Does it have voice acting? I thought iphone games had to be small, or something? If it has voice acting, kindda neat.. not a really good fit for the device though..
Um. Lucasarts? Yeah.. Where are the SCUMM games on DS?! Other than on my flashcard >_>
I don't really give a shit about the iPhone, but this is a very good thing. iPhone games are impulse buys most of the time, so a lot of people will probably scoop this up without having even heard of Monkey Island before. The more this sells, the better. Lucasarts needs to be reassured that investing in the adventure game market again is a smart idea so they'll keep cranking 'em out.
Can someone play this and let me know how it is? I haven't actually ever played the Secret of Monkey Island, but being a Mac-only computer user at the moment I really don't have many options.
@ElReyMysterioso-PBUH: I should note I'm a huge Sam and Max/Maniac Mansion/Legend of Kyrandia fan. Just never got word of the Monkey Island games until it was too late, really.
@Archaotic: Options would include: ScummVM on the original game, some time with a guide and a hacked Cider install(not that i should really be talking about that here, but.. cough), virtual machines, likely able to run less-demanding games at full speed..
If the adventure game revival is going to continue, we need to support the products. That means paying for them. If he doesn't have the game, the copy he'd end up using with ScummVM wouldn't exactly be a legal one.
@spiderweb1986: He said he doesn't have many options, when it's not totally the case. Also, running a virtual machine like VMWare fusion provides would be perfectly compatable with legal games.
Two of my three solutions would be compatable with perfectly legal copies of the very game this is a port of.
I'm glad it seems adventure games are making a comeback, but I'd hate to see them relegated to platforms like handhelds and the Wii. Hopefully Heavy Rain will make a dent when it's released and convince developers to give AAA adventure titles a chance again...
Then what would you consider a AAA Adventure title previous to Telltales games? Beacuse, in the context of the article (which is Monkey Island), we're talking point and clicks, or find item/use items. In which case when you say AAA, you refer to Lucasarts of the 90's.
And if thats what you refer to, then Telltale has pretty faithfully managed to bring the genre back in a very critically well received way.
If thats not what you refer to, I'm curious as to what you mean by adventure title, and why you would post it in an article about Monkey Island (like I said, if thats not the sort of game you refer to).
EDIT: I see that you're not such a big fan of the Sam N Max that Telltale did. Thats unfortunate, but plenty of people enjoyed it, and its sold relatively well (enough to warrant a season 2).
I can see this working on the iPhone pretty well. Cool idea to bring this series on the iPhone, probably one of the few games that actually control well on it.
i liked the xbla game,i hadn't played the original before(just part 4 on PS2)..i first finished it in 6 hrs or so,using the X now and then....after that i got a speedrun of the internet and did it in 1hr 45mins for the cheevo :)
So, hunh. I cleared the game and I loved it. I'm pretty new to these oldschool adventure games but I love 'em! Especially because the dialog contains usually pretty much humor and so did this, too.
So, I didn't have any nostalgic reasons to love or hate the game, but I still loved it. I played mostly using the new interface, but the old looked pretty good too. It just felt a little empty, having only a little audio contents. That's why I liked the new version more. (Sorry for you old school purists :[)
And the dialog! It was just fantastic, almost every conversation held something funny. ...Even the monologues. "I always thought that in Hell there would be mushrooms" :D
And the sword battle system was just... fantastic. I loved every sarcastic remark that was made against me and the feeling when you hit the right spot battling against the Sword Master was very good. That's why I was a bit disappointed by the lack of sword fights when you got forward in the game... Well, but the game lasted twenty minutes short from 8 hours, so I guess it was appropriate.
Anyways I thought the game was totally worth it and I'm eagerly waiting for the second part to come out (remade or not) on XBLA... :P
And anytime a classic, good adventure game comes out in Steam or XBLA now (w/ a reasonable price) I should probably buy it. I should delve deeper into the depths of de--adventure games (Damn, that broke the sequence)... where to start?
E: Oh and it seems I am an idiot, I used the hints a few times. x)
I bought both the PC and 360 version and the inventory system does seem to have been tuned for the 360 version. I can understand that you wouldn't want to be slowly scrolling down to the scumm menu every two seconds with a controller but it would have been nice if they patched the menu in for the PC.
@grillaface: The problem is that simple actions like using an item with another item take much more effort in this version than in the original. You have to manually pull up the verb menu and the item menu, click "Use" and then the first item, and then pull up the item menu again and click on the second item. In the original game this takes THREE fewer button presses. Also, if you accidentally click something wrong you have to start over and manually bring the verb and item menus back up again.
It's particularly awkward during the puzzle with the grog, where you have to keep moving it from one mug to the next. That section is SO much smoother in the old version.
If they have to stick to the original menu system, I'd much prefer a system where the menus are smaller, translucent and in the corner, and they stay on-screen until you dispel them. That way the menus can still be hidden when you don't want to do anything complicated, but they can stay there if you need to do lots of things in a row.
Really, though, they should have overhauled the menu system. Sam & Max Hit the Road and Curse of Monkey Island proved that there's really no need for nine different verbs in these games. This is why, nice as it is that you can switch back to the original version at will because it's built on the same engine, I'd rather sacrifice that if they could make a smoother game experience (while still retaining all the same puzzles and dialogue).
The voice acting is awesome though. Just about pitch-perfect, and adds so much humor to the game. So I don't regret getting this at all.
I'm overall pleased with the new skin you can toss on top of the old game. Granted, it's a different look, a different feel, so it's sure to turn off certain fans because that's not how you pictured things back when you had to fill in the gaps between pixels or the lack of voices with your imagination. The exact timing on some of the dialogue isn't as spot-on as the original text, and the animation looks a bit choppy because it's high-detail with a low number of frames.
However, it's a nice alternative to have, and you can't really begrudge it at all because underneath the hood is the pristine original version you've always loved...or never had the chance to love. At the very least, try the demo just so you can see how beautiful and seamless the switch from old to new (and vice versa) is.
If there's anything to yuck, it certainly is the new inventory system; I actually find myself switching to the old mode to accomplish certain puzzles because navigating my inventory is a chore. The addition of the hot keys for different commands on the D-pad is nice, save for the fact that you have to actually dig into the menu to reach "Look at".
But suffice to say, if you loved the originals, you'll still love this one. I'd recommend buying it to support the re-release of future SCUMM games...not just for yourself, but for this new generation of gamers that hasn't had the chance to play them yet. Don't you want another chance to gossip about how bad-ass Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle are...and have the conversation be topical?
07/23/09
The iphone is just perfect for this kind of games, so i'm glad we're starting to see more of this stuff.
07/23/09
Um. Lucasarts? Yeah.. Where are the SCUMM games on DS?! Other than on my flashcard >_>
07/23/09
07/23/09
07/23/09
07/23/09
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07/23/09
I would guess its the exact same as the other versions.
In which case, its a brilliant, brilliant game.
I'm just not quite understanding the point of having a cursor when you'll be doing all the pointing with your fingers... but eh.
07/23/09
07/23/09
07/23/09
Then for sure.
It's never too late. You run a mac? Theres Scumm for it. Go grab MI2 and 3. They've aged well and are still pretty funny.
ElRey is correct in the Monty Pythonish humour, but mostly its a Tim Schafer game. So duhr.
07/23/09
07/23/09
07/23/09
Seriously, dude...no.
If the adventure game revival is going to continue, we need to support the products. That means paying for them. If he doesn't have the game, the copy he'd end up using with ScummVM wouldn't exactly be a legal one.
07/23/09
Two of my three solutions would be compatable with perfectly legal copies of the very game this is a port of.
07/23/09
07/23/09
Uh, I dont know if you've been asleep as of late, but Wallace and Gromit, Monkey Island SE and Sam and Max Season 1 have all shown up on XBLA and PC.
Thats not really DS and Wii.
07/23/09
Uh, Telltale's episodic titles and XBLA isn't exactly AAA.
07/23/09
Then what would you consider a AAA Adventure title previous to Telltales games? Beacuse, in the context of the article (which is Monkey Island), we're talking point and clicks, or find item/use items. In which case when you say AAA, you refer to Lucasarts of the 90's.
And if thats what you refer to, then Telltale has pretty faithfully managed to bring the genre back in a very critically well received way.
If thats not what you refer to, I'm curious as to what you mean by adventure title, and why you would post it in an article about Monkey Island (like I said, if thats not the sort of game you refer to).
EDIT: I see that you're not such a big fan of the Sam N Max that Telltale did. Thats unfortunate, but plenty of people enjoyed it, and its sold relatively well (enough to warrant a season 2).
07/23/09
07/23/09
07/23/09
07/21/09
bring on part 2
07/21/09
So, I didn't have any nostalgic reasons to love or hate the game, but I still loved it. I played mostly using the new interface, but the old looked pretty good too. It just felt a little empty, having only a little audio contents. That's why I liked the new version more. (Sorry for you old school purists :[)
And the dialog! It was just fantastic, almost every conversation held something funny. ...Even the monologues. "I always thought that in Hell there would be mushrooms" :D
And the sword battle system was just... fantastic. I loved every sarcastic remark that was made against me and the feeling when you hit the right spot battling against the Sword Master was very good. That's why I was a bit disappointed by the lack of sword fights when you got forward in the game... Well, but the game lasted twenty minutes short from 8 hours, so I guess it was appropriate.
Anyways I thought the game was totally worth it and I'm eagerly waiting for the second part to come out (remade or not) on XBLA... :P
And anytime a classic, good adventure game comes out in Steam or XBLA now (w/ a reasonable price) I should probably buy it. I should delve deeper into the depths of de--adventure games (Damn, that broke the sequence)... where to start?
E: Oh and it seems I am an idiot, I used the hints a few times. x)
07/21/09
07/21/09
Press LT and the verbs appear. Press RT and the items appear. Press them both and it's the same thing as the original.
I personally like not having them all onscreen all the time.
07/21/09
It's particularly awkward during the puzzle with the grog, where you have to keep moving it from one mug to the next. That section is SO much smoother in the old version.
If they have to stick to the original menu system, I'd much prefer a system where the menus are smaller, translucent and in the corner, and they stay on-screen until you dispel them. That way the menus can still be hidden when you don't want to do anything complicated, but they can stay there if you need to do lots of things in a row.
Really, though, they should have overhauled the menu system. Sam & Max Hit the Road and Curse of Monkey Island proved that there's really no need for nine different verbs in these games. This is why, nice as it is that you can switch back to the original version at will because it's built on the same engine, I'd rather sacrifice that if they could make a smoother game experience (while still retaining all the same puzzles and dialogue).
The voice acting is awesome though. Just about pitch-perfect, and adds so much humor to the game. So I don't regret getting this at all.
07/21/09
It's there, just not eating up screen space like in the original.
07/21/09
I'm overall pleased with the new skin you can toss on top of the old game. Granted, it's a different look, a different feel, so it's sure to turn off certain fans because that's not how you pictured things back when you had to fill in the gaps between pixels or the lack of voices with your imagination. The exact timing on some of the dialogue isn't as spot-on as the original text, and the animation looks a bit choppy because it's high-detail with a low number of frames.
However, it's a nice alternative to have, and you can't really begrudge it at all because underneath the hood is the pristine original version you've always loved...or never had the chance to love. At the very least, try the demo just so you can see how beautiful and seamless the switch from old to new (and vice versa) is.
If there's anything to yuck, it certainly is the new inventory system; I actually find myself switching to the old mode to accomplish certain puzzles because navigating my inventory is a chore. The addition of the hot keys for different commands on the D-pad is nice, save for the fact that you have to actually dig into the menu to reach "Look at".
But suffice to say, if you loved the originals, you'll still love this one. I'd recommend buying it to support the re-release of future SCUMM games...not just for yourself, but for this new generation of gamers that hasn't had the chance to play them yet. Don't you want another chance to gossip about how bad-ass Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle are...and have the conversation be topical?
That's right you do.
07/21/09
For shits and giggles, an image I made years ago: