The Secret of Monkey Island

"And so it begins..."

The Secret of Monkey Island was released by Lucasarts on both the PC and Sega CD. It is the latter that would start my journey onto Monkey Island but the former where I would return much later to complete the tale. This review however is strictly based upon the PC version, though the differences between the two are non-existent outside the data loading system.

Story:
I'm Guybrush Threepwood, a mighty pirate! Or at least during my romp through The Secret of Monkey Island (TSoMI) I was.

TSoMI begins with a young and rather weak man named Guybrush Threepwood setting off to become a mighty pirate and trying to find out the Secret of Monkey Island. Guybrush while not a jock, is far from a computer nerd. He's more of a normal guy who happens to be witty, a smart-ass, and a little bit physically weak as well.

TSoMI is a comedic adventure. Everything from the puzzles to dialog to even the inventory items will constantly try to invoke laughter from the player. This is where TSoMI begins to become torn apart by rabid fans and/or extreme hatists. Personally, the humor offered by TSoMI is right up my ally. The humor is more of the ''Hey look! A three-headed monkey!!'' type of variety rather than simple toilet humor. It's hard to say which side each person will fall upon but perhaps it's best to say that lovers of the Discworld series will find a happy home on Monkey Island.

As of the time this has been written, there are four Monkey Island games available. I highly recommend that any person who wishes to dive into the world of Monkey Island play the games in their respective order as to avoid missing out on a vast amount of inside jokes and puns that accumulate throughout the series.

Just for reader reference, I will list the Monkey Island games in order:

The Secret of Monkey Island
Monkey Island 2: Lechuck's Revenge
The Curse of Monkey Island
Escape From Monkey Island

Graphics:
TSoMI uses the good old timey sprite fashion style found in many older Lucasarts and Sierra adventure games. Nothing about Monkey Island's graphics will astonish the player. By today's standards, TSoMI is too dark and the colors are too well blended into one another due to a lack of a varied color pallet to be ''pretty.''

The setting found in TSoMI is rather unique however so this helps the player to enjoy their visit a little more without throwing the game out at first glance. TSoMI is by no means ugly, just that time has not held well for TSoMI.

Controls:
TSoMI is a 2d 3rd person point-and-click adventure game. It utilizes the SCUMM engine that was used in many old Lucasarts adventure games.

Guybrush can be moved by clicking with the mouse on the screen where you want him to move. To interact with an object/person, the player must manually select the action verb from a window that constantly stays in the lower right corner and then click on the item/person.

This setup is not nearly as convenient as that of the newer systems in more recent adventure games such as Syberia but none-the-less it was a vast improvement over the ''manually type in verb'' system that was used long long ago.

I actually miss this system and hold a strong bias towards it. TSoMI was my first adventure game and thus the system felt like home to me. Your mileage may and probably will vary. Still though, it gets the job done.

Audio:
Ah the good old catchy, piratey, toons of the Monkey Island series. It is in this reviewers humble opinion that the entire soundtrack of TSoMI is utterly unique and superb. I highly doubt any other music could fit the mood in TSoMI as well as the music that comes built into the game. It's almost perfect for the light-hearted, comedic, journey.

Sound-effects in TSoMI are rather non-existent for the most part. Later on in the adventure, players will hear more distinct noises but for the most part, players will be forced to delve into a rather un-ambient game.

There are no voice overs in TSoMI.

Puzzles:
Here's where things get tricky. The entire Monkey Island series revolves around players using a more twisted mind to find the solutions to many of its puzzles. Players will either enjoy this welcomed change while laughing at the humor that is immensely added or they will scratch their heads as they pixel-hunt the dark backgrounds that are present for a good portion of the game and wonder why ''a chicken with a pulley in the middle'' is an inventory item. It is this inventory/puzzle humor that adds to the overall atmosphere of the game and it fits oh so perfectly.

As for difficulty, TSoMI is never TOO hard. As with any old sprite based adventure game, players will be forced to pixel-hunt constantly. TSoMI is one of the worst games when it comes to this area but luckily, it's still manageable. TSoMI consists entirely of inventory, item and person interaction/manipulation. No Myst style puzzles here.

Conclusion:
So what can I say?! TSoMI is, was and will always be my first adventure game I ever played. It hooked me from the start but being a huge lover of pirates and adventure games, that wasn't too hard to do. At first, the humor in Monkey Island was wasted on me but as I matured and replayed the game, I found the humor to be right up my ally.

With a simple story filled with humor, good length, a solid challenge, and a style all to its own, TSoMI made a large dent into the adventure genre. Three sequels helped to prove its popularity. TSoMI is a bonafide classic that NO adventure fan should miss out on. Whether you enjoy the game or not is all based upon personal preference but there is no way a true adventure diehard would miss out on such a chance. Newbies may want to start the genre with an easier adventure game such as the aforementioned Syberia to prep their minds for the zany world of Monkey Island. Now, let's see if I can hold my breath for ten minutes... ARGH!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/30/03, Updated 12/11/03