"Good start to a good series"

Secret of Monkey Island is one of the earliest PC games I got into when I got my first computer in fourth grade. It was challenging but at the same time it was fun, as you guided a sissy wannabe pirate on a quest to prove himself and find his true love.

So saying, you're Guybrush Threepwood, newly arrived on Melee Island in order to see about breaking into the pirate business. Unfortunately there's a pirate recession at the moment what with the ghost pirate Lechuck scaring all the swashbucklers out of their puffy shirts. As you can probably guess, your job won't just be to prove yourself to the pirate bosses on Melee Island but to also rid the world of Lechuck. And as if that's not enough, there's also the young and fetching governor of Melee Island everyone has their eye on, including Guybrush...

Secret of Monkey Island is a traditional LucasArts game; you can't die (at one point the game gets in a nice jab at games where you can), and you can't get stuck without an important item with no way to go back and get it, although there are some that are useful and some that are useless, and it's up to you to find out which are which. As long as you're patient and look everywhere and try everything, you will eventually prevail.

Graphics-8/10
This game looks really, really good for what the standard was at the time. Everything has this nicely-done cartoonish look that lets you know that even with the cutthroats, the cannibals and the decomposed ghost pirates who will get in your way over the course of the game, the game is trying to be fun rather than trying to be all dark and gritty. Which is what you would normally expect from a game about decomposed ghost pirates. Just think about what happens when you finally blast Lechuck back to wherever it is pirates go when they die.

Sound-8/10
Easily one of the strongest aspects of the game. The exuberant them music that plays during the title screen hooks you right from the start and, fortunately for the game's sake, is not the best thing to be had from the game. The music that plays while you explore Monkey Island, the catacombs beneath it, and your inevitable confrontation with Lechuck are all memorable pieces that in perfectly with what's going on while you're listening to them. There isn't much to say about the sound effects, sorry to say, because there's very few sound effects in the game.

Gameplay-7/10
Well, it's like the pirate bosses say; you don't become a pirate just by asking. Instead you need to find a bunch of items, use them to solve a bunch of puzzles, beat a bunch of bad guys, and get the girl in the end.

You have a list of general verbs (examine, push, pull, open, close, take, talk to, etc.) that you use to manipulate the environment and the stuff in your inventory.

First you'll need to prove your chops as a pirate by completing three quests (treasure hunting, thievery, and sword fighting), then you'll need to get a crew and ship to go after Lechuck, and that's all I can say without spoiling the game for you, and nobody wants that.

What makes this game fun is how off-beat it is. You have to haggle with a used ships salesman, learn that clever insults in a sword fight are more important than how skilled you are with a blade, and that root beer is the bane of all evil.

Overall-7/10
LucasArts created a fine game with Secret of Monkey Island. Though the sequels were a bit of a mixed bag, the original Monkey Island is something I and many other gamers will never get tired of playing.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/09/04