This was primarily a nostalgia buy, there is not way around that. But its also a 'I'm getting old and I don't remember actually finishing this game as a kid' kind of buy. What ever the reason was, I'm really glad that I bought it.
The version of Monkey Island 2 that I am playing here, as the title obviously states is a special edition that was developed and published by LucasArts back in 2010, nearly twenty years after the game had originally come out. Keeping true with the original game this one is still only available on the PC, despite actually have controller support. I personally played it on my PC using steam.
Given that this is a remake of the old game it is expected that the game got a major facelift compared to the original version. Graphically the game is immensely improved compared to its earlier version and the fact you can switch between them at the touch of a single button really shows how far videogames have come and the kind of stuff my generation pushed through to keep videogames going until we actually got to today. The game also added more music and voice overs for the game on a updates sound engine so the audio for the game has been upgraded to match the new graphics. Much like the graphics the game can also be played with the old sound design and no voice overs, you can also disable the new music but keep the new voice overs.
Seeing how Monkey Island 2 is a point and click adventure game so controls aren't really an issue here. You point on the object you want to interact with or where you want to go and Guybrush is going to try and do the stuff you asked him to do. If its invalid you'll get a funny comment or sarcastic remark. You will spend some time trying to smash the different objects that you have in your inventory together to try and get through some puzzles. You do have the option to freely switch between old school controls, mouse controls or using a controller at any time so that is pretty inclusive. But, the whole point of the game is the story and the puzzles so lets actually move on to talking about those.
As always the story of this Monkey Island game and all Monkey Island games is about how Guybrush attempts to prove his mettle as a pirate by doing piratey things and defeating LeChuck again so that people will believe that he is a pirate. Along the way you are going to come across some colorful characters and some funny jokes and puns that are child friendly for the most part. I noticed this game was to early to actually include a favorite character of mine in the series called Murry and I pretty much spent the whole game trying to talk to any random skull I came across as a result. The actual puzzles weren't that hard with the exception of the last one, but there is definitely some cases where you are pretty much just smashing some items together to get yourself through to the next part. That is a flaw in all adventure games though and its pretty much going to always be in the genre.
This game isn't cutting edge in anyway, but I still enjoyed playing it. I liked that the this special edition improved the old game both in terms of graphic and audios in order to provide a new opportunity for a whole new audience to experience the magic and torture that old adventure games were. The fact that you can also choose to play the game in its old retro mode was really cool, but that might be because I'm a fan of the Monkey Island franchise though and enjoyed playing these games as I grew up. Have fun either experience the game for the first time ore reliving your past. Wait, look behind you a three-headed monkey!
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