The Secret of Monkey Island from LucasArts is nearly as good as it’s sequel. Monkey Island 2 was such a great game that it can be easy to forget just how good a game Monkey Island 1 is! There are things that Monkey Island 1 has that Monkey Island 2 doesn’t have.: You actually get to go to Monkey Island in this game, no so in the sequel! Playing Monkey Island 1 also lets you in on a lot of in jokes that you wouldn’t get in Monkey Island 2, like the telescope joke. Monkey Island 1 has some great in jokes for adventure gamers, like a parody of the totally random death traps that were so common in Sierra On-Line Adventure games in the late 1980s and early 1990s. If you like games like Broken Sword you’ll love the Monkey Island games! The humor in the Monkey Island games is zanny, like a Douglas Adams novel, except these games have a plot.
In Monkey Island 1 the protagonist Guybrush Threepwood has come to the island of Melee to become a pirate, even though he’s told he “looks more like a flooring inspector.” He learns he has to pass three tests: specifically to become a master swordsman, master treasure hunter, and a master thief in order to be a pirate. It also begins the on again off again romance that Guybrush has with Governor Marley, who is kidnapped by the ghost pirate LeChuck once Guybrush passes the three tests, and Guybrush must purchase a boat and find a crew to go to Monkey Island with him and rescue Governor Marley. (As it turns out, the Governor really doesn’t need Guybrush’s help… the Monkey Island games are known for their strong female characters.)
The puzzles in Monkey Island 1 are a little easier but also a little more intuitive than the puzzles in Monkey Island 2. But there are times, like when you’re cooking a recipe aboard the ship on you’re way to Monkey Island or the red herring puzzle, that you’ll have to think abstractly like you would in Monkey Island 2. Monkey Island 1 is definitely a challenging game!
Some of the most memorable parts of the game include when you’re training to beat the sword master (who happens to be a woman) by learning how to respond to her insults, the canabals on Monkey Island who are worried about their cholosterol, and the ghost pirate shipin the hellish fire beneath Monkey Island, with LeChuck, his ghost crew, and even ghost pigs that you can see inside of when they eat! Also memorable are the minor characters, like Stan the used ship salesman who wears a cowboy hat like Cal Worthington’s.
The graphics in the Special edition are improved over the classic edition, although they aren’t as good as the graphics of Monkey Island 2′s special edition. The controls are less iDevice oriented than Monkey Island 2, but the hint system is not nearly as sensitive and doesn’t give you hints when you don’t want them like Monkey Island 2 does. These are minor issues… on the whole if you like adventure games you definately should try the first two Monkey Island games!