The adventure is as solid as ever, the voices are great and the graphics look good.
Right off the start - the game takes about 5 hours** to complete*.
*I most likely completed it quicker without talking to everyone to the end (although doing most of the conversations). It might be closer to 7-8 hours if you don't know the game and want to figure it out.
The Story Outline
Well, without spoiling too much the story is pretty straight forward - you are a young man named Guybrush who wants to be a pirate. He fall in love with governor Elaine, who is later kidnapped by Ghostly Pirate LeChuck and taken to Monkey Island. LeChuck wants to force Elaine into marrying her. Now its up to Guybrush to do many goofy things to save his love and defeat the evil pirate
The Gameplay 7/10
There two modes that can be switched instantaneously with a button. In normal mode you have overhauled graphics and voices, the classic has original graphics and text only. Classic mode has a small screen because the inventory and action menu on the bottom. Classic mode also has black stripes on the sides what I don't get because I though the original game had 320x200 resolution which is 16:10 and should fit the screen nicely (but it doesn't). The normal mode fills up the whole screen with the HD game area.
The game is identical in the core and everything you do in one is synced to the other version so the transition is seamless.
Majority of the quest involve manipulating items, while some require dialogue. Now original interface required you to select action (open, close, push, pull and so on) and then and object on in the location or in the inventory (both on-screen). Now the new version require you to press Ctr for actions menu and Alt for inventory. This is really troublesome as menu animation may be in the way on some time based quests.
The interface is clearly made for consoles so I advise using a controller. The controller is not supported natively on PC but you can use a program called xpadder to assign the mouse to the joysticks and clicks and keys to buttons on the pad.
Nevertheless its a bit of a pain. The cursor now consist of a circular symbol representing actions (which ar not that clear) or an object and an arrow. The arrow rotates around the symbol when the cursor is close to it which makes it confusing. Selecting actions is also hard - what you do is press Ctrl, move to the right action and press enter. The action glows for second and action menu disappears. Now you can also press Ctrl, move to the right action and press Ctrl again, menu disappears and the action is also selected. Now the second method is faster and results in the same thing. If you don't know this it might be harder to do time based quests.
Now combining object is made much harder. You have to bring up action menu, find action (use), press enter, bring up inventory, select object, press enter, bring up inventory again, select second object, press enter. UFF. The original had only - click 'use', click object, click second object. Now, it can be done quicker actually because you learn that if you bring inventory after action menu, the selected action will apply to the object you select. Even so the moment when you have to put on "helmet" after lighting up the cannon is almost impossible with the controller
Another thing is that after you combine object there is no indication it worked and you have a new object. You have to access inventory to see that you actually did that. That problem was absent from the original where you saw the new item appear.
Otherwise it works pretty well, I binded both menus to shoulder buttons and after a while I was pretty quick with it (a while meaning 2 hours). Just not having all action in front of you makes you explore a little less, while many funny remarks are made when you do something illogical in Monkey Island
The Humour 10/10
Now the jokes can be a bit far apart but they are still Superb. Lines like "Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see us" or "I feel a sudden urge to complete the trials.. QUICK" after being promise to go to "her place" make this adventure classic. There is more story to uncover like that of Herman Toothrot and his captain going to Monkey Island - here also you find out the "terrible" accident that took captains life =). There is Insult sword fighting, where your wit has to be sharper than your sword. The ending can actually be a little different depending on one optional action made on Monkey Island.
Now, there is some humour lost however. The original depended on the status bar where the actions where displayed. This was near the center of the screen, just under the game area. One whole joke was based on this bar, where the characters where fighting off screen and the status bar had silly actions displayed. Now, the new version has it in the left bottom corner on top of the picture. Its harder to see and not in the focus of the action so if you are not looking you might miss a LOT.
The Graphics - 8/10
The new artwork is pretty amazing. Most of the times. Some of the locations look like out of a good flash game. Yet most of them are beautiful - the harbour now is loaded with ships (in the background) and building windows are now glowing with light. Monkey Island is now somehow less green but overall the art direction is pretty great.
The character models are problematic. Why? The problem is that they are not bad but actually TOO good. What they did with Guybrush and other lead characters is that they drawn them large with great detail but then scaled them down so they match the original characters height. The result is that they look a bit 3d and out of place with the background. It certainly isn't terrible but it is also not a masterpiece as we like to consider the original to be. Some less detailed models actually look better - the pirates at the bar look great and ghostly crew is terrific. However some pirates seem rough (especially the map selling pirate - just awful)
Some humor is lost because of the graphical overhaul - there is a pirate with a talking tattoo. This was funny because his tattoo consisted of like 10 pixels and to see some of this pixels move was amusing. The new one has this normal animation which almost makes you miss the joke. (ok, not that much, but is not that funny).
Another thing is map clarity - the original had about 3 pixels, the new one has almost complete character (about 10 pixels high). So? The old one was actually much bigger (yes!) and clear, especially when walking in the jungle on Monkey Island. There is a monkey which looks pretty much the same on the map and it is extremely hard to spot him (blends with the jungle)
The Audio 9/10
This is universally praised - the actors are the same as in The Curse of Monkey Island and make a great job playing their parts. Also the location music has been change for a better one. Where it was silent once there is a lot of ambient noise now. The bar full of pirates now sounds like it is crowded rather than just looking.
Now the bad part:
**The game time is largely inflated by long pauses in the character dialogue. It is so because they have to speak as fast as the subtitles in the original lasted.
This may not sound that bad but in the first portion of the game the dialogue was literally putting me to sleep! (apart from some funny lines). There is a persistent salesman Stan that just has to sell you the boat but his lines are so slow compared to the energy we felt when reading his monologues. Sometimes you can hear how actors prolong their sentences or finish and wait for another line. Although because of excellent actors in many places this is not noticeable.
The Finishing Word
Monkey Island is still an excellent adventure and the new version is a grand job. The new interface makes it very accessible for the console players and introduces new experience as when watching a movie - I find it the biggest advantage. However it has lost quite much when the jokes are spoken - in the original it kept you connected by presenting long lines to be read. The new one lets you go to the next room, listen to the game but not really get into it. Despite this and some minor conversion flaws I highly recommend this game as it follows the Classic game so closely that it manages to to be excellent on its own. I hope you have a big TV - it is certainly worth it.
Oh, I almost forgot - the price on Steam is 9€ which makes it second best deal after Beyond Good and Evil for 5€. However you measure it, 9€ for 6 or more hours of entertainment should be more than a fair deal