Yesterday, we discussed my playthrough of “The Secret of Monkey Island”. Tonight, we look at the second game in the series.
Part Two: LeChuck’s Revenge
(Doo doo, doo doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo, etc. etc.) Continue reading
In December, I embarked on a particularly geeky pirate adventure: playing through Guybrush Threepwood’s adventures. Yes, all of them. This was MonkeyThon09, and while it reminded me why I’m not THAT much of a gamer (seriously, after several hours in a row I’m almost wishing I still have homework I could do instead), it was a delightful experiment.
While I already posted my thoughts during this quest live on Twitter, I have decided to expound upon some of these thoughts for my LiveJournal audience, who no doubt were wondering just how they’d be able to go on without reading this.
Part One: The Secret of Monkey Island
(Insert Michael Land’s Chapter Start music here. Doo doo, doo doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo, doo doo-doo doo-doo doo dooooooooooo…) Continue reading
With the new announcements from LucasArts and Telltale Games regarding (A) a special edition remake of the original “Secret of Monkey Island” and (B) a new season of adventures entitled “Tales of Monkey Island”, fans of classic adventure gaming are going nuts, with not-so-surprisingly diverse reactions.
See, fanboys of any franchise fall into a number of categories. There are the fanboys who think that everything in the franchise is of an equal standard, there are the fanboys who think that only the first (or maybe second) installment is worth anything, and there are those who fall into some sort of middle ground. In the case of “Monkey Island”, there are a number of fanboys who believe that the series ended after original creator Ron Gilbert left, and anything not written SOLELY by him is not canon. (A slightly odd stance to take, as Gilbert himself has stated that his co-writers Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer were just as responsible for the tone and humor of the original game, but I digress.) These people seem to want nothing to do with the new releases, despite the fact that both of them got Gilbert’s blessing, and “Tales” had his involvement in the brainstorming process and is being overseen by Grossman.
Personally, I could not be more excited about the new Monkey Island releases. It does my heart good to see LucasArts at least showing a little respect for its roots (more than Sierra has shown, even when they released a few Quest collections…but that’s another rant), and Telltale has an excellent track record as far as doing justice to beloved franchises goes. Does being happy about these releases instead of immediately cynical mean I lose all my geek cred?
This got me to wondering where I fit in the fanboy spectrum. I decided to look back over the classic Monkey Island collection and see how I feel about each one.
WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE MONKEY ISLAND GAMES. IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED THE MONKEY ISLAND GAMES AND DO NOT WISH TO BE SPOILED, DO NOT READ THIS POST. UNLESS THE ONLY GAME YOU HAVEN’T PLAYED IS “ESCAPE FROM MONKEY ISLAND”, BECAUSE NOBODY CARES ABOUT BEING SPOILED FOR THAT ONE. Continue reading
On Monday, a product was released that seamlessly combines two of my true loves, two of the things that shaped me into the geek I am today: point-and-click adventure games, and Homestar Runner. Yes, Episode One of “Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People” premiered for the PC and Wii this week, and it’s everything you’d hope it would be. Continue reading