The first game came out when I was 3 years old. I started playing games when I was very young. I played the old Sierra games, and Street Rod 1 and 2 and games you've probably never heard of. I played coloring book games on really old PCs that had windows 3.1 or just simply dos... Adventure games were lots of fun because they had stories, and objectives that weren't like other games where you were attacking or shooting space invaders. Yes, I played Atari 2600 too, and then nintendo, so on... Early adventure games took the graphical limitations of their time and provided gamers with a unique, amazing experience of story telling, characters, humor, puzzle sloving. As time went on shooters incorporated more puzzles, story elements, deeper characters... I watched a lot of Disney cartoons. When I first played CMI, it had taken the franchise up a notch, the graphics were beautiful, Disney-like graphics. It was also voiced over, something not entirely new but it livened the humor of the game. Of course this was the new evoliution of story telling, no more pixelated graphics that strained your eyes, now beautiful illustrations brought to life. Then of course after this when 3D graphics had evolved to a point, it was the new way to tell a story... Where as I appreciate the pixel art of the early days... Curse simply looks and feels fresher, cleaner and more vivid. I still play pixel art games and people still make them... Curse is also a hilarious game with an amazing voice acting cast. I've replayed this game many times. Some would argue that it wasn't Ron's vision but we're not sure that Ron even really had one. The ending of MI-2 could easily just be passed off as a joke that never landed with people. MI3 revived the franchise for a few more titles and perhaps a future. The ending of MI2, if anything was a "joke on the fans", that you wasted your time playing a fantasy-sequence, or did you? I don't see any deep profound "secret" there. Curse adds to the story.
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.
The monkey Island series is anything but entirely consistent. The first game has that dry Ron Gilbert humor and is a 90s point and click adventure. The second game many consider to be a improvement over the first game. It was considered to have better artwork, a improved sound track, the puzzles were more challenging, if not infamous. Then the third title came along, which was CMI. It took the series in an entirely different yet vaguely familiar direction. It was animated something like a Disney picture and the sound track was far more modern with a complete voice over from a very talented voice acting cast. For many this was not a "true monkey island game" and a wedge between fans began to form. Ron Gilbert's conclusion to the second game suggested that he may have some incredible twist in store... Curse was headed by a different creative team and it went in it's own direction, without consulting Ron Gilbert. Then the 4th game, a new interface and CGI. The game seemed to alienate quite a few fans. This title also went in it's own direction, adding twists and turns to the long existing canon/ ethos of the franchise. Then of course we had Tales which occurred 12 years after Curse... It seems that they wanted to redo the appeal of Curse of Monkey Island. The game is very cinematic, which makes it as fresh as Curse must have been in contrast to pixel art ( which some prefer) It felt like a playing a movie while watching it unfold However, it was a episodic release and sometimes the episodes felt rushed. Reused graphics, fewer puzzles, because it was episodic meant that some of the puzzles were a bit tedious or time consuming to fill the time. If you're a super monkey island fan, you probably like all of them and play them for their continuity and characters. You're probably not huge on canon and "Ron's vision"... If you're someone who likes to see series evolve/ change and have a special place in your heart for the series, then I'd recommend this one.
The puzzles that required creative thinking/ critical thinking were easy. I breezed through the puzzles. When I got stuck , it was never for lack of thinking. Examples: There is part of the game where you need to smash a antenna.... I didn't see it because it just blurs into the pixelated background art. So, I was a little stuck... (It wasn't a big deal but it was a silly reason to be stuck in a game...) It was referenced earlier in the game to be fair, but I didn't see it at first. There's a part where you're given cooking gel, and no where in the game does it tell you that you can adjust the temperature of the gel. You later put together that you have to right click it and then you can adjust the temperature....the item is in your inventory. You use it, as the puzzle requires. The game lets you use it on a hand, as you're supposed to, but it's too cold. So, you spend several minutes perhaps trying to raise the temperature, without ever being told you can adjust it manually, it just looks like a tube... You click on the item in your inventory and nothing happens. You have to right click on it in your inventory for anyting to happen, then you can adjust it... There's another part where you're in a factory and there's a computer that you need to use to turn off the power for factory systems. This computer has files on it, and emails... and a power button icon. Nothing anywhere suggests that this power button turns off the entire factory. One may assume that it simply turns the computer on and off....(Another segment that is un-necessarily unclear) I want to touch on the voice acting... It's mostly solid, but personally I found it grating a few times. The character Jinsil can be quite annoying with her computer sounding voice... Cheffe is intentionally annoying... I liked Regis and Max. As for the story, it's thought provoking, relevant SCIFI. It has some funny moments that any good adventure game has. I'd recommend it but it's not perfect.
So, you loved TLJ? You loved the main protagonist, related to her story? You were into the narrative of the first game and invested in April Ryan's journey? You were hoping to see her continue her journey and follow her on another adventure? You had fun watching the character grow, evolve, become more confident? Then DO NOT buy this game, pretend it doesn't even exist. If TLJ's ending disappointed you even in the slightest way by making April not the chosen one....then don't even come with 10 miles of this game. April, while playing a pivotal role in the first game was not the chosen one. Regardless her character under went an interpersonal struggle and left an lasting impression on the heart's of millions across the world.... The sequel throws away everything you loved about the character, making her cowardly, emo, void of any spunk or creativity....leaving her broken, hopeless and desperate. This would have been a terrible way to end TLJ, leaving fans across the world disappointed and perhaps never allowing for the game to be the classic that it is today... It's a terrible way to start a sequel. As defenable as it is, because it's from the same creator...it's just the worst imaginable treatment of a main protagonist the world has ever seen. The main protagonist takes second seat to a new character... and is killed off in the most meaningless and anti climatic way possible with a horrible non expressive, non dramatic cut scene which adds nothing to the story. The player who was a avid fan of the first game and was looking for more of the story is left with major disappointment and heart ache... This has to be one of the worst sequels ever made and one of the easiest to pretend that it never existed. If you are looking for an actual continuation of the first game and it's main protagonist I would disregard this title and just use your own imagination to make up what happened to April. This game is worst than anything you' d imagine and you'll just be sad.
It's pretty much a terrible idea to end your game in a parallel/ alternate reality if you want a future or your game series. MI 2 was a very strange, disjointed conclusion to a two game series of it's time. The ending was then and will always be an enigma. The games ending left players with an existential crisis and an uncertain future for the franchise... Was it all a dream, were the characters and their story that so captivated our interest just immaterial manifestations of the imagination? MI 2 almost ruined any future chance the characters had to continue on their story... For those who were absorbed into the swashbucklers tale and his dashing girlfriend, they would only let with confusion if not deeply disappointed. The game tries too hard to be bigger and better than the first title...this makes it admittedly ( By Ron and company....) too long, the puzzles too contrived just for the sake of drawing out game play. If there were any time consuming, tedious puzzles in the first game there's double if not more in this one... These puzzles are typically more irritating than challenging. However this SE really brings more life to the game, brings out it's humor with it's fantastic voice casting. The graphics of the SE are beautiful, while remaining as faithful as possible to the original game and coming as stylistically close as possible to the 3rd, and 5th game in the series. MI 1 and 2 can not be said to be overrated, but they are overrated....in hindsight. Curse is admittedly considered to be more funny than Ron's drier humor and furthers the characterization of his characters and further their adventure. It fixes the hot mess that was the ending of MI 2 and allows for the series to continue on in the same reality...not some twisted alternate reality. Whatever direction the ending of this game sought to take was likely less desirable than the brilliant, fun and exciting direction taken by CMI. Where as this is worth playing...it's by far my least fav.
ABOUT TIME! I recently started replaying this series, imagine my joy when I see that the 4th game is finally available through GOG. I started the series with Monkey Island One. I fell in love with the story and characters. I didn't really care that much for the humor in the first two games but the stories were great. The second game ended in a very strange manner... left me confused. I love MI 1 and 2... But, to be honest I thought the third was more enjoyable.... The third game was beautifully animated, not to say that the first two games weren't state of the art... But the third in my opinion was much more humorous, while the story was just as exciting if not more exciting. The third game with it's brilliant voice acting and beautiful art work took the franchise to the next level for me. Then of course I played the 4th game and at first I admit the controls and CGI was a little difficult to overcome. But, the game to me anyways has aged pretty gracefully regardless of being caught up in the worst era of CGI where CGI was gimmicky and often didn't work and ruined franchises... It actually looks pretty good given that it's cartoony and never had to look realistic. It's stylized with age... as well as appropriately aged. There were much worse attempts from that era....and games that have aged far worse. Gabriel Knight III comes to mind and Simon 3D.... The problem with other video game series that continuously changed their appearance is that it was some times difficult to get back into that universe. It felt discontinuous or broken. Where as Monkey Island 4 at the time shocked fans with it's controls and graphics...the story, characters is consistent. I have replayed this game as many times as the others, I've been through the 4th game about 6 times now or more. It's not a perfect game, some of the story choices are outlandish or questionable...Over all though, I find myself coming back to it. I didn't realize when I first played it that I would...
This is rated among one of the top adventure games ever made. Interesting, funny, relateable protagonist, incredible adventure, deep story with a engaging plot. Unforgettable gaming experience... Thought provoking dialogues. Incredible 3D animation for its time. An old 2000s adventure game that somehow manages a cinematic feel. Then game the sequels where very little was scared. They feel more like spin offs, they assinate April Ryan's character, take away huge proportions of her soul and with that the series is left completely changed with new protagnoists that take it in an entirely new direction...it's no longer April Ryan's story... she becomes less and less relevant... She becomes a secondary character that becomes incredibly depressed, broken.... It's increidbly easy to fall in love with this adventure game and it's protagonist but you should stop with this game and see it as a stand alone, use your own imagination how April Ryan moves on with her life. The ending however less than entirely cheerful didn't have to open itself to the complete self destruction of the protagonist... it left itself perfectly open for a "come back" or " challenging fate" sort of sequel... Instead we got a bizzare, spin off like sequel that made the protagonist "fated to doom and gloom" and a random new protagonist is shuved down our throats... This game has it all, a wonderful story, humor, a great protagonist, everything... and you should only seek to play this one if you fall in love with all of it as I did because the sequels seek to destroy and unravel basically all of it... The sequels didn't have to go in that direction but they do... TLJ is one of the greatest adventure games ever and April Ryan is one of the best protagonists...save yourself the heart ache and skil the spin off sequels...
