When I was growing up, my family more or less always had a computer. We began with the Commodore 64, which segued into a series of Mac LC computers and low end PCs. While you can't quite talk about graphics cards and powerful hardware in 1990 the way we tend to now, most of the machines we played on were competent. Regardless, being an NES/SNES kid from day 1, computer games were always something of an anomaly. In short, I didn't get a chance to play many. The big exception was the many Lucasarts games that emerged in the late 80's/early 90's. We used to find value packs of these at Sams' Clubs and Wal-Mart stores, and over time I played all the classics: Indiana Jones, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, the Monkey Island series, etc. While some of these frustrated me all the way from start to finish- there was no Internet- I loved them for their simple interface and story elements.
The Secret of Monkey Island
Game » consists of 11 releases. Released Oct 31, 1990
- PC
- Sega CD
- Atari ST
- Xbox 360 Games Store
- + 8 more
- iPhone
- iPod
- PlayStation Network (PS3)
- Amiga
- Mac
- PlayStation 3
- FM Towns
- Commodore CDTV
The first game in the legendary Monkey Island series. Guybrush's desire to become a swashbuckling pirate gets him more adventure than he bargained for.
The point-and-click adventure... is there still a point?
When I was growing up, my family more or less always had a computer. We began with the Commodore 64, which segued into a series of Mac LC computers and low end PCs. While you can't quite talk about graphics cards and powerful hardware in 1990 the way we tend to now, most of the machines we played on were competent. Regardless, being an NES/SNES kid from day 1, computer games were always something of an anomaly. In short, I didn't get a chance to play many. The big exception was the many Lucasarts games that emerged in the late 80's/early 90's. We used to find value packs of these at Sams' Clubs and Wal-Mart stores, and over time I played all the classics: Indiana Jones, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, the Monkey Island series, etc. While some of these frustrated me all the way from start to finish- there was no Internet- I loved them for their simple interface and story elements.
While you raise some good points, I think Point & Click adventures can have a place with a newer audience. It won't be for everyone, but if you enjoyed them as a child, why can't new, younger gamers (along with older ones who missed out on adventure games) appreciate them? They just need the right marketing. A lot of people aren't familiar with adventure games.
Playing monkey island a long while ago was pretty much my only experience with the adventure genre. Despite enjoying them a lot, I had greatly neglected the genre. I only got back into Adventure games thanks to Giant Bomb's officially official adventure game enthusiast, SuperMooseman, who's enthusiasm about Telltales games encouraged me to check them out. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be enjoying the genre like I am now. There are lots of people, in a similar situation to me, having little or no experience with the genre who don't have a SuperMooseman getting them interested in adventure games. With the right marketing, they could become interested in the genre too.
I would definitely like to see the appreciation for many of the old games come back, if only because they connect us to a lot of the gaming origins out there. I appreciate your views though. I've been telling people about the old games for years, but generally get blank stares when I mention games like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.
In an age before flashy graphics or even spoken dialog, game makers had to rely on clever, witty and well written game scripts. Adventure games, especially Lucasarts games and Sierra games (my favorite being space quest) were probably the best examples of these. I can quote many, many lines from these games today, and it irritates me to play a new game with poorly written student-level dialog spoken by non-game playing TV actors who sound like they did this for the cheque. Younger players deserve to experience the quality of games we had, for reference if nothing else.
I'm from the new genration of Poiny-and-click adventure fans. I hadn't played a Monkey Island game until 2 or 3 years ago, so I'd definately say that there's a place for it now.
For me, it isn't necessarily the gameplay that drives my nostalgia. It's the well-written dialogue, humor, and stories that really make the games so much fun, even today. I do enjoy a good point-and-click game for the gameplay, especially if there are puzzles that really work my skull in creative ways, but that was never really the main attraction. I play games like Gabriel Knight, Leisure Suit Larry (the "old" Larry games), Monkey Island, Full Throttle, and the like because the creators seem to speak my language story-wise. Telltale Games has done a fantastic job of bringing back the nostalgia in me by creating some finely written and genuinely entertaining games, so to me, the adventure genre is still definitely viable. Give me a game like Dracula Origins or the Agatha Christie series any day over a generic grunt and shoot fest like Resistance 2 or Halo 3. Although those games have great gameplay value and I love them to death, I'll take a halfway interesting story any day of the week.
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