I’ve had the Gaming category for a while now, but had yet to actually make any gaming posts. I find it rather to fitting to start this category off with a post about the game that really defined my entrance into the gaming world. In 1990, Lucasfilm Games (now LucasArts) realized a pirate adventure game that opened my eyes to the wonder of gaming – The Secret of Monkey Island. Up until this point, the games I had played were largely text-command based with few graphics. I remember it was (of course) the monkey part that appealed to me, followed by the fact that this was a PIRATE game. I can’t remember if I got it for a present or what, but I remember having it. Back then, if you got stuck on a game, you called a 900 number for a hint or saved up for a book. Yay for the internet. I spent 30 hours one weekend pouring myself into this game on our PC. It was humorous, it was fun..I felt like the game understood MY sense of humor for once.
Of course, computing changed dramatically and the new computers weren’t capable of supporting these old games. While Monkey Island spawned a few sequels, the original had a special place in my heart. Imagine my jubilation when I found out that LucasArts was releasing The Secret of Monkey Island : Special Edition on Xbox Live Arcade this year. When it was finally released, buying it on XBLA was the first thing I did the following payday. I was amazed over how much I remembered from damn near twenty years ago. Of course, the game has updated graphics (although you can switch between the new version and old school one) and now it has an in-game hint system. No more 900 numbers! Except for…well…YOU KNOW. (Ha..sex line jokes…)
Now I doubt the game will really mesh well with the young generations of gamers. It’s slower moving and command-based. Sword-fighting involves exchanging the right combination of insults to win, not fancy combo moves. But for us old school gamers, the ones that grew up with this, being able to play this game again is just incredibly awesome. I wish other companies would follow suit and re-release updated versions of their classic games.
Check out The Secret of Monkey Island on their website – http://www.lucasarts.com/games/monkeyisland/. Or just take my word for it and buy this awesome game. Pirates. Monkeys. Jokes. What more could you possibly ask for?