The Secret of Monkey Island

The Good
The year is 1990. Lucasarts adventures 'till then had never really cried masterpiece before. Sierra was still the king of adventure games and seemingly had the genre in an impossible grip. Then Monkey Island happened. With its hilarious jokes, ingenious puzzles and intuitive interface, it took the adventure community by suprise. Everything about the game oozed class. The story is simple enough, save the beautiful governor Elaine from the evil ghost pirate Le Chuck and become a pirate yourself in the process. What makes it so special is that the story is so hilariously done with clever jokes and memorable characters that you can't help but become enthralled by it. A fantastic feature of the game (and all Lucasarts adventures) is that you cannot be killed. With most adventures of the day, walking down the wrong path or picking up a sharp object would kill you but in Monkey Island you are free to take your time on the ingenious puzzles without the worry of being nuked, melted etc while you do so, adding to the fun factor imeasurably.

The Bad
Monkey Island has aged quite a bit and so graphics and sound are pretty crummy these days but what do you expect?

The Bottom Line
This is the game that converted me to Lucasarts adventures way back when I was ten at the time of release and I still love it even today. It's aged technically but in all other ways it's as fresh and funny as it was 12 years ago. No adventure gamer can afford to miss it.