Deep in the Caribbean in the early 1990s, Guybrush Threepwood was cutting his teeth as a mighty pirate.  At the same time, I was cutting my teeth as an adventure game player.  When I first played The Secret of Monkey Island, I had no idea that the game would have such a profound influence on me in those formative years.  And now, in the last year of the first decade of the Twenty-first Century, Guybrush rides again and we journey deep into the Caribbean once more to see if we can finally uncover the secret...

 The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (TSOMI:SE) is a pretty straightforward remake of the first game, which led to a great deal of people my age forming a peculiar, but small secret society of individuals who tip one another a knowing wink whenever someone says "how appropriate" or "I don't see anything special about it", or if someone talks about a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle, breathmints or "...and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" T-shirts.  Monkey Islanders are fond of tofu and root beer and may even be constructing their own oversized banana picker with big white hands on the end.  They're lateral thinkers who know not to bother with a staple remover and that cannibals have to watch their cholesterol.  And they, like me, are probably utterly delighted with TSOMI:SE which takes the original game and gives it a high definition veneer that delicately coats the genius of the game in order to make it more palatable to those who didn't stand jaw agape when they first saw anything that was 640 x 480.

 

TSOMI:SE also brings the voice acting of the original cast to the party.  To my delight, Alexandra Boyd is back as Governor Elaine Marley, and so the character is firmly British, after a brief stint as an American in Escape from Monkey Island.  Dominic Armato is back as the hapless and adorable Guybrush Threepwood, the pirate-wannabe whose actions you direct.  The voice acting is pretty sound if a little clunky in places as the gaps between lines are a little long here and there, but it's nothing to worry about.

 

In its own right, the special edition is as good as the first game, but with the added glitz of the HD graphics, a new soundtrack and voice acting, neither of which do anything to detract from the playability or storyline.  Sure, you have to get used to a different interface, but it's easy enough to master.  Another new feature in the special edition is the hints system.  If you can't figure it out yourself (awww) then you can hold a button and Guybrush will give you a little clue.  It's not a spoonfeeding device either, it just gives you a little nudge in the right direction.  It's not too invasive, but being as I completed the game under my own steam, I do look down on the hints system a little.  The last new feature is the ability to switch back to classic mode at the press of a button and you can play it with the old soundtrack, no speech and the old graphics.  Just like old times.

The storyline is a fun little tale of Guybrush who wants to become a pirate, falls in love while trying to do so, loses his love to the evil Ghost Pirate LeChuck and travels to the mysterious Monkey Island in order to save the girl.  There are jokes aplenty and only one way of dying in the entire game, which means that if you're stuck, you're stuck for good (hints system notwithstanding).  

 

I've always found the Monkey Island games to be brimming with a mystique and intrigue that has always just drawn me in.  The environments have always intrigued me and they are presented beautifully in HD in the special edition, so those creepy, exotic dark jungle mazes or those stunning sun-drenched palm tree-lined sweeping beach vistas are all the more inviting.  I'd love to just step into my monitor and join Guybrush for a grog, but I fear the technology would leave me with nothing but a bruise and a broken monitor.

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is everything that the original game was and more, which can only be a damned excellent piece of work.  

:-D

• Still just as funny.
• Devilishly puzzling at times.
• Beautiful HD graphics.
• Great voice acting from the old 'crew'.
• Cheap cheap! (800 MSPs on XBLA or £6.99 via Steam for PC.)

>:-(

•  Slightly clonky controls that you get used to quite quickly.