The Secret of Monkey Island Contextual PC Review | Second Wind
70The Secret of Monkey Island DOS PC game review. Nearly 30 years on, The Secret of Monkey Island is still a banger.
The Secret of Monkey Island is about Guybrush Threepwood, a happy-go-lucky moron who actually wants to become a pirate some time during the 17th century. The first chapter of Monkey Island’s story sees Guybrush attempting to complete three challenges in order to become a fully-fledged pirate. Before long though he’s caught up in a swashbuckling story of love, adventure and spooky ghost pirates.
The Secret of Monkey Island’s number one asset is the quality of the writing. The colourful characters Guybrush meets on his adventures on Monkey Island are what makes The Secret of Monkey Island worth playing today and that’s where most of the laughs can be had. And I did laugh at this game, out loud and often. I was actually surprised at how often The Secret of Monkey Island made me laugh, considering I’m reading silent text off my laptop screen. That’s a testament to good comedy writing.
The Secret of Monkey Island was created as a collaboration between Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman, three giants of the adventure game world and their work here makes Monkey Island a seminal game. Adventure games before Monkey Island, like those from Sierra On-Line and Infocom, tended to be pretty unfair. Players could be killed for making the wrong decision and would often find themselves painted into a corner because of an earlier mistake, meaning they’d have to start the whole game over. The Secret of Monkey Island changed that with what I’ve come to refer to as the LucasArts method. The gameplay was designed to be player-friendly first and for a 1990 title it definitely succeeds. Even now, nearly 30 years on, The Secret of Monkey Island is beautifully simple to get through. Monkey Island’s puzzles tend to follow that LucasArts adventure game logic, so as long as you’re able to think laterally you won’t be left scratching your head for too long.
Despite The Secret of Monkey Island being an early DOS game with no sound, I have to give a shout out to that music. One of the most iconic midi themes of the DOS era, the Monkey Island theme is a cracker.
The Secret of Monkey Island was remastered in 2009 and was re-released for iOS, PC and Mac, Xbox and PS3. The updated version has higher resolution digital painted art instead of the low res pixel art, and features a full voice cast. The high res graphics feature the same number of animation frames as the original game, so I don’t actually like the look, I find it kind of janky. I prefer the look of old pixel art, but the good news is you can play The Secret of Monkey Island Remastered in the original format which suits me perfectly. I’ve played it both ways and I prefer the original. And that’s without nostalgia, I only played it this year.
The voice actors LucasArts brought in were a mixed bag but with some real standouts; the great Earl Boen plays a brilliant LeChuck but again, here is where the supporting cast shines. Cam Clarke, better known as 80s Leonardo, is great as Meathook. It’s the workhorses who are taking on multiple roles who really sound like they’re having fun. Wally Wingert, Jess Harnell, Roger Jackson and one of my all-time favourites, Rob Paulson all get stuck in with ensemble characters. LucasArts old guard David Collins even sticks in an appearance. It’s not the best acted game I’ve ever listened to, but I love me some voice acting, especially when Mojo Jojo is playing a rat.
You can buy The Secret of Monkey Island remastered on all digital storefronts, I’d suggest Steam or GOG because even with the new contextual cursor the game is far more suited to the PC. The Secret of Monkey Island remaster is a great way to celebrate adventure games of the past and that’s what I’m all about here when I make these Second Wind videos. If you’re keen to grab a physical copy for your old PC I’d try to get hold of a CD copy as they tend to be cheaper. It’s not a cheap game to get hold of though, so prepare your wallet.
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