Secret of Monkey Island, The for Sega CD

Image: MobyGames

Secret of Monkey Island, The

Maybe it's good on a PC

Genre: adventure - point n click

Publisher: JVC

Year: 1993

System: Sega CD

Gameplay Score: 2

Gameplay Notes:

I wasn't a PC gamer back in the day, so my only experience with LucasArts SCUMM games is Maniac Mansion. And yes, I know that predates SCUMM, but you know what I mean. In any case, this was my first time playing Secret of Monkey Island, which I've heard is a stone-cold classic. From a purely gameplay perspective, I gotta say that it's fine, but with a fair amount of complaints. First off is the painfully slow cursor. Both movement and all interactions are initiated by choosing from a set of ever-present verbs in the bottom-left corner of the screen and then clicking on the item. Some interactions happen in real-time so you have to quickly select a verb and then the item. This is easier said than done because of the cursor speed and my next complaint, the tiny hitboxes. The interactive elements on screen are often miniscule. Moving the d-pad over the exact spot is like hitting the inner ring on a dart board. The slow cursor actually works to your favor in this case, which is probably why they made it so slow. My final complaint is the atrocious framerate and terrible scrolling. The framerate is easily single digits and consequently the screen scrolling makes you want to avert your eyes as much as possible. Oh and as a bonus complaint, there is so, much, loading.

Level Design Score: 3

Level Design Notes:

This is probably being generous because the puzzles are obtuse and require pure trial and error. So many point n click games rely on this method instead of deductive reasoning or real puzzling. I was tempted to knock it down further but I genuinely like the environments and NPCs enough to say this is a world worth exploring.

Theme Score: 5

Theme Notes:

I was immediately sucked into the theme, which is a mashup of Pirates of the Caribbean, Treasure Island (the funny Muppets one), Goonies, and Maniac Mansion. In other words, it's a comedy starring a kid who wants to be a pirate involving swordplay, treasure hunting, and all matter of goofiness.

Art Style Score: 2

Art Style Notes:

Dark, drab colors. Simple graphics with some funny animations, but terrible performance. Very poor visual language with no help to identify interactive elements.

Audio Score: 2

Audio Notes:

No voice acting at all. Ok music that rarely plays. The game is silent most of the time.

Overall Score: 48

Review ID: 12105