WEEK 4 | Secret of Monkey Island

            Guybrush :  My name's Guybrush Threepwood. I'm new in town.
            Pirate :       Guybrush Threepwood? Ha ha ha!!! That's the stupidest name I've ever heard!
            Guybrush :   I don't know... I kind of like 'Guybrush.'
            Pirate  :       But it's not even a name!
            Guybrush :  Well, what's YOUR name?
            Pirate   :      My name is Mancomb Seepgood.

Ahhh....LucasArts games.......how I have missed you!  I love these point and click adventure games (think Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones and the Monkey Islands).  From their intuitive, interesting puzzles to their over the top, humourous stories, its a formula that makes for UNFORGETTABLE gaming experiences.  
I am really wanting to download all the old adventure games now and play them all...but duty calls...one must study and write blogs!  So, in a nutshell:


STORY:  Awesome story about a guy called Guybrush Threepwood and his desire to become a pirate.  It has a love story, ghost pirates, wedding crashing, and voodoo.  The game is divided into 'Chapters' which in effect divides the game into several major goals to be performed in a sequence to progress through the story.  Each chapter is then broken up into minor goals/puzzles (collect certain objects to complete a puzzle, like opening a gate to a new area).
I love the humour in the story/dialogue which is a different spin on the usual perception of pirates being serious roughians.  
AESTHETICS:  I actually found an article online saying that atmosphere was based on that of

 the Pirates of the Caribbean theme park ride.  The graphics are now very dated, but succeed in drawing in the player into the world of pirates.  Everything is over the top to add to the humour and light hearted nature of the story (drunk pirates swinging from the pub chandalier).  


MECHANICS:  walk, explore, collect items and solve puzzles.  WALK, TALK TO, USE, OPEN  =  solve puzzles  =  progress in the story.  The player has to choose what action to perform in the scene - open, use, pickup, lookat etc objects in the game, which in turn gives the player instant feedback as to the result of the feedback - you picked up the item, conversation with character that leads to hints or further story.  

TECHNOLOGY:  2D colour graphics, but highly detailed for its time I thought.  Its graphics have since been updated in 2009 with the release of the Special Edition, which also featured voice overs.  This goes to show that the mechanics, story and aethetics were a successful game formula, and that the change in just the technology side of things makes it a viable product in todays market as well.  



Overall:  I LOVE this game.  This started it all for me!  Day of the Tentacle and the Monkey Island games are some of the very few games that I would still enjoy playing even though their technology is vastly outdated.  In fact, the game has been made into a special edition (2009) where the graphics have been improved and voice overs added.  Their stories, witty dialogue, outrageous characters make for a delightful and fun experience.