Even though some parts feel antiquated, Monkey Island SE is still a beautiful remake of a classic.
The graphics have all been redone by hand in the style of the original, and look great. You also have the option to switch between the classic and special edition with the press of a button. The addition of this feature was a nice touch, as I often found myself switching between the classic and special edition just to compare how it used to look.
The audio has been redone as well; all of the previously unspoken dialogue is now voice acted. The dialogue is well acted and the voice actors from the sequels to the original were retained for the special edition, which should please fans of the series. The music and sound effects have also been re-mastered.
The main draw of Monkey Island has to be its charm and humour. The jokes range from subtle wit to groan inducing puns and there are some genuine laugh out loud moments. Some of the jokes are dated, but that's to be expected from a game that's almost two decades old.
Which brings me to my one problem with Monkey Island; it's a remake of a very old game. All of the puzzles are the same as the original and as a result, they suffer from a problem that plagued adventure games at the time. Some of the puzzles are frustratingly difficult to solve simply because the solutions are illogical. There were several puzzles that, once I discovered the answer, I realised I never would have arrived at the answer through a reasonable train of thought.
Thankfully the game has a built in three-tier help system. With the press of a button it provides you with a hint for your current objective, followed by a more detailed hint and then culminates with an arrow pointing you in the right direction. I resisted using the hints at first, but by the end of the game I had lost my patience and didn't spend long on the puzzles before resorting to hints.
This soured my experience with the game and I couldn't help but think that it felt dated. Fans of the original series will enjoy reminiscing about the early days of gaming and it's worth a playthrough for the humour, or if you're curious about what video games used to be like. All things considered I enjoyed my time on Monkey Island, but it seems like nostalgia isn't what it used to be.