Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge

If You've Never experienced this game before, it's important for you to understand Monkey Island2'% place in PC gaming history. To experience Monkey Island2 in a new guise, and to remember puzzles and jokes long forgotten, is a glorious thing for any veteran of the early '90s.

The quality of the original has been documented more times than anyone can recall, so we won't waste too much time discussing its core. For newcomers, our hero, Guybrush, is regaling all and sundry about his victory over LeChuck on Scabb Island (see Monkey Island). Naturally, things go wrong and he ends up a penniless chancer faced with having to defeat LeChuck once more, while navigating a huge number of madcap puzzles and crazy characters.

We know that the core is brilliant, so the questions about this Special Edition are all about the new additions, like the redone control system and voices. Monkey Island SE's controls were maligned by some, although some of this complaining was clearly over the top. Still, Monkey Island 2 SE has a much more intuitive and simple system that, if you want, can switched for the game's original 2D mode by tapping F1.

New Mi2

Vocally, things are equally good, with Dominic Armato reprising his Guybrush Threepwood role yet again. The only sour note, for some, is the voice of Elaine Marley - a strong character who comes across as whiny. Although complaints about her will be exaggerated. The rest of the cast are very good, so the biggest stumbling block has been hurdled with ease. Also, the new voices can now be used with the classic version.

Strangely, some of the puzzles are made a little bit more difficult because the new animations seem to run too quickly. It's something you'd have expected the developers to deal with though, so it tarnishes things a little.

There's a case for complaint about the bizarre removal of the opening and post-closing sequences, and the dancing monkeys, but as there are no cuts from the actual meat of the game generally, this is a good remake.

Monkey Island 2: Special Edition is a great remake, delivering high-quality dialogue, puzzles, graphics and acting which make this game an absolute joy to play once more. Even without the jiggling simians.