The Secret of Monkey Island

The Good
It's funny and it makes you think.

That may be a cliched way to start an interview but this truly does fall under that old axiom. It will make you laugh and the puzzles will make you want to wrench out your hair (especially the shopkeepers vault one). The interface is intuitive and overall it's a class act. Very polished and nicely done. This deserves a place in any gamers collection. If there's not something in here that doesn't appeal to you then you are indeed very odd and you should pat yourself on the back for being a fine individual.

The Bad
It just isn't original. It isn't the father of adventure games nor does it do anything really special. Classy it is, funny it is but groundbreaking? It's not, the story isn't really that epic either, it's just a bunch of really well told jokes.

In my mind I'm comparing this with Loom, now there's originality in an adventure game and it's story that hasn't been matched to this day, it had an intriguing storyline and the interface was based around musical notes. Now that's ingenuity! I can't say Monkey Island even touches that.

The Bottom Line
I would describe it as a game you must have, a game you will play over and over. A game that, even if you are a comedy-movie afficianado, will appeal to you more than a good deal of videos in your collection and yet a game that does nothing breath-takingly new. It's for adventure gamers wanting more of the same and basically, anyone with a sense of humour.