Honestly, what sort of secrets do monkies tell? (The Secret Of Monkey Island (PC))

Name: BTlover

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	The Secret Of Monkey Island (PC)
Date:	18/12/07 (43 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting humor, insult-sword fighting is one of the best mechanical parts of a game ever.

Disadvantages: Quite a bit of a challenge, not for the easy-minded.

The Secret of Monkey Island is a fantastic puzzle/adventure game from the gracious people down at Lucas Arts. It entails the gripping story of Guybrush Threepwood and his quest to become a bloodthirsty pirate, he must undertake a good number of trials and square off against the evil ghost pirate LeChuck before he can finally realize his dream of pirate hood. What lies ahead is a combination of tricky puzzles and humorous, non-violent gaming. That's a recipe for FUN if ever I've heard one.

For their time, the graphics of this game were truly magnificent. The backgrounds had a wonderful amount of detail to them, whether you're traveling through areas with lovely scenes depicting a sunset or a dark and spooky wood, the screen is always active and everything looks pretty darn good. The designers seem to have lent towards more ominous colors to paint the world of Monkey Island and it gives the game a very foreboding and tension packed atmosphere. And whilst this is a good thing one can't help but feel that it can be a very drab outlook, it could have used some splashes of brighter colors to liven things up a bit.
The in-game characters have a decidedly blocky appearance, but are still pretty good efforts anyway. The lead hero (Guybrush Threepwood) looks like a little sissy, with his shirt tucked in and his pretty little ponytail, this makes him the bane of many a joke from other characters. The attire for the cast has been done wisely with a lot of exotic costumes display, somebody somewhere said, ''The clothes make the man'' (that's the smartest thing I've typed all year apparently) and in this case they're spot on. When you partake in a deep and meaningful conversation with somebody, chances are you'll be treated to a lovely close-up of their (UGLY!) faces. This is the most graphically beautiful part of the game and it's a pity that this is a pretty rare occurrence.
Overall the graphics are a solid effort, but little more than that. They were streets ahead of the other games being released at the time but nowadays fall into the ''sub-par'' category. There are some great features implemented here and some lovely lighting effects, but everything is a bit too blocky and bland to really grab your attention.

Unfortunately the audio category doesn't improve the standards of things too much, everything is reasonably sparse and the standard is somewhere in the mid-range. There are a few nice tunes to treat your ears to but altogether one will find that it's a good effort, but certainly nothing better than that. There are quite a few background themes that will pop up from time to time, some of them are good and some are not. Throughout nearly the whole thing though there's always an underlying theme, fast-paced, Caribbean type music seems to be a favorite and it suits the whole premise of this game perfectly. The music does a pretty good job in building tension and creating atmosphere for the game, but at times it can just get so very, VERY annoying.
Sound effects are a very rare occurrence, you'll hear them very rarely as you venture through The Secret of Monkey Island. They're used mainly to bring something to your attention, such as dogs barking to warn you about their ferocity and the need to incapacitate them, but other than these primitive uses it's hard to find any of the things at all. There definitely should have been a truckload more, THERE'S JUST NOT ENOUGH! But enough complaining from me, on we go.
Overall the sound effects complete the limited tasks required of them but don't go any further than that. The tunes can either be soothing or gut wrenching, so there's a nice bit of variety in there as well. A primitive job, but one that fulfills the games needs quite well.

The gameplay is where The Secret of Monkey Island really gets off the ground, it's a very innovative game and it will have you hooked in from the beginning to the end. Everything in this game is puzzle based, meaning that you go around picking up objects and then think of silly ways to use them to get an even better object. Some of the puzzles that you are given can be quite cryptic and can leave a player stuck in the middle of the game filled with despair. Some may question the lack of action that this game so obviously has, but of course TSOMI is a very cerebral and the wit of the thing should keep you enthralled anyway.
Everything is controlled by a very simple interface located on the bottom of your screen, you're given such actions as OPEN, CLOSE, LOOK AT and, my personal favorite, TALK TO (don't ask me why). All you have to do is click an object and the action that you wish to use, and if your input is sensible then Guybrush should perform it. It can mean an awful lot of clicking when you're stuck and have reached the stage where you're just trying anything, but it's worth it for such an ever so friendly control system. The difficult of you can use the keyboard, but this can prove to be a real pain to control.
There are some fantastic little ideas implemented in Monkey Island, one of the best being the concept of insult sword-fighting. In this little mini-game the premise is that it's not the swordplay that wins the battle, but the insult you couple with it. Guybrush has to face off against pirate after pirate, collecting insults and comebacks and winning matches, until he's finally ready to face off against the much-feared sword-master. It's an excellent little journey that will entertain and do many other good things for you.
If I haven't told you already The Secret of Monkey Island is a very funny game, one-liners come thick and fast in the dangerous world of pirating and each one is certain to amuse you. The humor that this game has makes it a very user-friendly game, something else that also helps it is the fact that unlike other games of this genre, you cannot die (that is unless you're a very stupid person). Knowing that a grisly ending is not around the corner for Mr. Threepwood means that the player can show a large amount of confidence in the way they play the game. It's all just part of making the player feel warm, safe and snuggly deep down.
Overall, the gameplay of The Secret of Monkey Island is very original and will always keep you coming back for more. Some of the concepts used here are just brilliant and make this game the classic title that it is. Some of the puzzles may appear too hard for some, but rest assured the answer is most likely somewhere in the area beneath your nose.

The lifespan is actually pretty large, it is by no means a small game and you'll spend a rather large amount of time tackling it. It's also quite non-linear which means you can play through the game a few times taking different paths and experimenting with the results (A HUGE AMOUNT OF FUN! For scientists that is...). You'll most likely want to go through the game time and time again until you've finally spoken every word and heard every witticism that this game has to offer, you'll be playing this game for a very long time, no doubt about that.

After reading all of that of course you're going to assume that the fun factor for The Secret of Monkey Island is extraordinarily large. WELL IT IS! This game is just filled to the brim with fun, whether it be amusing little animation's or verbal humorous things this game has heaps of them! It's one of the funniest games going around, and the tasks that you're required to do will make you grin without actually do anything. Simply put, there is a large fun factor, the fun factor is large.

The challenge would range somewhere between medium and high, it is not an overly easy game and the less experienced players can find themselves stuck right at the start with absolutely no idea on the next move they have to undertake. It can become a trial and error sort of a thing as you just take wild guesses and use every imaginable action with any object you see around you. The more cryptic of the puzzles could nearly make your head implode!

The Secret of Monkey Island is a hilarious little puzzle game, there are a few down sides but these are outnumbered hugely by the up sides. Some of the aspects of the game are pure classic material whilst others are just annoying, there's a nice little mix but in the end the goods win the battle and it makes this game a fantastic one to have a go at. Naturally it's very outdated as of this very moment, but it's still well worth a try if you're feeling up to the challenge.

Summary: Once you start this game, you will want to look everywhere for all little bits of fun.