With
the headache that was Grim Fandango:Remastered still not quite gone, I thought that I would look at
another LucasArts adventure game that’s been remastered . Well, that and the
sequel – because when am I going to get the chance to talk about Monkey Island again?
If
adventure games were the Lannisters from Game
of Thrones, Monkey Island would
be Tywin, Day Of The Tentacle would
be Cersei, Full Throttle would be
Jamie, Grim Fandango would be Tyrion,
and Broken Age would be Joffrey. What
I’m trying to say is that Monkey Island
is the abusive patriarch that controls it all and sets the standard for
everyone to completely ignore.
For
example: there are so few pirate games in the world. Considering how much the
internet loves pirates, this perplexes me. The stereotypical pirate is bubbling
with warm, grog-soaked personality that can bring a smile to your face just
before a cutlass gets shoved into it. Case and point: every single character in
The Secret Of Monkey Island.
You
play as Guybrush Threepwood, a hapless nobody cursed with the world’s most
ridiculous name. The game opens simply: you walk up to a random person and
announce your desire to become a pirate. From there, there are all sorts of
wonderful adventures to be had – just as long as your mouse is re-enforced
because it’s time to click like you’re transmitting morse-code.
The
gameplay, despite the new graphics, is extremely dated. This is probably
because I’ve since played the Hitman
games, where you can carefully wire up the barbecue so when your target goes to
use it, it explodes and the whole thing looks like an accident. OR, you can
just shoot the guy and run away because you’ve got stuff to do and don’t care
about your highscore. Meanwhile, The
Secret Of Monkey Island gives you a sword but then almost never lets you
use it. Throughout the game, whenever I came across a locked door I tried ‘use
sword on door’ but alas, this is a game where every problem has one very specific
solution. It’s like being back in Maths class…
But
you must remember that despite its age – humour is timeless. In every room, you
are likely to find at least one joke to chuckle at. In fact, the puzzles themselves are
jokes. Where modern point-and-click adventure games fail is that the puzzles
merely require you to use one item on another. You find a key; you use the key
on a door. The Secret Of Monkey Island,
meanwhile, requires you to go down to the pub and get the most rancid drink
available on tap (so rancid it melts the tankard it’s being held in) and pour
it over the lock to open the door.
Perhaps
its finest moment is the insult swordfighting. You don’t actually swordfight –
instead, your opponent insults you whilst fighting and you must come up with
a retort. Succeed and then you get to say an insult and see if the enemy
retorts. Most likely you’ll lose your first fights, but that’s OK because the
more you fight – the more insults you’ll add to your arsenal until eventually
you have all the insults and the responses.
This
leads to later when you must fight the dreaded sword-master. Instead of insulting you, the sword-master
threatens you…but you can use the same retorts you’ve been learning against the
sword-master. It’s a genius puzzle, and it’s such a shame that adventure games
stopped doing things like this. There’s also an endlessly fun puzzle where you
have to haggle with a used ship salesman, not to mention a scene where you have
to trick some strangely civilised cannibals. Again, this game is hilarious.
The
sequel is your typical ‘the-same-but-MORE’ sequel. You begin wealthy and successful,
but soon that all goes to pot and you’re back to square one. The fearsome
Captain LeChuck is back from the dead, and I both admire and resent the game
for not including insult sword-fighting. Instead, there are two other genius
recurring puzzles that even with the hints system require you to actually use
your brain.
Whilst
I wouldn’t go as far to say that Monkey
Island 2 is better, it does move the game away from the plot of the first.
It retains the same array of colourful characters and the same gag-upon-gag
humour without feeling as though it’s attempting to rehash the first game or
trying to better the first game. It’s a continuation of the story – nothing
more, nothing less.
The
only problem, aside from the same convoluted logic present in the first game
(but that’s typical of almost all point-and-click adventures) is that the game
is overlong. The developers themselves admit this is the case. It doesn’t
outstay it’s welcome, but I think the main reason why I prefer the first game
(along with the insult sword-fighting) is that it keeps everything nice and
tight. It’s the same problem Deus Ex
had: it’s good. It’s all good. But there’s so much good stuff it becomes a
little overwhelming. You finish the game not wanting more, but satisfied that
you’ve had all you can take – like a meal at a fancy restaurant.
Finally,
I infinitely admire the game for very decisively and conclusively ending the
series. It’s a bizarre ending, yet it doesn’t leave any room for another sequel
– which is why it’s so strange that there are
more sequels…but they weren’t done by the original team, so we don’t count
them.
If
you’re interested, then you should absolutely get the Special Editions. Each
one is a complete remake with a new art-style, new music, actual voices, and an
ingenious ‘hint’ system that Grim
Fandango: Remastered completely forgot to include. Also, you can swap back
and forth between the Special Edition and the original version of the game at
the press of a button. Want to not just reissue but also update a game for a
modern audience? This is how you do it. I think the reason why I was so angry
at Grim Fandango: Remastered was
because, just like in the old days, Monkey
Island had set the bar so highly.
It
might be a relic of the past, but it’s a relic that can still be enjoyed as
much as when it was brand new. Plus, you don’t have to keep changing the
floppy-discs every five seconds…
