The Secret of Monkey Island

The Secret of Monkey Island is one of the greatest PC games of all time for several reasons:

(1) The Secret of Monkey Island requires REAL involvement in every aspect of the game. Through interacting with many elements of the landscape, story, and the very characters, the player is thoroughly pulled in to the action.

(2) The Secret of Monkey Island is full of comic genius! Thorough and thoughtful writing have provided jokes around every turn.

(3) Problem solving and puzzle solving skills are a must. Prowess at sword fighting is not based on the player's "eye-hand coordination" but rather on her ability to use insults picked up from fighting with other pirates.

(4) It uses cinematic techniques (I.E. great score (dated, but great), inter-cutting scenes, and real character involvement) to provide a wonderful gaming experience.

I won't be exaggerating to say that this game helped make my childhood complete. I'd love to see the original Lucasarts team responsible for this humorous and intelligent game produce a live-action film.

Maybe someday?

I first got this game when I was around 7 or 8 and it was slightly difficult to complete at that age but when I was a bit older and tried it I got through it fairly well. The story isn't difficult to follow a young pirate-wannabe named Guybrush Threepwood comes to Melée Island to try and become a pirate. He is set three trials to complete and while trying to complete them he meets Elaine Marley the Governor and future love of his life but he isn't the only one who loves her. The ghost pirate LeChuck plans to kidnap Elaine and make her his wife and of course it ends up being down to Guybrush to stop him.

There are so many lines that make you want to laugh out loud, Guybrush is a great character altogether and it's a game that'll have you addicted fast. When you've started playing you'll be in a rush to get through it and see more of it. I recommend it especially for people who love this type of game.

Lam_on_the_lam a.k.a Minnie Goodsoup

The first Monkey Island game is a landmark in computer game history. It pretty much begins the adventure genre (actually Maniac Mansion came before, but it is very limited and primitive when compared to the subtleties of MI). At its time, games were simple jump-hit-and-walk side-scrollers and flight or sports simulators, no more than an afternoon worth of fun for kids. Then came MI and introduced complex plots, not unlike movie´s (so much, in fact, that you are reading this on IMDb), complete with meaningful dialogues which affect the plot´s direction (instead of mere interludes between action scenes). In MI, as well as in the adventure genre it helped create, interaction with computer-controlled characters went beyond physical confrontation, including dialogue, negotiation (even bargaining prices!), seduction and intrigue. And, perhaps its most remarakable feature, the humour. Satyre, irony or just plain good nonsense, in the tradition of Monthy Python. Indeed, the experience of playing MI (and all subsequent Lucasarts adventure games) is very much like watching a movie, except that you direct the action of the protagonist(s), changing events and outcomes in the plot.

Way before videogames got into the present 3D trend, spawning tiresome clones of the likes of 'Doom', 'Tekken' and 'Tomb Raider', companies like Lucasarts and Sierra made games with subtlety, malice and humour, best suited for intelligent, mature players instead of competitive children with aching fingers. Today these adventures might seem tecnically rough in comparison with all these vectorial 3d shooters that require endlessly more memory and more processing power. But in terms of creativity, of mature entertainment (and I don´t mean porn), modern games seem to be dull, technologically-enhanced versions of the same old Nintendo and Genesis action games of the past.

Belonging to the same line of adventure classics of the Monkey Island series are Sierra´s 'Leisure Suit Larry' series, 'Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis', 'Sam & Max', 'Full Throttle' and 'Grim Fandango' (Lucasarts´ foray into 3d, although keeping the adventure genre´s highlights). But I don´t think any of these, great as they are, have half the importance of the Monkey Island games. Technology is ever-evolving, nonstop, but these adventure games offer a kind of entertainment mere technology cannot.

On a final note about 'The Secret of Monkey Island', look for a CD version of this game, updated with more songs (carribean rhythms like reggae and calypso) and a visual inventory - see 'Alternate Versions' in this entry.

A game rarely comes along that spawns many a fan and "successful" sequels. Monkey Island is at the top rank (When it comes to Computer games, that is). What you might think of as a rough, violent pirate game, totally turns away from it from the moment you enter the bar. (You'll see if you play). Laugh a minute and unpredictable, Monkey Island gets 11/10.

This is my all-time favorite computer game. It's one of the best point-and-click adventure games I have ever played. The plot and puzzles are impressive. You must buy this game, It's great and the best Monkey Island game ever. The sequels are great too, but they're not as good as this one. This is a masterpiece.

I give this game 10 out of 10