, you gotta jump a big ole' gorge, baby.
• Memorable double-crosses and plot twists.

Full Throttle's a worthwhile purchase for anyone dissatisfied with the current crop of adventure games. Its available on the cheap now, and can be manhandled into working with newer systems (use ScummVM).

* From LucasArts' Full Throttle web site

Some info from MobyGames' Full Throttle review, and GameFAQs.