The SCUMMy man

Just a quick post today. I downloaded the demo for Monkey Island: SE off of live earlier and wanted to share my thoughts. I'd like to preface this by saying that I love the Monkey Island series, or indeed anything with Tim Schafer's name attached to it. However I must say that this demo is a bit disappointing, not least because it doesn't really contain any game play at all. If I were a newcomer to the franchise, I would be left with very little to deduct whether or not Monkey Island is actually a good game.

The trial version contains two scenes, one of which isn't even interactive. It begins with a scripted conversation between Threepwood and an old man atop a hill, which concerns Threepwood's desire to become a pirate. After this scene finishes you make your way to the Scum bar where you can take part in four different converstaions... then you leave the bar and the demo ends. How was this ever ordained to be a passable sample of the experience? Just one puzzle would have justified the trials existence, but no... nothing. To be honest the demo probably was tacked on as a sort of afterthought, but even so, they really should have done a better job. That being said, the humour in the game is still as funny as ever and the art has been remastered quite nicely. I couldn't help but feel that the animations were a little lackluster, but this is just a minor quibble.

The Secret of Monkey Island is definitely a classic title, so if you haven't tried it previously you should probably give it a shot (especially over the gaming drought known as Summer). If you have played it before and are looking for some nostalgia, again it's probably worth your buck but I'll let you justify the purchase to yourself. Anyway that's it for today. Toodle oo.