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 About
ten years ago, LucasArts decided to launch a computer game title that
would change the world. It was a great thing, and indeed one of their
biggest hits to date: 'The Secret of Monkey Island™'... At
first a little known game which rose to enormous success as word of it
spread across the nation and the world.
The basic premise of the game was simple... Players control Guybrush Threepwood, in a perilous, hilarious quest to become a pirate. Along the way, Guybrush becomes entangled in a torrid affair with one Governer Elaine Marley; ensnared by the local Sheriff, Fester Shinetop, and entrapped by the fearsome, undead Pirate LeChuck! He must evade the shopkeeper, pander to the 'three important looking pirates' and get the best of an oily used ship-salesman named Stan. With the powerful and mysterious Voodoo Lady guiding him, Guybrush eventually triumphs in a glorius display of gratuitous violence.
Following their 1990 release with a sequel in 1992: 'Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge' It looked like the team at LucasArts had done it again... Far more graphically advanced and with a more seamless musical score, Minkey Island 2 was definately a hit. Guybrush was back with a slick new look, sporting a beard and nifty pirate garb. Elaine and LeChuck returned along with Stan for more laughs and excitement... But more than just a great game and a great sequel, MI2 set the stage for later sequels; introducing a new character (Walley B. Feed: the Cartographer) and thickening the 'Guybrush & Elaine' plot. MI2's fabulous ending left players waiting with baited breath for their next fix... And wait they did. It was to be five long years before another Monkey Island title would be released. December, 1997 'The Curse of Monkey Island' was released just in time for X-Mas... It's arrival had hearts, both young and old, going pitter-pat. Sporting a new, cartoonish look and a killer sound-track along with full digital voice and smooth, flawless animation, the third installment was absolutely stunning,! It's only possible downfall might lie in the fact that most veteran MI fans were able to complete the game in seven hours or less... Also, the writing in CMI seemed to many fans to be less biting and witty than it's predecessors... So, while the game's mechanisms were sophisticated and polished, the content could have been a little more full. Still, people loved CMI and their support made it a huge success.
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Their antics and zany humor along with a saucy, dramatic musical score
and stunning "3D" graphics combined to make an adventure game unlike
any that had come before. In contrast with the bland, non-descript writing
of previous adventure games, the irreverent, prickley humor of Monkey
Island was a welcome slap in the face.
Rumors began to circulate shortly after CMI's release that the Monkey
Island Series had been laid to rest by LEC. There surely hadn't been
any mention of a sequel, though the ending of CMI left a blatent invitation.
Despite the overwhelming lack of closure provided at the end of CMI,
many fans began to wonder if it was over. One year passed... Then two,
and then rumors began to circulate again. It seemed possible that LEC
was going to continue the legacy of Monkey Island! Soon, interviews
were popping up on fan websites and screenshots of the new game were
being released. They would call it 'Escape from Monkey Island'!
The rest, as you'll see, is history!
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