The Secret Of Monkey Island - In-depth Amiga Review With Pics

The Secret Of Monkey Island

Amiga, 1991 (Original DOS 1990)

LucasFilm, $59.95

*My video review for Monkey Island

*Set the mood; full soundtrack recorded from my Amiga 500
*Next article
*Previous article
*Alphabetical list of writings

*This game best played in NTSC mode with a 4:3 aspect ratio

Originally adventure games were an all text affair. The use of your own imagination in combination with the written word was required to bring this genre to life. To this very day there are some who think that was the pinnacle of adventure games. Sierra came to challenge the likes of Infocom, showing many could enjoy graphics with their adventures, sometimes even making fun of those games for being all text. But just as Sierra had risen because of an untapped market, LucasFilm could soon be found pointing their fingers straight at Sierra.

The two companies actually produced similar themed games. Both having a 3rd person zoomed out perspective,  and both creating primarily humor based games with plenty of 4th wall breaking thrown in. What separated them was Sierra''s near relentlessness in attacking the person playing the game. Nearly every screen could contain multiple death traps, simply walking could kill you. Save early and save often. LucasFilm would make games where death could only occur in extreme circumstances, where it was never too late to pick up a piece to the puzzle, where you could finally ease your paranoia of saving. They would gain recognition in the adventure genre with earlier games like Maniac Mansion and Loom, but it was the Secret of Monkey Island that cemented them as a contender against Sierra for the rest of the decade.

^Welcome to Melee Island, do you want to be a pirate?

You play as Guybrush Threepwood, and you quite simply but passionately want to be a pirate. Interestingly for Amiga fans, the character received his first name from the file name in Deluxe Paint, "guy.brush". I didn't grow up playing too many adventure games, I don't believe my father was much of a fan of the Sierra titles, and thus I was not exposed to them. My first deep dive into an adventure game was the 1998 X-Files game, which I fell in love with due to my love of the show. When I was getting back into the Amiga via emulation in the late 90's, Monkey Island would often times be mentioned as the cream of the crop, not just in terms of adventure games, but in terms of all Amiga games.  ^Meet the ghost pirate LeChuck

Computer Gaming World placed the game as number nineteen in their one-hundred fifty best games of all time list, the 2nd most funniest game, LeChuck as the tenth most memorable game villain, the second most rewarding game ending, and the third most memorable game hero in Guybrush. Amiga World placed it as the sixteenth of twenty in their best games of 1991. Critical acclaim followed it from launch until today. It would be remade several times, even for DOS a couple years after its first release, and most recently in 2009, as well as spawning four sequels. ^Lots of humor

Gameplay wise it's your standard adventure game of the time. You're sent off to accomplish quests from individuals and solve various puzzles, mostly with your inventory. I've always believed adventure games are not about the journey, they are about the destination. Puzzles, hard or easy, are merely there for the player to have a sense of interaction while the games story unfolds in front of them. We are here for the story. I believe the story is intentionally written in a childish manner, and it helps to make it quite memorable. Unfortunately I find the game to be slowly sliding down in terms of my personal opinion as time goes on. I've loved the game enough to where I must have played it over twenty times at this point. But since the game is so heavily based on humor; with many one liners in the story, I seem to be getting less enjoyment out of it these days, as I don't find myself laughing as much as I once did.

I say that to note the overall historical trend for myself. I still feel the game is great, just not as great as I once felt it to be. For the few who have yet to experience the game, please don't let that scare you away from it, as it's an absolute must play for just about any system you can find it on. Here on the Amiga, LucasFilm did a stand-up job. It's in a unique place as a port, as it copies certain elements from the original DOS EGA 16 color version, as well as the later 256 color VGA version. The character sprites are mostly based off the EGA palette, except the skin color is more peach on the Amiga compared to red in DOS. The backgrounds as well as the zoomed in character portraits are based off the VGA version, but with a thoughtful Amiga color palette. Because of this unique setup with the graphics, your tastes might just find this to be the best looking version, mine certainly do. The Amiga music got its own instrument samples, tastes permitting again, you might find it better than the original MT-32. All in all I feel LucasFilm did a fantastic job porting to the Amiga. Amiga owners did not miss out on anything, and depending on your tastes you may even like this version the most.  ^Plunder Bunny!

While Computer Gaming World may have listed Guybrush as one of the best video game heroes of all time, I'm inclined to give that title to the games love interest, governor Elaine Marley. You see, we have no real impact on this story. Regardless of our coming onto the island, LeChuck would have kidnapped the governor, tried to marry her, and if you take out Guybrush's clumsiness, Elaine would have been the one to end the menace. We become the hero out of necessity because we messed everything up. The governor is no damsel in distress, she's fully capable of taking care of herself... and yet she likes us... She was in no need of saving, and yet she appreciates our trying to save her, she's the only character in the entire game that takes us seriously, and I love her for it. I would actually list her amongst the most memorable game character of all time, she's an absolute favorite of mine to this day.
^Insult sword fighting, and Stan

Since we're playing a pirate game, sword fighting would be expected to get involved at some point. Sierra would often times place action scenes in their adventure games, which usually felt quite out of place in this genre. Besides the jarring feeling you get when going from a slow paced thinking game to a reflex based mini game; often times those segments were not programed as well as the main game itself, causing frustration. LucasFilm dealt with the whole sword fighting issue by taking out the reflex based action scenes with insult driven dialogue choices. "I'm not going to take your insolence sitting down!" - "Your hemorrhoids flaring up again?" - It was an extremely clever way to deal with the need of fighting in the game.

I feel on repeat playthroughs that the learning of these insults will be the least enjoyable part of the game. Even if you've played the game a hundred times and have memorized these insults yourself, it won't help you because Guybrush needs to memorize them. It's the most tedious part of the entire game. As stated earlier, I believe adventure games are about experiencing the story, it's not about the puzzles or any elements of the gameplay. You might spend a good hour of your time getting Guybrush to learn all of these insults to progress the game. During this time you'll be looking at the same screens, with the same characters, saying mostly the same thing. There will be no story development during that time. So while super clever and worth experiencing for anyone who has yet to, it's again an element that ages the game less gracefully to someone coming back to it. ^Welcome to Monkey Island

Besides the insult fighting, I've always found the games puzzles to be nearly perfect in design. I can still recall playing it for the first time, my mind becoming puzzled quite a few times, but always being able to figure them out myself. Not easy, but sensible. Sierra would make quite a lot of money selling hint books to their games, designing most games to have a few nonsensical puzzles that could sell those books. I feel the second Monkey Island adopted that Sierra model, having a few of its own tearing your hair out moments, which necessitate the need to consult the internet today, even after you've defeated it several times. Not this first game. If you'd like to solve puzzles but not feel frustrated and defeated by needing a guide, then you'll find this a great game to play. ^You WILL walk to the sun, because I told you too!

Your eventual relocation onto Monkey Island will be a nice change of scenery for the final bit of the game. Most of the game, taking place on Melee Island, is during the perpetual night (it seems it's always 10 o'clock here).Monkey Island adds some nice daytime landscapes to the mix, and some new and interesting characters to meet. Who is "civilized" and who is not? A trip into a lava filled catacomb that's guided with an undead navigators head is sure to stick with you for a long time. Sneak onto LeChuck's ship to get the ingredient for the most deadly of substances... Root beer... Then head back to Melee to stumble your way into hero status! ^Go to sleep!

The Secret of Monkey Island will no doubt be a game you'll never forget. It's characters are incredibly memorable. Some are quite charming (Elaine), some are quite incompetent (Guybrush), some quite maddening (Stan), all incredibly memorable. I've come back to it many times because it has a story that you'll want to revisit. The nature of the humor may or may not find you laughing during repeated playthroughs, but it's sure to crack a smile or two on your face. The music will help to put you in the right mood, the graphics will have you loving your Amiga and wishing you knew how to talk to women.

Please check out my video review for Monkey Island, where I have a slew of extras to show off, including screenshots of those Computer Gaming World hall of fame lists, as well as reviews from Amiga World and an interesting European magazine as well.

*Next article
*Previous article
*Alphabetical list of writings