The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

LucasArts has brought us many classic point-and-click adventure games in the past, and it seems they’re not willing to stop. With their recent new installment of the classic Sam and Max series and now their revival of the Monkey Island games in the form of a brand new episodic adventure, it seems they have quite some more in store.

The cherry on top is the rather enjoyable remake of the classic adventure ‘The Secret of Monkey Island’ that was released on Xbox Live Arcade/STEAM recently.

If you have ever played The Secret of Monkey Island back in the days, you know how good it was and the notion of a remake will probably fill you with nostalgia. If you’re unfamiliar with the series, I guess know is as good a time to start as ever.

‘The Special Edition’ (as it is adequately sub-titled) features new, hand drawn, HD quality graphics and improved sound, as well as voice actors to provide the voices for every character, really bringing the game world to life. Despite the fact that it is hardly a big deal, I was probably most impressed by how every single line in the game is spoken. It really adds a lot of personality and atmosphere to an already detailed and brilliant world. Nevertheless, it has to be said, the new cartoony look and well designed characters look pretty good.

To accommodate the fresh feel of the new look, they’ve also redone the control scheme to some extent. Using both the A button as a general selection button and the B-button as a quick ‘mapping button’ (it can be used to temporarily map certain actions to this button allowing for easier access to all available options) makes the game play slightly more easy and fluid as the 1990 original, and as such, is a welcome addition.

The game itself remains unchanged and has no secrets for avid SoMI fans that have spend hours playing the original game. For them, the new remake mainly serves as a piece of nostalgia, a chance to relive past experiences or just see a familiar world with a new look. For all those who never played the original, this is the chance to play a timeless classic with a modern look and find out what they have missed. For just 800 MS Points, it’s a bargain either way and I highly recommend it to both long time fans and newcomers alike.

More Images:

The old version and now the new one: