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Review by JediSanf
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They're shouldn't be many gamers out there that are not in some way familiar with Guybrush, Elaine, the Dread Pirate LeChuck, and everyone's favorite talking head Murry but, since our generation is now birthing baby gamers who will never appreciate the wonder of VGA gaming, herein lies a concise history of the Monkey Island Trilogy, the games depicting the adventures of the Carribean's most famous pirate, Johnny Depp Guybrush Threepwood.
Yes, that's right, Guybrush. The next time your rugrats go nuts over some movie based on a ride remind them that Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer, and David Grossman did it first and did it far funnier. Now that that's out of the way...
(cue MIDI monkeys)
Our adventure begins in 1990, when the 486DX (now with math co-processor!) ruled the earth and desktops had turbo buttons. Created using the SCUMM point-and-click system, Monkey Island 1 set the stage for some of the finest writing in gaming. Though the game only featured two islands, Melee and the aforementioned Monkey, the depth of the dialogue trees and the sharp wit they contained brought a cinematic flair to what had previously been a somewhat disjointed genre.
Over the course of the game you had to learn how to fight, and, more importantly, how to insult, learn how to steal, and learn how to... fall in love with a goddess of a governor currently hounded by a ghost pirate who wants her hand in unholy matrimony. After an attempted drowning Guybrush meets Elaine and love, and the smell of grog, fills the air. He calls her honey pumpkin, she calls him plunder bunny, honestly, have you seen a cuter couple? And all that's before you commit credit fraud.
See? Don't you really want to play this game?
Needless to say, the girl gets kidnapped, Guybrush makes it to Monkey Island, meets a civilized lunatic, some "uncivilized" gentlemen cannibals, and threatens to drop-kick a talking head into a river of lava. I won't spoil the ending but let me just say that there's a reason you'll want to kick back with a nice root beer while watching the credits.
(cue cheap .wav monkeys)
When last we saw our hero, the no-longer-would-be pirate Guybrush Threepwood had saved the girl (kinda), defeated the Ghost Pirate LeChuck, and looked to be well on his way to happiness. Now we see him washed up on some beach. Admittedly, the new coat is nice and the goatee is pretty cool but where's Elaine? And why are we on Scabb Island?
MI2 was the last Ron Gilbert game from LucasArts and it was in every way bigger than it's predecessor. The world was larger (4 major locations instead of 2), the game was longer, and it even had two difficulties that reworked some of the harder puzzles for the kids. The plot, however, I'll leave to someone smarter than me to figure out.
It's not that the writing is bad, far from it actually. The writers were in rare form and provided a truly hilarious comedy adventure that furthered the cinematic feel that would culminate in MI3. The SCUMM system makes a return, as does iMuse, and the ever popular voodoo lady. I can't ruin any of the side-splittingly funny jokes and situations in the game since the 15-year statue of limitations isn't up yet. All I can say is find and play this game.
And if you figure out the ending, email me.
(cue THX monkeys)
That's right, that says THX. When CMI came out it was as close as gamers had come to playing an animated film. Featuring excellent voice acting (and singing!), a full score, and polished animation that popped off the screen CMI was truly a wonder to behold. This was art direction at it's finest and, even though Ron Gilbert was absent, the writing was tight and the plotting was superior to the previous entry in the series. SCUMM was still around, but the old workhorse got a significant visual upgrade via the "verb coin" which left the main game screen uncluttered for a truly interactive movie-like experience.
All of the old favorites return, even the cannibals, and few new EEEVIL favorites make their mark. If I hesitate to tell you anything about MI2 you've got to expect that CMI is off-limits.
Buy it, play it, and soon you too will be whistling "A Pirate I Was Meant to Be".
Because,
The Monkeys are listening...
(images from worldofmi.com, unfortunately now defunct)
Shodan2020 on 08/16/2008
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