The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

[Ben Paddon]

It’s on Steam and Xbox Live Arcade now. No idea how much it costs in Europe but over here it’s $10.

I bought it early this afternoon and plowed through it in about four and a half hours. I’ll be writing a full, in-depth review of it for my blog (where I’ve also written a short essay on why Monkey Island is to me what Star Wars is for a lot of people), but for now I can say this: There’s a lot to like about the Special Edition, and a lot not to like, but on the whole I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a better computer game experience out there for a tenner.

Topic

[Jonathan Capps]

Ooh! It’s ?6.99 over here, which seems fair enough.

[Ridley]

And 800 MS points

[JamesTC]

I have 800 MS left but I am saving 400 for Sonic and Knuckles, so I can’t get this.

[Dessie]

I’ll be getting it today. Never played it before so i’m going to play through it with the old graphics first then again with the new ones.

[Jonathan Capps]

> I have 800 MS left but I am saving 400 for Sonic and Knuckles, so I can?t get this.

Just download a Mega Drive emulator and be done with it.

[JamesTC]

Well I have Sonic and Knuckles in many different forms but most don’t have the better save features on the 360 and since I already have Sonic 2 and 3 on the 360 it will have lock-on compatibility so I can then play Sonic 3 and Knuckles HD. I mean the main reason I got the microsoft points was for the two Sonic releases, it is just the Katamari with all the downloadable stages took up alot of points.

[Seb Patrick]

What “better save feature” can there be than an emulator’s “save state” ability?

[Seb Patrick]

(also, I could be wrong, but if you can’t download a ROM of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, I’d be VERY surprised…)

[JamesTC]

Well you can download a ROM of Sonic 3 and Knuckles but you have a difference with playing on a laptop on a shite emulator or playing on a big screen with a controller in HD.
It is essentially just a save state on the 360 too, still I will take any chance to play through Flying Battery Zone another 4 or 5 times, such good music on that one, shame the boss at the end of act 2 looked so poor, I still laugh whenever I see that terrible Robotnic sprite for that boss.

[Carlito]

Broken Sword… they were fun games…

[Ben Paddon]

I finished my review of Monkey Island SE about an hour or so ago, so if you haven’t picked it up yet perhaps it’d interest you to read a review written by someone who has grown up playing the games.

[Andrew]

> I finished my review of Monkey Island SE about an hour or so ago

“The new interface, which hides the inventory and verb menus off-screen, simply doesn?t allow you to switch from one tankard to another as hastily as you?d like.”…” I can?t imagine the frustration someone playing on the Xbox 360 with a controller might experience on that puzzle?”

Ooh, ooh, that’s me!

Here I am, posting at 4am having downloaded TSOMI today and literally just completed this part of the game…and it was fine. By the time I got the the tankards, I’d already dropped using the pop-up command menu almost entirely. The 360 version allocates a command each to the eight directions of the D-pad, and that’s how I’m doing 90% of my selections.

Though it’s not ideal compared to the mouse-pointing I did on the Amiga way back when (where, in fact, I don’t think I fully played this game, but skipped straight on to Monkey Island 2), it didn’t cause any mayor problem. And it’s preferable, just, to moving the pointer to the options in the Classic mode when using a controller.

[Ben Paddon]

Would you mind if I copy-pasted that into my review?

[Andrew]

By all means.

(I have now completed the game. I feel all warm inside, but am now desperate to play MI2…)

[Ben Paddon]

Drop me an email, Andrew. I may be able to facilitate your sequellings…

[Stabbim the Skutter]

I’ve played it on PC up to near the end of Chapter Three. I’m definitely not as negative as a lot of people have been about this, as I absolutely love the way it’s been made. Basically no changes, no removals, just an upgrade to the graphics and sound, with an option to switch to the original game at any time if you’re not satisfied, which reminds me of Tikka Remastered. This is how all remakes should be. The more creative changes you make, the worse it gets. Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green, for example, are basically the same as the originals but with extra locations and features that are completely optional. Compare them to Tomb Raider: Anniversary, which mercilessly hacks away at the charm and atmosphere that made the original game so legendary, cuts the length and difficulty to half of what it once was and replaces all the interesting and likeable characters with badly-designed stereotypes.

However, it’s not all poifect. I’m afraid I’ll have to side with Ben on the dodgy controls front. They’re worse than the controls in Escape From Monkey Island IMO. If they’d just included an option to show the interface on the upgraded version of the game it’d be fine.

The voice acting I have no problems with, and I’m shocked at the amount of people they managed to get back from 10 or so years ago. The graphics, however, have a couple of flaws. While I have no problems with the style, there are occasionally a couple of pixelated bits from the original game’s art showing on the backgrounds and it looks really ugly. Why didn’t they just blur or paint over those bits?

Another problem I had is the lack of animation in the backdrops. On Melee Island water doesn’t move in the original, but does in the remake. On Monkey Island the flowing water in the river does move in the original game, but…doesn’t in the remake. Why not?

Despite its flaws, I adore the art direction. The effects are amazing and LeChuck has never looked better. The lava caverns under Monkey Island are probably the best looking part of the game. Roll on LeChuck’s Revenge!

[Andrew]

> Why didn?t they just blur or paint over those bits?

I’m gonna go ahead a guess that this wasn’t a deliberate creative decision, but rather the result of things being missed or the wrong layers being exported. Which is usually down to workload/time (and therefore cost) demands. I have to admit, I never noticed on the Xbox.

It took a moment for me to get used to ANY voice. You just get used to the idea that the text has your own preferred comic rhythms. But it didn’t take long to adjust – it’s a very good job, marred only slightly by the slightly staccato timing in dialogues, which I assume I caused by trying to match the old-style game’s on-screen text.

Mind you, I’m about the only person who still thinks MI2’s Guybrush is the definitive version. Just ‘cos it’s what I played first. These things tend to stick…

As someone who never really liked the close-up faces in the original, I’m much happier with the character redesigns than some might be. As with the original box art, it always seemed like art from a much more sensible, serious game, not the yuk-fest you were actually getting.

[SkyAndSun]

Apparently you can solve the problem of stocatto dialogue by going into the original game and increasing the text speed.

[Stabbim the Skutter]

“I wanna be a pirate.”

…

“Yikes! Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

Yeah, it can be quite jarring at times. One bit that made me wince was the repetition of “I do so!” “You do not!” when you speak to Captain Smirk. It’s really obvious that they’ve used the same take twice.

However, I do really like that Guybrush has two different versions of his insult comebacks depending on whether you chose the right one or not.

[Ben Paddon]

Mind you, I?m about the only person who still thinks MI2?s Guybrush is the definitive version. Just ?cos it?s what I played first. These things tend to stick?

I agree wholeheartedly. I personally view Secret and Revenge to be two halves of the same game. People seem to object to Guyburush’s brash nature in the second game completely forgetting that the first game showed him trying to achieve some kind of glory. He achieves it, and the second game is him trying to milk it months later. It’s perfectly natural to me.

People had the same complaint about Simon in Simon the Sorcerer II. For instance fellow Jump Leads writer Euan Mumford thinks that Simon becomes far too rude and abrasive in the second game. I tried to remind him that, hey, Simon’s a teenager. Of course he’s going to be a bit sarcy. Besides, he had his rude moments in the first game.

My biggest complaint about Simon II was that they didn’t get Chris Barrie back, although I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for that.

[Stabbim the Skutter]

I must track down Simon the Sorcerer. I’ve always been an adventure game fan since I was little and I’ve been a RD fan for years, but I never knew about Chris Barrie being in it until recently.

I love the growth of Guybrush’s character. In MI1 he’s ambitious, enthusiastic and somewhat clumsy, in MI2 he’s become really full of himself, which makes him even more prone to mistakes, causing Elaine to abandon him, in MI3 he’s been brought down to earth by his mistakes and his losses, and becomes more sensitive, and in MI4 he becomes child-like and goofy because his life is perfect, he’s finally proved himself and married his dream girl. I still haven’t gotten the cash together to buy Tales, but I’m looking forward to seeing how his character has progressed…

[Ben Paddon]

Drop me an email, Stabbim. I may be able to facilitate your sorcerings?

[Stabbim the Skutter]

Just finished the game. Being a bit of a voice actor nerd, seeing Rob Paulsen, Denny Delk and Roger L. Jackson in the credits made me feel a little bit giddy.

[p2p_productions]

[Andrew]

Interesting – basically the same technique the guys used for BTE’s ‘London Matte Painting’.

[p2p_productions]

Apparently, much of the original art for the first two MI games just isn’t up to scratch for this kind of hi-def 3D rendering. If I recall, the hand-drawn plates for the second game were just about the size of a postcard, with any flaws made imperceptible thanks to the low-res digitizing.

However, some better quality concept art is said to exist, so in theory, they could use the same process to make an MI:II SE. There’s some featured in the book, Rogue Leaders, which I’d love to check out at some point.

http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=199144

[p2p_productions]

This guy is GOOD.

[Ben Paddon]

I think I’m in love.

[Stabbim the Skutter]

Magnificent.

[mick]

Monkey Island now released on iPhone for those of you with such a device.

[Dave]

http://jonathanhansen.homestead.com/Fullsleeve.html

[p2p_productions]

WATCH THIS.

[Seb Patrick]

That’s pretty bloody impressive.

Still need to get MI:SE for the iPhone (full version, that is, had a crack at the demo as soon as I got the phone)… but it’s still so bloody expensive. Beneath a Steel Sky was a good two or three quid cheaper, AND has a better control system…

[p2p_productions]

Love how the guy who made it said it was “done for fun”! Imagine what his PROFESSIONAL take might be like! :D

And yes, BASS is a must for my iPod Touch, when it arrives. “Be Vigilant.” …And under a quid at the mo, too. :-))

BTW, Seb – on the MI demo app, are you locked into the ‘remastered’ graphics, or can you change them over to ‘classic’ like I heard you can on other formats?

[Seb Patrick]

Nope, you can switch on the demo – you just swipe both fingers across the screen. It’s kind of ace, even the music changes (although that also means you lose the voiceover track – which is understandable for people who want the full “original” experience, but it might have been nice to have an option somewhere to leave the voices on the original graphics).

[Ben Paddon]

Have any of you fellas snagged Simon the Sorcerer for the iPhone? It uses the same interface as BASS, and it’s got Rimmer in it.

[p2p_productions]

Cheers, Seb. Sounds great!

And not currently, Ben, but STS is on my list..! Shame that SCUMMVM can’t get onto the App Store. I already own the games, so why should I have to pay twice?! :-(

[Gwynnie]

I still can’t convince Escape to work on my laptop…

[Seb Patrick]

CLEVER LAPTOP.

[Ben Paddon]

Escape from Monkey Island is probably one of the worst games LucasArts have ever made. Ever.

Ever.

It’s interesting that Curse of Monkey Island, while very different from its predecessors, still manages to retain the spirit of the series while Escape from Monkey Island was a towering shitstorm of half-arsed decrepitness.

[Dave]

>a towering shitstorm of half-arsed decrepitness

A shitstorm is bad enough, but going into a shitstorm armed with only half an arse that sounds unbelievably unpleasant.

[Gwynnie]

Wait, shit, I meant Curse. Escape is the shitty 3D one that I have for PS2 and gave up on pretty quickly!! So, ignore that… I can’t convince Curse of Monkey Island to work on my shiny Vista laptop. This happens with most good old games (especially Discworld II), they will start to work and then crash after about 15 minutes…

[p2p_productions]

>It?s interesting that Curse of Monkey Island, while very different from its predecessors, still manages to retain the spirit of the series while Escape from Monkey Island was a towering shitstorm of half-arsed decrepitness.

Know what you mean. CMI certainly has its fair share of asthetic differences to MI:1 & MI:2, yet still feels very much a part of that family. As far as EMI goes, with the exception of the Red Dwarf references, I can’t think of one moment worth remembering from that game. Not a joke, a character, nothing. For me, the puzzles were mostly annoying, rather than challenging, and the 3D design work (although a brave choice at the time) does little to draw you into the Monkey Island universe.

Actually, aside from the humour, that’s probably the most important aspect of the series, IMO. If you don’t feel like you’re actually on one of those islands/settings, then you’re not playing Monkey Island. Pretty much why I absolutely adore the work that guy on Youtube is putting out. It feels immersive, and therefore, it feels like Monkey Island.

…God, I’ve gotta go play, CMI now! :))

[p2p_productions]

>Wait, shit, I meant Curse. Escape is the shitty 3D one that I have for PS2 and gave up on pretty quickly!! So, ignore that? I can?t convince Curse of Monkey Island to work on my shiny Vista laptop. This happens with most good old games (especially Discworld II), they will start to work and then crash after about 15 minutes?

Gwynnie, are you running CMI through SCUMMVM?

[Nick R]

WATCH THIS.

This making of video is also worth watching, and the website has more stuff including the Crysis level itself.

That Monkey Island level isn’t quite the coolest thing that’s been done with CryEngine, though:

Great Scott!

[Author]

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