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"Oh I have a monkey in my pocket and he's stealing all my change, his eyes are so glassy I suspect that he's deranged!"

Ron Gilbert created The Secret of Monkey Island many years ago. Not only this, he created the greatest series of all time going, not Final Fantasy or Zelda, but Monkey Island. The Monkey Island series has being at the top for quite some time, tw amiga games which spaned on to the PC and Sega CD, a brilliant cartoon adventure for PC and a PC/Playstation 2 3D roaming graphic adventure, but how does the very first classic compete to the latest games?

The story starts off when Guybrush Threepwood was washed ashore on Mélée island. He had a goal and would do anything to archive it. Guybrush wanted to be a pirate! Guybrush went down to town to boast about his dream, and gets told that he can be a pirate if he completes 'The Three small Trials'. Guybrush meets Govener Elaine Marle, who he instantly falls in love with, and so does a suitor, who has been dead for many years...

That story is ideal for a graphic adventure. It has many plot twists, and you'll really want to carry on playing, just to see what happens to Guybrush. To play the future games, well to understand them really, it is almost essential to find out about Guybrush, Elaine, LeChuck, Stan and Herman from here, so that you can love them many games down the road.

Despite its age, the Secret of Monkey Island has good graphics, for its time anyway. The landscapes are just wonderful to look at, but are not as artistic as the Curse of Monkey Island. In some 'rare' occasions, the camera switches to the face of the character Guybrush is speaking to (Think Loom), but only on a few important characters.

The Secret of Monkey Island has been on a few systems now, like the Amiga, PC and Sega C.D, all versions look a bit diffrent, for example the amiga version is a dit dark, the Sega C.D version is far too bright, and the P.C version is just right (hmmm it seems I am writing a summery of Goldelocks and the three bears here).

Unlike The Curse of Monkey Island, and Escape from Monkey Island, this game does not has voice acting, it is old, and I don't think Lucasarts would ever have voices for the game now, which is a shame. anyway, the music is very good, and some of the music is repeated in one, if not two, but sometimes the three other Monkey Island games.

As for the music, Sometimes, there isn't any music, you just hear sound effects, but when there is music, you'll must proberly stay in the same location so you can listen to that music to your hearts content. The sound effects, however, aren't just your avarage sound effects for an old game, instead it has some good, piraty sound effects, like strong beer dripping, pirate doors, genius!

This is a point and click, one of my favourite genres. You simply choose a command at the control panal at the bottem of the screen, like pick up, use , open , Talk to, look at etc and select the item either on the screen, or Guybrush's inventory. The game might get the un-avarage player frustrated by having to open and close doors, turn on lights and look at everything you see or collect.

The Secret of Monkey Island also combines puzzles (You already knew that, right?) and most times prove difficult. What I like about this game, that it has puzzles connected, so you have to get and use items before you can move onto the next quest/Island/act.

So how is the Aimiga version? Being the very first version and coming on over twenty floppy discs, it is well worth changing them around, I have been swapping this games discs for several years now and is always worth the wait. It also has the second best suited graphics as well and is only beaten by PCGAMER's remix of the game.

This is a very fun game, and difficult, and without a walkthrought, it would take the avarage player about 30 or even more hours to complete, and even on your second time through, you'll most proberly forgotten about one puzzles and are completly stuck on it. Once you have completed it, you should play it through again and again, to see the diffrent scenes if you choose a different option. Also, what I might add, if your first Monkey Island game was The Curse of Monkey Island or Escape from Monkey Island, you might be put off, but please get used to it, this is one of the games in the best seris of all time.

Good

- Great puzzles, story, characters, sound, music and graphics
- The start of something great

Bad

- Right, put soup in dish. ''I can't do that'' ARGHHH! Put jolly rodger in dish ''Okay''!

Summary
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 8/10
Music - 9/10
Gameplay - 10/10
Story - 10/10
Challenge - 9/10
Enjoyment - 10/10
Lifespan - 10/10
Overall - 9/10

Alternatives: For better graphical results and to avoid disc swapping, I recommend the PC version fo this classic. Of course, there are 3 other games and many other graphic adventures, such as Sam and Max, Day of the Tentacle, The Dig and Loom.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/25/03, Updated 01/25/03

Title The Secret Of Monkey Island
Game Type Adventure
Company LucasFilm/Kixx
Players 1
HD Installable Yes
Compatibility Disable AGA
Submission top_cat@post8.tele.dk (Jens Vang Petersen)


Review
This is top-notch among adventure games, it's probably only topped by the
sequel and Indy IV. No game collection is complete without it.
You're controlling Guybrush Threepwood, a young man who'd like to become
a real pirate. The game starts out on Melee Island, where Guybrush is told
about the three trials to become a real pirate. However you don't get very
far before running into the govenor, Marley, who's a quite attractive woman
and her jealous lover, LeChuck is the name. But LeChuck is in fact a bit
flying, actualy he's dead. If you think it sounds sick you're right, but
it's also one of the funniest games ever seen. The three trials consists
of 'Mastering The Sword', 'Art Of Thievery' and 'Treasure Hunting' in the
beginning you can start out on the one you prefer, however after some time
you realise that you need to complete one before the next, but much of the
preparing work can be done as you go along. This is in fact one of the
strongest parts of this game, there's much to do, some things have nothing
at all to do with what you need, but it gives room for experiments, and
you don't die just by saying something stupid to the wrong guy.
Completing the three trials is not so difficult, and just as you think
you've become a real pirate you catch a view of a ghost-ship. You later
find out that the lovely govenor has been captured by LeChuck, guess
who's going to save her ???