Monkey island came out in october 1990, it was a spectacular graphic adventure where you experience the adventure of Guybrush Threepwood a wanna-be pirate with a lot of dreams and few skills.
In this times games, and specially in pc, where something really different to what we get nowadays. Obviously the graphic (and sound) where different, but the now usually used (but rarely used correctly) concept and rules of "game design" was something that wasn't writed yet basically. Everyone threw their shot and some stuff succeded and others floped.
What really separated monkey island from the rest was the philosophy with which it was designed:
- The objectives needs to be clear
- No death as consecuence
- No backwards puzzles
- No soft-locks
- Puzzles should advance the story
- Give the players options
Basically the team decided to make a game so curated that you could get confused with a puzzle, but you will never be unable to progress. Something that made a lot of sense now, but in the past, that was kinda revolutionary.
Something else about Monkey Island was truly different and that was it's "appeal". It was funny looking, goffy, with really soft humour wich give it a really family friendly sensation to it. We were in a graphic revolution, jumping from practically monochrome colours to 16-bit palletes, everything looked so crisp and shiny.
But enough with the sale's speech, we know Monkey Island is a masterpiece. Let's talk greatest moments! And we do not have to advance too much on the game to find the first ones.
When we first launch the game we get enchanted with some trully mystical music and the name of the game, and after that in practically seconds we understand the objective of the protagonist. "I want to be a pirate". Short, concise, amazing.
After that we found ourselve in a bar, where we are attacked by some close up of the fellas inside, a moment to say "woah, dude, look how amazing this looks".
Another classic of the series was the moment when you travel from one location to another, the maps looked PERFECT and the fact that you see Guybrush travels from one point to another made you believe the entire space was there. Mechanically? Functional. Aesthetically? Next. Level.
And we cannot forget the greatest rival to the greatest pirate (sorry Jack Sparrow, it's not even a competition) Lechuck.
There is a reason why Lechuk works as someone evil, and that's something hard to do in a comedy game. And the reason is because he struggles to get the work done. From the start his goal is weird, and from time to time he struggles, sometimes because his minions fails, another because Guybrush get's in the middle, and another because of it's own clumsiness.
The game dosn't portray Lechuk as someone purely evil, purely dumb or purely unlucky. And in that space between, Lechuk fits perfectly for his role.
And with this my friends, i leave you. I hope remembering one of my favourites games with me was fun for you. And remember what the wisest pirate ever told us...
