GamesRelay

Name: Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge

Pirates and summertime are quickly becoming inseparable. From a host of Disney films and last year's releases of The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition and Tales of Monkey Island, a new contender has arrived to steal our attention from the long evenings. The first sequel in the Monkey Island series returns, newly dressed for the modern day. Do these new clothes adorn a feeble old man, or has Monkey Island 2 remained as young as ever?

Monkey Island 2 takes place an unspecified number of years after the original game, though enough time has passed for Guybrush Threepwood's exploits to become an old and tired story. Now stupidly rich and wearing a thick new beard, Guybrush is looking to became famous once more by finding the much-fabled Lost Treasure of Big Whoop. If it is simply great wealth or something much more strange, the legends vary, but Guybrush is determined to track it down for himself, no matter how many innocent lives he ruins in the process. However, his luck turns sour quite early on, and the spectral nemesis he thought he had destroyed returns to seek vengeance. The search for Big Whoop takes Guybrush across the Caribbean, all leading to a startling conclusion that has kept fans talking for the last two decades.

Being this old, the adventure gaming fare is nothing other than the standard LucasArts experience of picking up and using items to solve puzzles. The game itself isn't too difficult, thanks both to the design philosophy whereby you can't die, and all the items you need are always available, as well as the generally simple design of the puzzles. That isn't to say that the game doesn't take leaps of logic that'll completely confuse you, such as using an actual monkey as a monkey wrench, but the inclusion of a hint system is very helpful in preventing this from becoming a problem. There are three levels to each hint, varying from a vague insinuation to an outright statement of what needs to be done. This was the case with the original Special Edition also, but a new type of hint system makes an appearance alongside this here. With a touch of a button, all interactable objects in the room can be highlighted, helping you find objects you may not have noticed. This is quite useful with the new art, as its styling makes the objects that can be picked up harder to see compared to the original Classic graphics.

This new art is exquisitely put together, being very faithful to the original game. For the most part, character models look precisely the same, and the same care has been put into the insignificant details of the background. Almost undecipherable signs and notices of the Classic's pixel-laden facade are now vibrantly clear. Little Easter Eggs have been added which are different between versions that will raise a smile amongst long time LucasArts adventurers, with characters from later game series taking up screen space.

Sound has seen a similar overhaul, in more ways than are readily apparent. While the inclusion of voice acting was a given improvement, it is also now available when switching to Classic mode. The music is now all live recordings, yet also include the original iMUSE transitions. This was a system where, when moving between areas, the music would smoothly transition into different themes while moving from room to room. This was a very difficult undertaking during the game's original development, and is now more so with the live recordings. While an admirable attempt was made, the impact isn't quite as obvious as with the original 8-bit music. Extra sound effects round out the game greatly - since the original had only basic sounds playing over the music, hearing seagulls and monkey chirping in the background, the sound of flowing water and the creaking of floorboards makes an enormous difference as you wander around.

A further addition is developer commentary by creators Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer, and Dave Grossman, which brings a wonderful insight into the design of the game, alongside the usual humour that these three men bring to everything they do. Its presentation isn't perfect however, as it doesn't pause the game once you activate it in each individual scene. If it's done as part of a cut-scene, you won't be able to hear the conversation taking place if you decide to listen to the commentary. If it were implemented better, it would be a flawless inclusion, but as is, it is definitely something that should be brought into more games or, at the least, more Special Edition remakes.

The PC controls remain the point-and-click interface that it was originally designed for, but the console UI has also seen a necessary overhaul. You can now directly control Guybrush with the analog sticks rather than moving the cursor with the sticks and clicking to move. It doesn't work out as well as you would think though, as it's too sensitive when moving between screens. Since they switch so quickly, you may find that it can force you moving backwards into the screen you just left, leading to a lot of frustration, particularly in cases when choosing the right path is very important. This is diminished when using the Classic mode interface however or when playing the PC version.

Working with objects is now also much faster with a pop-up interface allowing quick selection of the most appropriate ways to interact with the individual object in question. For example, you won't be given the option to talk to a hammer, but you will with a human being. While this is far better than the previous system, it's still not perfect. The game still requires really fast actions to take place at times, and the interface isn't able to keep up. Even switching to Classic mode isn't as helpful as it was in the first Special Edition, as manoeuvring through the item list in a hurry isn't suited for analog sticks.

In the end, this second Special Edition has seen as much improvement from the first as Monkey Island 2 has seen from the upgrade. The timelessness of the game itself has only been marred by the imperfect implementation of a lot of new features. While this has hurt the game somewhat, particularly when considering the console interface's issues, the game itself remains as superb as it ever was. The fourth wall-breaking jokes therein about the high price of adventure games seem laughable in themselves now, with the remake's asking price totalling to about that of a cinema ticket, creating a great value deal that shouldn't be missed by any adventure game fan, new or old. The game's brain may be confused, but its heart remains golden and firmly set in the right place.