Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer, and Dave Grossman continued to narrate the adventures of Guybrush Threepwood in an excellent follow-up to PC. A marvel.
Topicazo to the song. They say that second parts were never good, but this is not entirely true. There we have Terminator 2, a marvel of tape that impressed people and strangers taking digital effects to a new level. Sonic 2, Assassin’s Creed II or Resident Evil 2 are other clear examples but taken to the field of the video game. Even Ghostbusters II was better than the last! Well … this may not strain.
When Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge was announced, this topic already existed and that fear was hovering over the players’ heads as if an alien was chasing them through the Nostromo. And not in vain, since the first part was so round that it seemed difficult to overcome. Luckily LucasArts left us one of the most amazing titles in the genre of graphic adventures that we are going to review today.
I want to be a pirate! Part II
In Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge we take control of Guybrush Threepwood again, who is now a complete pirate who swims in monetary abundance. In his attempt to be even richer, he decides to sail the seas to find the treasure of the Big Whoop. It all starts on Scabb Island, dominated by the evil pirate Largo LaGrande, who greets him by stealing all his money. This misleading thief turns out to be the right hand man of the current – at the time where the video game is set – the ethereal LeChuck, whom LaGrande also tries to bring back to life.
Everything else you can imagine. While we try to find the treasure of the Big Whoop we are involved in a plot in which LeChuck continues with his efforts to bother us about the events of the past throughout the three islands – and other scenarios – that we visit in this second chapter.
The video game continued to use the SCUMM engine that the first part boasted, Maniac Mansion or Loom among others, but with some differences. The number of verbs was cut from the original title – an improvement that would later be added to the CD version of the first Monkey Island – the font was improved, images were added instead of text to the objects that were obtained in the adventure and everything looked much better overall. Obviously, this was also the result of the technological advance that occurred in the year of development between the two launches. But later we will talk about the technology he used …
The gameplay was not much different from that of The Secret of Monkey Island; Everything consisted of dialoguing with the game’s characters to tie up dots and solve the puzzles that the title offered. Some were reasonably natural, while the vast majority had to pull the craziness to find the solution, a mechanic that worked tremendously well in the first chapter.
Insult fights, pulley rubber chicken, and Monkey Island were replaced by spit contests, wood polish wax, and Dinky Island respectively. Everything was new in LeChuck’s Revenge but, at the same time, familiar. The humor was in each conversation and the script was still the most ingenious and fun. What’s more, the original version included two difficulty modes that basically differed by making the puzzles somewhat easier in the first mode and slightly more complex in the second. And some, by design, were truly real.
Old acquaintances such as Stan, the original pirate trio, Herman, the Voodoo Lady or LeChuck himself returned, but new ones like Largo LaGrande, Captain Dread or Wally also arrived, all with a charisma and personality that today is difficult forget about them. However, none of the previous scenarios – except one minimally – could be visited in this iteration, although they were not missing at all because in the new ones there was much more interaction than in those.
The puzzles were more elaborate but they were also maddening and meaningless. Some were so clever that you had to wait for the right moment to solve it, like Wally’s monocle, an evolution of the gull puzzle from the first title. Others would take you to desecrate a grave — again — or force you to capture a rat to serve alongside a delicious vichyssoise. They were delightfully schizophrenic.
Moving at pleasure between the different islands also had its one. There were many cultural and not-so-cultural differences between them. Its inhabitants were also unique and even in one of them Mardi Gras was always celebrated. Come on, in this sense the video game was much richer and more varied in landscapes than its predecessor.
It also helped a lot that the game had an extraordinary localization to our language. It is true that the original dialogues were hilarious but the laudable translation work could hardly be faulted, if you find any! He left another phrase to remember: How many oaks would a rodent gnaw if rodents gnawed oaks?
SCUMM + IMUSE
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge came out in December 1991 and from the 8088/8086 that the first chapter required, enjoying the return of Guybrush involved upgrading to an 80286 computer. The graphical improvement was more than evident. The adventure went from showing 16 colors to 256 – although you could play in an EGA mode with more colors – with what that meant. More detail in characters and settings, a surprisingly varied color palette and everything in general went better through the eyes. Not only that, the animations were also improved and showed more frames than the original, giving a smoother movement. You could even see how the characters articulated the words with their lips or how it showed, without any scruples, how Guybrush prepared the ñapo in the spit competition.
Music was not far behind. Initially, the game harnessed the power of sound cards like the Roland MT-32 and the entire soundtrack was richer in notes, instruments and quality. Michael Land together with Peter McConnell revolutionized the video game music industry with an interactive musical engine called IMUSE that allowed transitions between different melodies to flow naturally without missing a beat, a milestone at the time and, in fact, continued being used in later LucasArts video games.
Both together with Clint Bajakian, Anthony White and Robin Goldstein created a soundtrack of more than forty tremendously worked and recognizable music tracks to this day. The classic main theme of Monkey Island was reinvented for the occasion and, although quite modified, it was still a hallmark of the saga.
The end of LeChuck?
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge broke the myth that the second parts are never good. Although it seemed impossible, it destroyed its ancestor in each and every one of its characteristics. More ingenious and complicated puzzles, bigger, more humor, better graphics, better sound, better animations, more duration … And all this without losing the magic of the first one! And it could have been better if it had not been for the limitations of the time since they had to eliminate scenes and puzzles from the equation. The PC video game occupied five discs, but eleven in Amiga!
Monkey Island 2’s hilarious copy protection system: LeChuck’s Revenge
The saga is considered one of the best in the history of video games and a fantastic example of how it should be done on which many of today’s graphic adventures are based. Within a few weeks it will be ten years since the launch of the special edition, a version that updated the second part with graphics according to current times, comments from the development team, new audio tracks or art gallery with designs of both the original as of the renewed version.
Unfortunately the original idea for the franchise ended abruptly here at the hands of its creators; Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman, therefore the three subsequent video games were run by other creatives.
To this day, there are still doubts about what the scene before the credits meant to us, but Ron Gilbert already assured in his blog that the original idea was to tell the story in three chapters and not in two. In fact, in 2013, he related to his followers how he would do Monkey Island 3 in case he had permission to do so. We will have to settle for what we have.
CONCLUSION
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge is not only a worthy continuation, it is a benchmark in the world of video games. Nobody who declares himself a minimally player should miss this wonderful graphic adventure that has captivated the entire planet with its ingenious puzzles or hilarious dialogues. A whole succession of geniuses that start from their particular anti-copy system to the end of the credits. And if you have not played it, savor it, do not use guides, enjoy this product from the 90s and give your speakers a good start. You will thank us.
THE BEST
- Important audiovisual leap with respect to the first.
- More and better puzzles, fun dialogues and an amazing adventure.
- The translation into Spanish.
- See old acquaintances again.
WORST
- Should I put something here?
Masterpiece
A masterpiece that has mastered its genre to place itself on top of it. A colossus of his generation that will continue to be discussed and remembered in the future. The maximum note does not imply perfection, but is used to point to an absolute referent in which others can and should look at each other.
