Behind the glossy veneer of this update lies the same classic but dated adventure.
The Secret of Monkey Island is one of the undisputed classics of the adventure gaming genre. It holds fond memories for a huge number of people, and pretty much served as the template for all the Lucasarts (and similarly-styled) adventures that followed. Now, 19 years after the original release, comes the biggest update the game has ever seen; redrawn graphics, voice acting and redone music all make the game a lot more appealing at first glance.
Firstly, a note to anyone concerned that the game has been messed with in some way: it hasn't. At all. Every line of dialogue, every placement of every character, and every item description are exactly the same as they've always been. In fact, a simple press of the 360 controller's back button at any point will switch between the updated and classic versions on the fly. If, then, you're an obsessive Monkey Island fan who knows when to walk away and leave the game running for ten minutes, or which bit of mountain to stand on for a death screen fakeout, you can do so safe in the knowledge that the exact same stuff is going to happen. In fact, in the whole playthrough I only discovered two very minor changes to content of the game.
This means that all the things that made this game really great still offer a compelling list of reasons to play through it. The story of wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood's attempt to start a career in buccaneering (a buccareer, if you will), discovery of his true love Elaine Marley and recurring nemesis LeChuck is just as charming as ever, as are the environments and cast of offbeat side characters. The writing is of excellent quality, and in places is incredibly funny, with a sense of irony and cynicism that few games come close to. And the self-imposed rules of the game (no dying, puzzles can be skewed from reality but should be solvable without trial and error) mean it's a lot more playable than much of the point-and-click back catalogue.
The reasoning behind the the Special Edition then is simply to give a better user experience with an old game. For starters, the convenience of having a perfectly working hi-def downloadable version for only 800MS points means that anyone who can get past the discomfort of using a controller instead of a mouse (for the record: a little clunky as expected, but never a real problem) should be happy with this version. The new graphics aren't going to blow any minds, but are certainly better looking than the original. The same can be said of the updated music; the soundtrack has always been a strong point of the Monkey Island series, and certainly sounds better with live instruments and updated effects, though sticking rigidly to the original score means it lacks the quality of some of the reworkings in the sequels.
The voice acting, however, is where Special Edition really justifies itself. Most of the recurring characters are voiced by actors who are reprising their roles, and the SoMI-specific characters almost all have solid performances too. Dominic Armato in particularly brings a fantastic enthusiasm as Guybrush, and really makes the character feel younger and more eager than ever. While it's occasionally annoying to hear repeated lines in quick succession, and it's a little odd that the transition screens have also been voiced (in a jarring 'Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice' style, for some reason), these minor negatives are more than made up for when a sequence such as Guybrush's training in insult sword fighting is brought alive and made so much more hilarious by the solid voicework.
However, for all the work done in this update, it doesn't quite feel like enough. Autosaving, skippable cutscenes and an optional hint system are the only concessions made to cleaning up the gameplay. This means that you're still going to run into elements of game design that are pretty outdated by modern standards; you'll do just as many unneccessary 'look at' commands following 'open container' commands before you get the object, and if it doesn't click that you're supposed to pick up the shovel before the shopkeeper will let you pay for it, you're never going to get it. Really, all the niggly little problems come from the fact that Special Edition is still running a game from two decades ago under the surface. You'll run into occassions of weird timing and awkward pauses where the spoken dialogue runs too fast or too slow compared to the original subtitles. It also denies a wealth of opportunities that a full remake could have taken to make the game prettier and more user friendly, like pulling the camera in for dialogue, or a quick jump from wherever you are in town to the map screen. There's a lot of A-to-B-to-back-to-A-then-back-to-B style backtracking in this game, and when you've got to navigate through 5 screens of town to even get to the map it just feels tedious.
These problems may be minor, but they do prevent this from being the ultimate version of this game that it really feels like it could have been. In that sense it's hard to know who The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is really made for. There's a great game here, and the voice acting gives it a greater appeal, but it's debatable whether the new coat of paint does enough to make it truly accessible to anyone coming to the game for the first time. Probably the game works best with a degree of nostalgia: anyone who played the game at the time but hasn't done so since will likely have a blast rediscovering it.
If the words 'How appropriate, you fight like a cow' mean anything at all to you, you're going to find this a worthwhile purchase, and even if they don't this is your best opportunity to find out how this newly-revived franchise got started. This is a hilarious, charming and downright great game, even if it feels like a slightly missed opportunity that I still have to qualify those sentiments with 'for its time'.
