Arragh! Monkey Island deserves a special edition!
About 20 years ago, Lucasarts released a game that would live forever as a classic and amazingly it wasn’t Star Wars related. It was, of course, The Secret of Monkey Island, the game that first introduced us to Guybrush Threepwood, Le Chuck and the chicken with a pulley in the middle. Recently, Lucasarts looked up from their shameless franchise destruction to produce a new and improved version of Monkey Island, entitled The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition. So whats changed and is it still a classic?
For those of you who have never visited Melee Island or met Loom Guy, the Secret of Monkey Island is a puzzle game set in a “Pirates of the Caribbean”-esque Caribbean, complete with zombified pirates, and follows the tales of Guybrush Threepwood, a young wannabe pirate who appears quite out of nowhere with an ardent wish to become a buccaneer. The gameplay was your standard point and click job, focusing on bizarre (but logical) item combinations and witty dialogue. However, it was all done in the 8-bit graphics of the SCUMM engine and lacked spoken dialogue as well.
The main draw of the Special edition is the improved graphics. All the locations and items have been redrawn in a slightly stylised cartoon way. They do look the part, although those who have played Curse maybe wondering why they didn’t go with the same style as that game. As well as the sprite being redrawn some of the background effects have been improved. The water looks especially nice on the title screen. One final point on the graphics the ability to switch between the new style and the old 8-bit if you wish to. This is quite nice for the nostalgic but personally, the new style looks a lot better.
The sound has been given a complete overhaul as well. In the enhanced mode, the entire game is voiced acted, with the complete cast of the main voice actors back from Curse. The acting is all top notch and rally make the game better. It also adds a few extra jokes due to intonation. As well as the dialogue, new sound effects have also been added. Most importantly though, the music has been upgraded but still sounds almost exactly the same as the old tunes you all remember.
Gameplay wise very little has changed. All the puzzles remain basically the same (apart from an easter egg), but the interface has been tweaked slightly. On the enhanced edition, both the inventory and the verb menu are pop ups (called by pressing the I and V keys respectively on PC) leaving the interface a little cleaner than in the old version. This however does make it a bit clunky to control as you have to keep popping the the two menu boxes in and out constantly. Also new to this edition is the introduction of a hints system, where at the press of a button the way forward can be easily revealed. Each individual press of the button actually increases the level of assistance up to actually pointing out where to go. This gets rid of all of the sticking points in the game, that was one of the main reasons why people never finished the original.
Overall, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is the definitive version of this classic adventure game. If you have never played a point and click before, this is the game to start with. However, if you have already played the first game before, than you should still pick this up, even if its just for old times sake.
I give The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition 90%
