Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge

The Good
It's the same point and click interface as part one but it's enhanced. You now have pictures for each item making it easier to understand what it exactly is. This makes the good gameplay of part one even better. The story is just as interesting as in part one: You are once again playing the role of Guybrush Threepwood, the would-be pirate. After having destroyed the evil ghost pirate LeChuck, he ends up on Scabb Island and there he hears about the legendary treasure Big Whoop. Desperate to find it he gets ready to set out. However, an evil pirate called Largo LaGrande has put up an embargo to stop ships from leaving the island. With help of the voodoo priestess, you eventually chase him away but also, by accident, help him revive LeChuck who was once his captain. You must then find Big Whoop before the enemy finds you. This quest takes you to new beautiful islands. On these islands you will meet totally new and weird characters such as the utterly irritating Largo LaGrande, Wally the cartographer and the extremely lazy governor Phatt. You'll also meet some returning old characters such as Stan, who helped you get a ship in part one and now deals in coffins, the low moral fiber pirates, your beloved governor Elaine Marley, the voodoo priestess and off course LeChuck now returned as a rotting zombie corpse. Guybrush himself looks more mature now having a beard and a stylish blue coat. You'll find new items some of which are useful, some not. They include things such as always useful money, a rope always used in such games and even some animals. Probably the strongest part of this game are the graphics. Everything is hand-painted and still looks amazing in those old 256 colors nowadays. Not many games had graphics like these in those days. The floppy disk version has an easy mode for newbie adventure gamers, which is strangely not on the CD version. Sound has also improved. It has great tunes and not just some tunes and sounds here and there as in part one.

The Bad
It's sometimes a bit difficult to see what you can use and what not. The point and click interface remains good but also has the old "can't find the right spot" problem. The puzzles are still a bit too hard at times which may be a problem for gamers who are unfamiliar with the genre and do not have the floppy disk version which, as I said, doesn't have an easy mode.

The Bottom Line
If Monkey Island 1 isn't the best adventure game of all time then it's probably this one. This is simply one of the best games ever and if you like adventure games this is essential. If you are new too the genre this is one of the best games to start with. Brilliant. brilliant, brilliant.

The Good
Monkey Island 2, the sequel to the highly acclaimed Secret Of Monkey Island, is also a great, great, great game. It tells the story of Guybrush Threepwood, a would-be pirate in search of Big Whoop, a truly legendary treasure, which is so secretly hidden nobody even knows what it consists of. The ghost pirate LeChuck, the bad guy which Guybrush killed in the first episode, is also back and seeks revenge. It is a fantastic tale whose elements could have populated the mind of some of the greatest writers in History, but, instead of writing a book, somebody decided to write a game script. And, somehow, it turned out to be a comedy graphic adventure with a great, although very strange, storyline.

The characters are really elaborated and have their own unique personality. The plot is amazing, really nice, and deserved a book or a movie (would have been a blockbuster). The whole tale is told in a humorous way and silly jokes and situations are frequent.

While most adventures games, even having a good plot, fail to get the attention of the player, Monkey Island is really involving and has a great ambience. Maybe because of the harmony between graphics, sound, controls and the idea. And also because the game doesn't take itself too seriously.

The interface is very nice, and makes the game very easy and comfortable to play. In other words, gameplay is fabulous! Thanks to Lucas Arts SCUMM system (which was, in those times, much better than Sierra OnLine system), the game is much nicer to play than many adventure games released after ten years.

The puzzles are not obvious as they are in many adventures. They are very well elaborated and some are very funny. Don't expect Monkey Island to be a logic game. The challenges may be silly, but they are very clever and sometimes require lots of thinking. The quality of the puzzles became a Monkey Island (and also a Lucas Arts) trademark.

The graphics were very good for a 1991 game. Of course there are no videos or 3D panoramas, but the 256-color VGA graphics (320x200 resolution) are still not only OK, but also involving. The hand-drawn backgrounds brought new standards to adventure games and the sprites (=moving objects) were as detailed as the low resolution could allow.

Music is fantastic. Well, at least for a game. In fact, the Monkey Island tune could have easily been the soundtrack to the Monkey Island movie. It really feels like something written by John Williams and, if not a true classic, at least a nice tune which fits the game and is easily recognizable. The sound quality is OK. Don't expect to hear Guybrush's voice and any elaborated sound effects. They are simple, but effective.

The Bad
There are indeed so many good things about this game the bad things get sort of offuscated or even forgiven.

The main problem: the years came and passed and Monkey Island 2 is dated. The graphics and sound are not impressive anymore and there are better interfaces. Technology evoluted and Monkey Island 2 deserved a re-make (Sierra is re-making the King's Quest series, why not a Monkey Island re-make?).

Well, yes, there are other problems. Problems which were born with the game. It is not short, but could have been longer. It is so nice to play people would beg for more (and the third episode only came six years later, so they had to wait a lot!).

And the end of the game seems to be the main point here. It is strange and does not seem to fit. It may be disappointing. I am not going to tell the end of the story here to spoil the fun. Some people even created theories to explain it. I'll just say that it makes sense thinking as the end of Monkey Island 2 as an isolated game and one could easily imagine what Big Whoop is. But it is strange to think of it in the context of the series. It doesn't reveal the secret of Monkey Island (and doesn't even mention it). Monkey Island 3 brought a different explanation for the game, but not very convincing.

The Bottom Line
TRUE CLASSIC. Monkey Island 2 is one of the best sequels ever and retains all the magic of the first game. And it is one of the reasons people say games were much better ten years ago.

The Good
First and foremost, the humour. This has to be one of the funniest games I have ever encountered. I don't think that this game has a truly serious bit in its programming. The humour does range from obvious to subtle, but nearly all of it is first rate. And if you've played The Secret Of Monkey Island, then you'll notice that there are numerous returning characters and gags. Okay, so it's funny. Very good. Funny does not a computer game make. So LucasArts went ahead and put in everything else a quality production needs: the music is catchy and appropriate, the puzzles (mostly requiring the use of inventory items) are fun and challenging, the graphics fit the tone of the game, control is a snap.

The Bad
One or two puzzles were a bit too tough, but that is very subjective. As well, per-force, there isn't too much replay value here. But it's worth buying even to play just once.

The Bottom Line
A hilariously funny pirate adventure. Go get a mug o' grog and enjoy.