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 (I still like the original cover art better that doesn't make Guybrush's hair look like a large pasta shape)
CLASSIC/MODERN GAMING
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: LucasArts
Genre: Point-click Adventure
Year: 1990/2009
System: PC/Xbox 360
Remember back when LucasArts were a master of point-and-click graphic adventure games and weren't entirely focused on milking the fuck out of the Star Wars franchise? Remember that one great trilogy they had of these games that everyone loved for its whimsical humour and pirates?
Well guess what bitches, it's back, on Steam and Xbox Live! Two versions actually for quite a cheap price (£6.99 for me actually). The original classic edition with the same layout, graphics and music. And the special edition which has remade music, cartoonish modern graphics and voice acting. Take your pick, I'm reviewing both because it's cheap.
 (Remy's caribbean travels for gumbo recipes did not go so well)
Story - Our story begins with Guybrush Threepwood, a pirate wannabe on Melee Island trying to become a great pirate. In his quest to be one of a master of swordfighting, thievery and treasure hunting, he becomes unwittingly stuck in a conspiracy by the ghost pirate LeChuck, planning to kidnap "the love of his life", Governor Elaine Marley. It seems Guybrush is the only one stupid enough to undertake such a challenge to save Marley and end LeChuck's diabolical reign of the Seven Seas....and if that doesn't make him a mighty pirate, then quite frankly nothing will.
Graphics - Classic edition keeps the graphics precisely the same in all their blocky glory but now on your fancy new monitors of the 21st century, and damn do they look nice, it's a real blast from the past for the old skool gamers who played or never played this game. As for the special edition, it is just scarily perfect. Everything is where it should be from the SCUMM Bar to LeChuck's hellish port, lovingly re-rendered exactly like their original forms in terms of location and size.
 (that's not a very good chest if you can just reach your hand through it)
I'm serious, this couldn't be any more perfect a remake in terms of where everything is, but there is one personal thing I can't really get over. Guybrush himself. Maybe it's just me, but he looks like a leukaemia victim with a bad wig and a shirt on. I don't mean any disrespect in that way but what I mean is, I don't like the look of Guybrush's weirdly over-foppish hair that looks like a bad wig.
This is easily overlooked however by one big thing. The absolutely seamless change between special and classic editions. No matter what's happening or who's talking, you just press F10 and it instantly fades into the other version. You can even do this in mid-conversation and the voices and music just fade in perfectly. Clearly a game made of love.
Gameplay - Classic Edition keeps its original interface with the various commands like a keypad, there's really no problem here other than if you get stuck. If you do, you could always try the hint system. While this is better than calling the probably defunct hotline of LucasArts, this is still admitting defeat. Also, no, it does not explain about the tree stump.
 (This is where Jack Thompson bought his law diploma. Wait I'm sorry that's terrible. Scum have better standards than that)
Special Edition however tries to be more streamlined, doing away with the interface to have only two choices per clickable object, one of them always being Walk To, which is essentially just what most point-click games did after the early 90s to simplify things and is not really a problem, though the cursor looks a little weird to me and it moves a little more sluggish than in Classic Edition.
Music/Sound - The music of the old games is classic, truly, little can be said about it, it's like a film score, you can say it's classic but you won't remember any of the songs specifically. But the remade version has the music exactly done, and I mean exact, not even missing a beat, you barely even notice the change in the music between editions unless you really pay attention, hell the way the music fades in and out between versions really helps make any difference unnoticeable.
 (Ridley's Believe It Or Not! Robot Wars was actually invented in the 17th Century)
Voice acting in the Special Edition is also amazing, not only does it just fade in like the music when switching from Classic to Special Edition, but they even brought back the original voice actors of Guybrush, Elaine and LeChuck from Curse of Monkey Island, bringing nostalgia ever closer to the eyes.
All in all, this is a brilliantly enhanced remake, a true gift to the people from the smart people of LucasArts who left to make their own smart games as Telltale Games. Truly they have a heart as big as a gorilla's to keep this kind of fanservice going for people, first with Sam & Max, and now with Monkey Island. All we need now is a no-nonsense awesome remake of The DIG and I'll be humping their legs harder than a three-headed monkey.
Fun and Innovation - 4
Replayability - 5
Gameplay - 4
Presentation - 5"Videogames are bad for you? That's what they said about rock 'n' roll." - Shigeru Miyamoto  Hail Slither, The Eternal Champion!
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Additionally, they just released this full version on the Apple App store. $7.99 for your iPhone, and comes complete with the ability to switch from original to re-released versions on the fly, like the PC version.
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"Who the fuck is Leon Switch and why does he know we have a dog?" - Mrs. Giller
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