The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
I don’t think it gets any more nostalgic than this. The Secret of Monkey Island might not be the best adventure game of all time, but it’s definitely up there. It’s amazing that even though I haven’t played this game for years (since I picked up the Sega CD version just to have a console port) but I still remember it like it was yesterday.
This is a subject very dear to me, so please excuse any ramblings or history lessons; I’ll try to stick to the point. Point and click adventures seem to be on the rise again. Since Sierra and LucasArts stopped making adventure games (nearly 10 years ago) it’s been very rare to see a good point and click style adventure game come out. We got a couple great ones. Syberia, Dreamfall, and Trace Memory come to mind, but for the most part it’s been a wasteland. However, in just the last couple years we’ve gotten some great games like Sam & Max Season 1 & 2, Zack and Wiki, Strongbad’s Cool Game for Attractive People, and the Broken Sword Director’s Cut. Some of these sold really well, and I can only assume that the great sales of Sam and Max are what’s prompting LucasArts to take another look at their old adventure properties. They’ve already said that if this Monkey Island and the new Tales of Monkey Island games sell well they’ll consider updating/creating more sequels for other games. I would kill for a new Manic Mansion or Full Throttle (or at least a port of Grim Fandango) so this makes me very happy.
This brings us to The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (or SMI:SE from now on, because I’m lazy). SMI:SE is a complete remake of the original game. All the graphics have been completely redone in beautiful HD, the music has been re-recorded, and voice overs have been added for the entire game. If you’re a purist you can also play the game in classic mode which plays exactly like the original.
The Secret of Monkey Island was an early SCUMM (Say it with me Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion.) engine games. Though there are several iterations of it the “SCUMM” engine was used to create the majority of Lucasarts adventure games. Most of the games shared a similar interface and character dialogue was handled in a way unique to Lucasart adventure games.
The story follows Guybrush Threepwood, a wannabe pirate. The game starts with Guybrush landing on Melee Island where he hopes he can complete the three trials and become a pirate. However the evil ghost pirate LeChuck has different plans and ends up kidnapping the women of Guybrush’s dreams. The game is played by searching for items and solving puzzles like a typical point and click. What makes Monkey Island stand out is the insult sword fighting system. Where you learn insults and retorts from your enemies and use them in battle to win swordfights.
Gameplay in the new enhanced mode has changed a bit. Instead of having the bottom 1/4 of the screen reserved for action words and your inventory, these have been moved to popup menus and the new graphics are designed to fill the entire screen. You can use “a” to walk anywhere, and “b” to perform context sensitive actions (usually “look at”, but sometimes other necessary actions). You can press the left trigger to open your action box and choose any action at any time, and the right trigger opens your inventory. It’s kinda strange when you have to switch between the two to perform actions on objects in your inventory, but it works pretty well. You can also use the d-pad to select any of the action words, it just takes a while to remember which direction is which word (and I don’t think you can select “look at” which is a pain since there are times when you actually HAVE to open the menu and choose it). While it was quick for me to adapt to the new system, I can’t help but feel that not having everything exposed could make the game harder for newcomers. Especially gamers not versed in the typical inventory manipulation aspect of adventure games. They may not think to check those action and inventory menus and get stuck. The game does have a built in hint system to help new gamers though, so maybe that will make up for that.
Aside from that the game plays just like it always has. The designers were nice enough to leave everything EXACTLY how it was. They even left in all the “Loom” jokes that no newcomer will understand.
Switching the classic mode is done with the back button and is much like the XBLA game R-Type: Dimensions. At the press of a button the game magically morphs to the old school 256 color interface. Complete with all the menus at the bottom and the original music. The voices cut out and it feels like you’ve gone back in time.
The new score is great and the voices are very well done. They are done by the same voice actors from the later Monkey Island games and everyone sounds great. One of my favorite new things is that each comeback for the sword fighting has two deliveries. One if it’s the correct one, and one if it’s incorrect. It really makes the fighting more interesting.
One thing to note is that subtitles are turned off by default. When you start a new game, you’ll want to turn them back on. Not because you can’t hear, but because that’s what the old SCUMM engine games were known for. The way they handled the subtitles was chalked full of personality. There are some jokes only in the text, and to be honest the dialogue sequences contain little animation and can get boring with the subtitles turned off.
Ok, so my opinion is a bit biased for this one. Monkey Island is an amazing adventure game, and a truly hilarious experience. The update is great, so if you were worried about that, don’t be. If you’ve never played a Monkey Island or other point and click adventure game, this is a great one to start with. It could be your gateway drug.
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