Blast from the Past: Monkey Island 1 and 2 (by dwadler)

I have some very fond memories of some of the television programs that I used to watch many years ago. The thing is that when I saw re-runs recently, some of the programs now looked like a load of rubbish. I was reminded of this when I managed to get a look at the soon to be released Monkey Island 3. As soon as I saw it I compared it to the original. But later I realised that my memory of Monkey Island 1 might be flawed. There was nothing for it but to get it out, play it again, and find out just how good it was, or rather is. And, while I'm at it, I might as well look at Monkey Island 2 as well :-)

In both Monkey Island 1 and 2 you take the part of Guybrush Threepwood. In the first episode you want to become a pirate. In order to achieve that you go to Melee Island and talk to the local pirates. They give you a number of tasks to perform. Should you succeed in completing all the tasks you will become a pirate. The problem is, that a dead pirate called Le Chuck, is going to try and stop you. You'll have to play the game to find out any more about the plot.

When you are playing the game the screen is divided into two sections. The largest part is the playing area, but below that is a sort of a menu section. There are a number of actions, such as look, take and so on, and your inventory. Unlike most modern games, the mouse pointer does not change shape or colour when it moves over a hot spot, although the name of the object is displayed. For example moving over a character will display his/her name or a description like "Important looking pirate" The mouse does, however, have two functions, one for each button. The first, reached via the left mouse button, is walk, the second function, right mouse button, varies depending upon the hot spot. For example when on a door it is 'open', when on a character it is 'talk' and so on. This is a very straightforward and easy to use system.

Talking to characters is via the, now standard, pick a sentence from the list. This is not as restrictive as it might sound, since the list is usually fairly large, and it changes each time you say something. When the characters talk all you get is the sub-titles, there is no actual speech. Each of the characters has a different colour for his/her text so it is easy to tell which is talking. While I enjoy the speech in other games, I must admit that in both Monkey Island 1 and 2 I did not miss it. Mainly I think because I was so busy laughing. Just about everything the characters say is funny, and this includes the dog. Yes, you can talk to the dog. Mind you, unless your name is Dr Dolittle you probably will not understand him, but who cares.

The graphics might at first look a little chunky, since they are in VGA only. But, the game is done as a cartoon and even now, in these days of SVGA, the graphics are good. Playing it again I found that I did not notice the graphics, which I think must be the ultimate compliment that can be made. You get so engrossed in the game and the humour that the graphics and background sound are just there.

The thing which makes or breaks any adventure game is the puzzles. If the puzzles are too simple and/or to few then no matter how good the graphics and humour the game will not work. Both the Monkey Island games have very good puzzles. A few are nice and simple so as to keep the game flowing. Some are fiendishly difficult, but most are somewhere in between. All of the puzzles are reasonably logical and if you listen to the other characters and examine all the objects then you can solve them.

You may have noticed that I haven't said much about Monkey Island 2. The reason for that is that it is almost identical to Monkey Island 1. The only difference is the story, and I'm not going to tell you about that. If you want to know, buy the game. The graphics, sound, humour and so on are the same as Monkey Island 1, yet the game as a whole is very different. This is because the story and the jokes are different - even though they have the same feel as Monkey Island 1.

Having now replayed both Monkey Island 1 and 2, I can say that they both still retain the old magic. The humour is a fresh as it was on the day they first came out. All I can say is get hold of them, and play them - they are extremely good.

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Rating: 8/10 (Recommended)
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