The Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition

First of all I have to say I bought this game despite all the one star warnings, and I was pleasently surprised. I found it to be not bad at all. I do agree that new version could have made the effort to make voice work for the older version, and that the action menu in the new version is a little hazzle (although it's easy to memorize and get the hang of the quickperform action keys as you go along) To me the new graphics is allright. With these newer graphics all characters have a more concrete look, and so it takes away the imagination you had to apply to the blurry graphics in the original version. In this new version Guybrush looks like a total dork to me. A nobody that tries to rise and prosper. That works for me. I always felt that Guybrush was like that, the way the other characters in the game talked to him. Always getting his name wrong, saying things like he looked more like a flooring inspector than a pirate etc. I'm not saying I liked all the new praphics, there are some elements that disagree with me, but others that are good and outbalances the overall experience. The best thing I liked about the new version was the spoken dialogue. It's really good quality and sounds like professional artists that do the voiceover. I find the important looking pirates telling jokes and laughing particulary funny. "Don't forget! X Marks the spot! Har! Har! Har!" If you can live with the new graphics and don't get dissapointed that there is no voice for the old version I would check it out.

This game, with a story inspired by the tone the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and later stolen for the PotC films, you play Guybrush Threepwood, a nerdy wannabe pirate out to make a name for himself, but soon finds himself catching the eye of the local lady governor and the evil ghost pirate that wants her for himself. The game relies on solving problems using wacky items in your inventory or through talking to the colorful cast of characters. Like the Disneyland ride, the game is very appropriate for kids to play but not necessarily strictly for them- cartoon violence that's rarely shown, the "alchohol" is an absurd acidic compound called grog and a few statements on kissing and light inuendo that kids won't get. Of a historical note, The Secret of Monkey Island was one of the first adventure games to incorporate a constant narrative with a talkative main character, and also allowed you to explore the setting freely, This special edition is incredibly faithful, allowing you to swap out the new storybook style graphics with full character voice over for the more realistic tone of Steve Purcell's (of Sam & Max and Brave fame) 16-bit portraits and text only at the push of a button. Highly recommended to adventure game novices and pros alike who never had a chance to enjoy this game before.

I played this first on the Xbox 360 years ago. I always had a bit of curiosity when it came to Point and Click adventure games. The new artwork looks great for those who want it to be more crisp looking. The old style is just a click away if you played it years ago or want the original experience. Both are great, I lean a little more told the old style myself after playing other similar titles since then. Wish I could have discovered these titles in the early 90's. Decent jokes are in here to go along with the puzzle solving. This would be a great start for anyone wanting to get into point and click style games.

Well I don't really recall the last time I laughed so much while playing a game... The story is hilarious - which is exactly what I love about this game. The graphics are amazing even now in late 2020, the sound, music and narrative is amazing. 6 stars out of 5! :)

No other adventure game has as many ports as the original Monkey Island game. It was on everything...There was CGA version a EGA version a VGA version and it was on just about every console of the time... What I feel has greatly improved is the ambient noise. The background sound effects are extremely relaxing, which is something that you'd want to find in a game when wasting away all your precious free time on video games... It comes with a beautiful sound track, relaxing ambient noise ( So good that the ambient noise is actually on youtube as ASMR videos... lol) The voice acting cast is top notch... If you love the voice acting from the third game, then the SE should be enjoyable because it's the same actors from the third. The voice acting really enriches the experience and brings out the humor of the original game that is really dry without a voice. The guy who voices Guybrush is simply a genius, and his voice adds liveliness to the game. Some of the graphic choices bother me, like the close up protraits... I prefer the originals... but the rest of it doesn't bother me...(Elaine and Guybrush's close up art work was gorgeous) The original pixel art, where as it's charming and I grew up with it, having been born in 1987, It does sort of strain my eyes now and the new/ crisp clean graphics actually look pretty good. Over all it adds to the enjoyment of the game for me. A clean, fresh looking game. Also, I want to mention that the SE has more atmosphere, moving clouds, fog, lightining... When you switch back and forth between SE and the original you realize how flat the original art work is... it lacks the lighting, the ambient sound, it lacks extra details that are present in the environment that only add to the liveliness of the game... Over all I find the SE version to be the most lively and relaxing version of the game. I actually put on my headset, got into bed and just relaxed listening to the ambience of mele city. This version is good.