The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

This is probably my favourite game on XBLA. It's fun, puzzleing, got great humour. Worthy of a 10/10,

Hello side scrolling, arcade, action, puzzle fun times!

This game blew my sock off. From the very quick but in depth storytelling to the excellent voice acting, the quality of this downloadable title is astounding. The developers truly used the Unreal Engine in a brand new and absolutely creative way. The 2D/3D art style was implemented with perfection and pizazz and made the game appealing to the hands, eyes, ears and mind...if this game had a taste it would be absolutely delicious. While the learning curve of the controls might be a bit much for some, this is an arcade game for a reason.

Weapons abounding and puzzles unending, the game's challenges are conquerable but difficult to say the least. Grenades are a delicious addition, but there is no escape from those certain enemies that just will not get off your case. Bosses are absolutely intolerable at times, but victory over them gives experience galore and offers a sense of accomplishment not too often felt in arcade games.

The production quality of a first party release shines in this game and from beginning to end there is never a feeling of boredom but excitement for what is to come. I can't wait for their next release and hopefully we get a full fledged release.

I never got to play this game when it was first released many years ago, but I bought it on the XBox Marketplace and am pleased that I did. I think it's cool that you can switch between the old graphics and the new HD remade graphics. There are some good punchlines in this game, and I enjoy playing it. Games similar to this (remember the King's Quest and Police Quest series?) are always fun to play!

Could not stop playing once I started - absolutely fantastic point 'n' click adventure.

If you've never played Secret of Monkey Island before, BUY IT! It's gotta be one of the best (if not THE best) point 'n' click adventure game out there.

The graphics are fantastic, and the transition from 'old skool' to modern is seamless via a press of the 'back' button.

Took me about 8 hours to complete the first time, and then I went back and did it again in 1hr 45 mins... Doesn't really have any further re-playability now for me, though, but it was worth every penny - funny script, great puzzles...

It's just fantastic!

Can't wait for SOMI:2 to come to XBLA :D

I don't play these types of games often, but found myself purchasing this from all the good things I've heard from fans.. It is amazing how well done the new art and voice acting is. My only complaints are the screen ratio for the new game isn't anamorphic widescreen, I think it is infact made for 16:10 screens. So, the pc specifically. I don't think I'd care to buy the rest on consoles, it is quite a bit more frustrating to navigate, despite the new controls working quite well.

The humor may be a bit dated aswell, but that is to be expected.

If there's one thing I enjoy about remakes, it's the updated graphics or extra features. In The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, the first thing you immediately notice is the different style of graphics. At first, I was somewhat disappointed they didn't keep the old realistic graphics, but then the new art style grew on me. It's very cartoonish and fun, definitely fits with the theme here. For those haters, you can easily switch between the two styles with the hit of the Back button, which is also a very nice bit.

The gameplay is very similar to that of the original. Just your textbook adventure game where you can pick up stuff, converse, and solve puzzles. The controls are also made easier with your inventory and actions taken away from the picture and brought up with the left and right bumpers. It becomes second nature in a few minutes of using them. Loading times are also very few inbetween, and very fast too. Other than that, it's mostly the same game but with a new body.

For those newcomers to the series, you play the role of Guybrush Threepwood and his quest to become a pirate. It's much better to experience the whole story blindly then to have the premise given to you, so I'll leave that to other reviews if they like to explain more of the story.

Sounds are also remade to sound more "high definition". The old midi-style music is replaced with actual music, which is very good.The voice acting is also very nice and unexpected. Everyone sounds like they should and the voice actors I give a thumbs up.

Definitely worth a buy for those adventure game enthusiasts or those newcomers who want to get into an adventure game. And at 800 points, it's a steal.

Hey look! It's a Three-Headed-Monkey!

Based on a classic! It's nice to see adventure games making a comeback.

One of the best arcade games on live in my book. If you have played the orginial then this is a must buy game. If you havent played the orginial then this is still a must buy game. Very fun game that everyone should own!

This game is AMAZING!
It is much better than the original. The story is great and the prize is right.
Buy it now!

Still a good game, wonderful synchronisation but the art-style is hit or miss. Still prefer the original, though.

When I was a kid I received a brand new 4x cd-rom drive for my birthday. Bundled with that drive were half a dozen or so games. I only remember what two of them were to this day. One was Loom, another LucasArts adventure game. The other, was The Secret of Monkey Island. I was only 10 or 11, but the game hooked me immediately. I loved the humor and gameplay. I got more out of that game than I did the other games I had that the cd-rom was purchased to play.

I've played SoMI probably a dozen or so times since then and when I heard about this remake I was extremely excited. I played the game start to finish the day it came out, which is much easier to do when you remember all of the puzzles, and loved every minute of it.

If you're familiar with the game, or with the recent Telltale adventure games that follow in the same gameplay style, you'll have a great time with the game. If you played the original you'll love switching back and forth between the old and new graphics. The voicework is well done and for the most part the updated graphics really fit with the old style and look great. That does bring me to one of my complaints: Guybrush's character model disappoints me. He looks okay, but he doesn't feel like Guybrush. All of the other characters are great, it's a shame the main character didn't work out as well.

My other complaint with the game is the inventory system. There were a couple of times in the game where I actually switched back to the older graphics just because it was easier to manipulate the inventory. It's not a huge problem, and 1/3 of the way in to the game I got used to it, but I hope they fix it if they remake the sequel.

For $10 this game is a steal and is easily better than than a lot of $15 and $20 games on the service. The Secret of Monkey Island is very easy to recommend to anyone who likes adventure games and everyone else should at least try the demo.

I have to differ with most people here. I feel like this remake was close to perfection, but they missed on a couple areas.

I feel like the characters are disconnected from the background. What I mean is that they feel flat and pasted over the background. It's a minor thing but it bothers me.

I also don't like the new style for Guybrush, I think it's way too much of a departure from the original design.

When you talk to NPCs, I feel like some of the character and charm has been lost in the closeup artwork. The new character closeups are perhaps a bit overly-strange, and suffer from a totally flattened feel vs. the originals.

For $10 you can't complain too much, but it would have been nice to see a bit more effort and care put into these details.

Great remake

If you played and loved the original this is a must purchase. Otherwise, it's still a must purchase just to see how a real adventure game used to work.

The graphic overhaul and voice acting is top notch!

If you've played Monkey Island in the past, you already know this is a great game. Nothing has changed in that sense and it's perfectly playable on a Xbox 360 controller. Better than I would have imagined, honestly. You have the ability to shift between different actions or just using B to do the most obvious thing (like pressing B over a door to open it rather than shifting to the most obvious icon -- this game doesn't solve stuff for you, but that certainly kills off some of the tedium).

I love the idea of shifting between new and classic graphics on the fly. It's just great to see how things were re-imagined and how closely the team really did follow the spirit of the original. If you hate the new look, well then there's the old one for you. R-Type did this too and I really hope more remakes follow suit. I warmed up to the new design and, really, for $10 the team really outdid itself there.

The game sounds great too. Voice work is exceptional as before, music is far more prominent. Great work there.

Monkey Island, for those who haven't played it, is just an exceptional example of the adventure game medium. It's funny, it's amazingly well written, it's challenging... And unlike Sierra's games at the time, you don't have to worry about dying because you forgot to pick up a pixel-sized item that didn't seem important 3 hours ago.

This isn't my favorite game in the series (I love the second game, personally), but it's still damn good. $10 would be worth it just for a well emulated version of the original. Here you get that and a great reworking. There is NOTHING wrong with this game. For $10 you get a great game and also show Lucasarts that people want more of these.

I can only hope this sells well and we see more of these. Imagine the original Sam and Max? Maniac Mansion? Day of the Tentacle? Maybe even Sierra could jump in, because I'd love Gabriel Knight.

I hope this signals a revival for this genre amongst console users... I really do.

As great as I remembered!

It deserves a 10.