Great Remake
The humor from the first game has returned with plenty of laugh out loud moments to spare. While some of the jokes are aimed at fans of the last game (or other lucasarts games) there are plenty of laughs for all. The fact that this game was made by lucasarts, means that we get a lot of references to films like Star Wars and Indiana Jones. There is no way to play this game without plenty of laughing.
The gameplay follows that of most point-and-click adventure games. The game consists mainly of hilarious conversions with people and solving puzzles with items. The interface has changed from having a menu of verbs and inventory items at the bottom of the screen to an interface more like what we will see with the later monkey island games. Right click on something and the possible interactions appear next to the item, click on one to select it. Click the middle button on your mouse (or mouse wheel) to open your inventory. It is all very familiar to adventure game veterans and easily accessible to those new to the genre.
The graphics have been updated. The new ones look good, staying similar to the original game. I personally like the older graphics better. They just seem more warm and inviting to me. However, this is probably just the nostalgia talking. It is still a nice style and I like it. The big change here is the characters, they look a lot more exaggerated and more like caricatures as opposed to the characters in the original. I think this is because they could put more detail into these whereas the original characters had to be more simplified. Again, I prefer it the original way, but that is just the nostalgia. The more stylized characters really do fit the silly nature of the game better. Luckily for me, you can swich back to the graphics of the original game at any moment by pressing F1.
The sound is about the same. The music is just an update of the old music. It have the same feelings with it as I do the original (what can I say, I am very nostalgic) The new voice acting is great! It was awesome to hear all my favorite old lines spoken by the great Dominic Armato. Granted, the timing feels a little off at times, which messes up a few of the jokes, but it generally works well.
There are also a few special features including a image gallery of concept art which is pretty nice. However, the best part is the audio commentary. During certain parts of the game you can press "A" to hear Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer, and Dave Grossman talk about the game MST3K style. These moments are always fun and always funny.
There are not two difficulty levels like in the first game, but there is a hint system. By pressing "H" you are given a hint to help you solve the current puzzle. Everytime you press "H" you get a more descriptive hint until the game eventually just gives you the answer. I like that it does not tell you the answer right off, and rather just tries to point you in the right direction. This system is very usefull for solving some of the game's difficult puzzels (not that needed to use the hint system or anything…) and can be especially helpful to players new to the genre. There is also an optional mode that highlights all interactive itmes when you click the left and right mouse buttons togather. Again, this can help more inexperienced player.
Overall, I would say that between the voice acting and the commentary this is a great buy for any Monkey Island fan. As far as newcomers go, there is plenty of humor and clever puzzles here to keep anyone hooked…but you may want to play Monkey Island 1 first…