The Secret of Monkey Island is remarkable in many ways. It launched LucasArts most storied and famous adventure games franchise, one that would act as a chronicle for the company’s fluctuating devotion to the adventure genre. For some, Secret and its sequel, LeChuck’s Revenge, are the only true games, since the third game eschewed Ron Gilbert’s intended storyline.
For others, the third game marks the best and last true Monkey Island title, with its amazing voice acting, beautiful graphics, and fun story. The last game, Escape from Monkey Island, is shunned. LucasArts second attempt at 3d adventure gaming (after the brilliant, successful Grim Fandango) was understandably a flop: the story wasn’t great, the puzzles and 3d interface were annoying, and the game just felt less tightly put together than the previous three.
LucasArts is certainly turning heads these days, rereleasing most of its back-catalogue of adventure games, from The Last Crusade to Loom, along with two new Monkey Island games. The first, Tales of Monkey Island, a direct continuation of the franchise, is an episodic offering from Telltale that continues the distressing 3d trend in adventure games. The second, ad revamped Secret of Monkey Island, is much more promising. Not only does it update that old classic with new graphics, a voice cast, and other amenities, it serves as a way for LucasArts to test the “dangerous” 2d adventure gaming waters.
It’s with significant pleasure, then, that I inform you that this Special Edition Secret is a brilliant game, and a great adventure game. It’s hard for a person who has beaten the original game multiple times to view this remake in anything approaching an unbiased light, but I can still relate the basics to you.
The Secret of Monkey Island follows the bumbling path of one Guybrush Threepwood, a “mighty” pirate who does everything poorly, except solve puzzles and hold his breath underwater. Guybrush arrives on Melee Island, ready to duel, insult, swash, and buckle, all in the name of piracy. Of course, from the game’s opening moments, obstacles clutter his path. He has to complete the three Pirate Tasks, confront the island’s fearsome pirate governor, Elaine Marley, foil various dastardly schemes enacted by the ghost pirate LeChuck, and eventually discover the Secret of Monkey Island.
It’s a game that mixes all manner of puzzles, from the obvious to the logical, from the hilarious to the frustrating. The puzzles are excellent, from reflex-oriented ones (like the melting mugs or seabird quests), to the memory/matching variety. What makes these puzzles stand out is the excellent writing. It’s easy to forget, after years of other games, that Secret’s script is still one of the best we’ve seen, in any kind of game. Every joke is perfectly delivered, every gag working in tandem with the story and characters. The game introduces us to hilarious, lovable characters like Stan, LeChuck, Carla, and many more.
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Matt Hargett
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minor complaints An amazing first foray into 'remastering' their classic games. Well worth the cost on XBLA, iPhone, or PC. On iPhone, the zooming feature avoids the readability problems that Myst had on the same platform. I hope they release it on PSN (with 24-bit lossless audio on PS3) soon! While I don't think the new UI is as bad as people make it out to be, I do agree on the voice acting. My two suggestions for future installments (or ports to other platforms): 1. Add some frames to the animation cycles to make them look smoother. Multiple friends who played the demo on XBLA pointed this out as the most off-putting aspect. 2. Make the animation cycles longer for walking so they don't appear to repeat as much. The walk and speech cycles, specifically, start to really bring down the 'updated' feel of the game. 3. Record the actors together for at least some of the dialogue. I think this would help the timing and beat spontaneity whose absence makes some of the lines fall a little flat. |
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Ronald Diemicke
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RE: Minor Complaints... Hey Matt, I applicate you coming to speak your mind. I've only played the demo myself (I know I'm a bad person - now that I've got the points - I'll probably fix that...) but I think you've made some good points. It's a good effort on lucasart's part and hopefully will entice them to remake other adventures games and mabye even some of their other classics (X-Wing, Tie Fighter, and Dark Forces, I'm looking at you!). As a token of thanks for being our first comment for the site - I'm going to e-mail you and let have a choice of either a redeem code for Virtual-On or Outrun for the Xbox 360. Thanks! =) UPDATE: Turns out Matt doesn't have a 360 (Doh!) - so I'm going to extend the offer to the next user who posts a comment. Win a copy of Virtual On or Outrun for the 360 - just post a comment and I'll send you an e-mail to choose your game. |
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