The Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition

I'll be straight. I didn't play the original Monkey Island when it came out. My parents got me consoles when I was young therefore I missed out. If you are someone with powerful nostalgia toward how you played it and this remake doesn't suffice, I understand and I am not going to try to convince you. Downvote if it makes you feel better, and move along. That said. I think the artstyle, while a bit offputting at first, has aged well and fits this remake just fine. The short animations are funny and there is something South Park-ian to the whole thing that it constantly makes me smile. It's not unintentionally bad, it feels artistically designed this way, so whether you like it or not, it's not from a lack of effort or a mistake. It's just a disagreement between you and the creator. The voice acting is top notch and I don't think it's really up for debate. It's so good that playing the game without it is pretty much a nonstarter now, even for people who grew up with the original game. Every single line is not only well acted but feels inseperable from the art the accompanies it. It's a perfect match with the tone of the game and brings every character to life. I will say that the UI is the worse part of this remake. Using items or doing anything feels like a chore until you get used to it. But this complaint hardly detracts from the experience and quite frankly is being nitpicky. It's still as functional as it needs to be to do everything you need to in the game. It's not immediately intuitive, but after a few minutes you will have mastered how to play Monkey Island. So yeah. I'm not sure why the most helpful review is a one star review. For the majority of people this is the definitive way to play this game and they like it and it's mere existence does not somehow erase your childhood or your memories. But this is hands down, a wonderful game that is enhanced by this remake, and nothing of value was lost.

The Secret of Monkey Island defined the genre, despite not being the first point n click game at all, and has been an inspiration for many games to come. Being one of the first point n click games where failure wasn't a game over it opened up for a more enjoyable play style and you could focus more on the story and the funny characters. Everything LucasArt does is done with humor, love and that extra creative touch. This game is no exception! Playing with the remaster makes the game look different, but not worse, and the voice acting is a really good addition to this cult classic.

I've never played a point-and-click adventure before, I've heard a lot about this game but not when I was a child nor a teenager, back then all of my friends had consoles to play and none of us owned a pc. I really like the simple story, the puzzle, the atmosphere, the funny humor and the new graphic. The hint system works perfectly and really helps you in finding a solution just in case you cannot find it by yourself. Voice acting just superb. Recommended :)

Well, it's hard to give anything less than a 5 star review considering the original game is right there, included, and it hardly needs any introduction or justification. One of the best adventure games, an all time classic, great puzzles, great characters, great humor. It's worth buying even if you just immediately hit F10 to switch to the old game and never go back. Reviewing it as a remake, however... well, there are some flaws. First off, the art style is just awful. While you can see they tried to keep things pretty close to the original for the most part, they went in a more cartoonish direction so it would look more similar to the later games in the series, and it doesn't work very well. It's a matter of personal taste, of course, but I found that it sucked a lot of charm out of the game, and some of the effects, like the rippling water or the heat haze under Monkey Island, just looked cheap and unnecessary. On the other hand, you'll want to play through the newer version at least once because the voice acting they added is pretty wonderful. For me, this is the real highlight of the remake. Everyone's voices are on par with any of the later games in the series, and they fit the characters perfectly, from the crotchety old shopkeeper to the timid pirate ghost with the loose skull. Unfortunately, there's no option to use the new voices with the old art- I can understand that maybe it would have been a little incongruous, but the option would have been nice. There are also a few bugs- though I didn't run into any my first time, on the second a squawking parrot got caught in a loop, and the game crashed seemingly at random beneath Monkey Island. Luckily, the remake has added an autosave, so I didn't lose much progress either time. One good feature is the way the game seamlessly transitions from new to old at the touch of a button- this is very convenient, plus it just looks cool, and I'm glad it's become a standard feature in other LucasArts remakes.

Well, it's difficult to choose, but I think, Monkey Island is the one I love most. Sure, Monkey Island 2 and 3 are much longer and Monkey Island 2 ist much more polished (Monkey Island 3 can't be compared), but the Secret of Monkey Island had this ... innocence. "I wanna be a pirate!" - and that was all there was to say about the game's story at the beginning. Sure, later we have ghost pirates and cannibals, but they all fit in. And the riddles ... (spoiler) Can't get out of the water? Well, pick up the weight that's holding you down, you dummy! This game's setting was the best one. When I play it, time seems to stand still, it's always 11 o'clock. Yes, Guybrush looks somewhat awkward in this remake, but a) you can set the graphics and interface back to the CD version of the game (sadly not the original floppy disc interface) or you can use a mod to change his hair. The remake was well done, but they did a better job with Monkey Island 2. It would have been nice if they re-release the remake with similar bonus content as MI2SE has.