I don't understand some of the 1 star reviews here. They seem to have been written by ignorant fools. Firstly, no AI has been used to make the art HD. The art has been re-scanned and re-coloured from the original background sketches, by hand. Secondly, the people saying that this should have been a free DLC update for owners of the original game; are you actually insane?! This is a project backed by people like me over on Kickstarter. It cost Revolution Software a great deal of money to beautifully redo all of the art (as well as adding lovely touches such as real time character shadows). Rant over. As for the remaster itself; it's magnificent and I can confidently state that it's every bit as good as the likes of the Day of the Tentacle remaster. It's shocking how much better the graphics look in this remaster (you can press the TAB key to instantly switch back and forth between the original and remastered graphics, in order to compare the two). An essential purchase for any self-respecting adventure game fan.
Firstly, it ought to be noted that unless you have a strong inclination towards role-playing as a pirate, then there's nothing worthy of your time to be found here. If, however, you yearn to sail the virtual high seas and fly the pirate flag, then there's certainly some charming worth to be found here, beneath all of the janky presentation and gameplay. You can choose which pirate you want to play as whenever you start the game (each with their own backstory) and then trade, plunder and engage in combat. There's nothing exceptional about this game, but if you enjoy the aesthetics of mid-late 90s games and also love pirate games, then you could certainly do a lot worse than this game. I would suggest waiting for a sale though (or should that be "sail"... ho ho).
This remaster is near perfect. It's a faithful update of the original game, with new high-resolution graphics and quality of life settings. It's everything that anyone who's a fan of the original game could reasonably want from a remaster. My only criticisms are the cel shading style for the cutscenes (which, aside from the pre-rendered shots, appear to have been upscaled), which are at odds with the original art direction and the price of the game at launch (£25).
REVIEW: PART 1 - I came away from this game thinking "Be careful what you wish for". For 3 decades, Ron Gilbert had talked about how he had a vision for a third game in the series and how there was a Secret to be discovered, that nobody had ever guessed the answer to. Turns out that Gilbert had absolutely no vision, as the entire game is disjointed and slapdash. As for the "Secret"; it's literally the same secret that was revealed at the end of Monkey Island 2. As for the game itself... POSITIVES: * The voice acting is generally very good throughout (although the new voice actor for LeChuck is very poor and sounds more like Mr. Krabs from Spongebob Squarepants, than he does a fearsome pirate). * The soundtrack is... fine. It's not up to snuff with the previous games' soundtracks, but it's fine. Only 1, maybe 2, memorable tracks throughout the entire game though. ------------------------------------------------------- NEGATIVES: * A hideous, cheap looking art style which resembles a naff flash game for iOS (right down to skeletal rigged animation). * Terrible puzzle design, which is insultingly easy, even on "hard" mode. Also, the puzzles are creatively bankrupt and tediously repetitive. I mean, how many puzzles were solved by using your dagger on an object or looking up a safe's code?! * Dreadful story which goes absolutely nowhere. You'll have forgotten most of it within a day or two of finishing the game (and because the game is so easy, that'll be the day you purchased it, most likely). * Eye rolling 'member berries throughout the game. There's even an entire museum devoted to Guybrush's past adventures. If you're one of those people who thinks that Ready Player One is a great movie because you recognised things in it, then maybe you'll get a kick out of this game. I certainly didn't though.
