Written and designed by Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman, The Secret of Monkey Island told the sly, irreverent tale of pirate-wannabe, Guybrush Threepwood, a lanky amateur who desires nothing more than to be the mightiest swashbuckler who ever sailed the seven seas. His quest takes him to Melee Island, deep in the Caribbean, and before long he becomes embroiled in a plot by the evil ghost pirate, LeChuck, who has dark designs on Melee’s Governor, the fierce and beautiful Elaine Marley. On his way to becoming a pirate, Guybrush must learn his way around a sword, commandeer a ship and negotiate the dangers of the mysterious Monkey Island. The Special Edition, being an utterly faithful recreation of the original experience, tells the same great tale which remains as hilarious and witty as ever. Slapstick, self-referential wit and tongue-in-cheek innuendo are the order of the day and twenty years on it is still a heady mixture which makes one wonder why so few games since have been as legitimately funny. Nearly every single line of dialogue zings, crackles or raises a wry smile and while the story is ultimately pretty goofy it remains satisfying and memorable throughout.
A title screen which can still bring a tear to an old sea dog's eye...
Hand-in-hand with the clever plot and satisfying story are the central gameplay mechanics of puzzle-solving and exploration. Every brainteaser is present and accounted for in Special Edition, and by and large the puzzles still hold up today, with only a few frustrating sequences to test one’s patience. A labyrinth sequence and some time-sensitive puzzles in particular may whittle some nerves. However, one of the stronger elements of the game’s design is that Guybrush cannot die, fail or become stuck; if a player has the patience to try anything and everything, success will prove inevitable. Although progress may be slow-going at times, gamers lacking patience have the all-new option to access hints by pressing the ‘X’ button the control pad. While purists might deride the system, there can be little doubt that it marks a step in the direction of accessibility and is vastly preferable to pausing the game, soliciting the aid of an online guide and withdrawing from the immersion of the game’s world. Even with a control pad, navigation and puzzle-solving are natural and intuitive and cursor control is swift and responsive. The left and right bumpers trigger pop-up windows containing ‘actions’ and an inventory respectively. While proceedings can often become complicated when items need to be pushed, pulled or opened in quick procession, with a bit of acclimatization and perseverance the simplicity of the underlying design ethos reveals itself. Ultimately, The Secret of Monkey Island remains a poster-child for the joys of point-and-click game design and the Special Edition affirms this with gusto.
Some of the redrawn environments are utterly gorgeous.
Of course, the most striking feature of Special Edition is the game’s redrawn art and enhanced presentation. Each and every screen from the original title has been redone in an illustrative style. By and large, they look excellent and benefit from the various added details. For instance, the pirate-infested Scumm Bar now sits before a moody dock with large ships anchored in the background, all of which were absent in the original game. Conversely, the redesigned characters are arguably inferior to the charming and oddly evocative pixel-art renditions in the 1990 original. Guybrush himself is the main casualty of the newly-envisioned art, presented in the Special Edition as a weak-chinned fop with a ridiculous mop of hair. One of the funniest elements of the Guybrush Threepwood character was that he looked the part of a dashing young pirate and that it was only when the other characters engaged with him that the extent of his incompetence and naivety were revealed. The Special Edition variant appears gangly and unimpressive from the outset, and while this iteration is clearly attempting to evoke the cartoon-style of the series’ third entry, The Curse of Monkey Island, it doesn’t quite pay off. Further, the characters retain their original jittery animation which results in an unfortunate disconnect between the old and new. It comes as a sigh of relief to report, then, that LucasArts has performed some sort of technical voodoo and enabled gamers to switch seamlessly between the 1990 pixel-art visuals and the modern redesign at the press of a button. So if the character art irks or one simply wants to savour the endearing clunkiness of the classic visuals, relief is only a button-press away. Players will no doubt find themselves switching back and forth between the versions on each new screen. Truth be told, this is probably the single smartest and most respectful decision a developer has made with respect to a high definition remake of a gem from yesteryear, offering up the excitement of the new and the comfort of the old in one tidy package.
There's nothin' like the hot winds of hell blowin' in your face...
Much of the above analysis holds true of the game’s soundscape, with each of the memorable melodies graced with orchestrated remixes and the game’s myriad lines of dialogue given life by an impressive voice cast. Dominic Armato, the voice of Guybrush since the aforementioned Curse of Monkey Island, returns to his role with relish, delivering memorable lines and vintage gags with just the right amount of earnest bluster. Likewise, the supporting cast is typically strong. Playing The Secret of Monkey Island with full voice-acting makes for an exciting and uncanny experience and should prove rewarding for longtime fans of the series.
There’s not much else that can be said about The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition other than to say that it is a must-play in spite of its uneven presentation. The game is not especially lengthy and there are no documentaries or concept art galleries to flesh out its status as a ‘special edition’, which is disappointing. However, it almost seems unfair to begrudge the game for its no-frills approach, considering how unusually generous it is in dispensing its fun, wit and personality. Those who have never had the pleasure of Guybrush Threepwood’s company should buy this immediately and prepare to become lifelong fans of the series; veterans of the Monkey Island series should buy this game immediately and rekindle the old flame.
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