The controls and graphics have changed to meet current standards and console needs, but the basic mechanics of discovery haven’t. I use “evolve” lightly here because the strange truth behind the switch trick in The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (and likely other similar games – I know it exists in Sam & Max Hit the Road) is that point-and-click games haven’t drastically changed. Beyond being an enjoyable point-and-click game, it turned into a nutshell of the genre, showing how point-and-click games have evolved. I’d play the game for a few minutes in silence with big pixels and subtitles, and then I’d switch back to the new, pretty game without a hitch. With it, I became mildly addicted to switching back and forth during various scenes. Honestly, I didn’t know that the old game didn’t have one until I discovered the switching ability. This “ you gotta put your behind in the past” mentality seems especially true with the recent remaster trend, when games old, and not so old, are amped up graphically, and sometime more so, like in the case of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition with its brand new voice track. Sure, it’s fun to remember the past and play all those older games that you always wanted to, but surely nothing can compare to the realism, the quality, the stupefying beauty of high-definition, 4K graphics! NOTHING at all, as sure as the sun rises and sets, right? Really, it’s no wonder with Microsoft’s and Sony’s recent push into high-high-HIGH resolution everything when it comes to games (Nintendo remains a blatant exploiter of its past). It was like 1990 (when the game was first released) all over again!īut, so what, right? So what if Disney/LucasArts offered up the “old” style of the game alongside the new version?Įven though we live in a gaming world where people appreciate classic games alongside modern experiences, it’s easy to take older games for granted. And up popped an old-timey menu that was once ubiquitous in point-and-click games. Gone was the voice track, replaced by subtitles. With that, suddenly the game’s graphics changed from smooth to pixelated. While the trick is no big secret now, I stumbled upon it about midway through my playthrough when I accidentally hit the “back” button on my controller.
Little did I know at the time that the game held a little trick to invoke a few plaintive and nostalgic “awwwwws.” While I’ll admit that I didn’t connect with the game on the same level that I have with other LucasArts games (i.e. And what a perfectly splendid time I had. Or, more specifically, I played its “Special Edition,” which featured revamped graphics, music, a voice track, and new hint system.
Earlier this year, I played The Secret of Monkey Island for the first time.