Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
Encyclopedia
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge is an adventure game developed and published by LucasArts
in 1991. It was the second game of the Monkey Island series, following The Secret of Monkey Island
, and the sixth LucasArts game to use the SCUMM
engine. It was the first game to use the iMUSE sound system.
The game's story centers on the wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood
. After defeating ghost pirate LeChuck
in The Secret of Monkey Island, little is known of what happened between Guybrush Threepwood and Elaine Marley
. The sequel involves Guybrush's attempts to both find the mysterious treasure, Big Whoop, and win back Elaine's love.
The development team for the game was largely the same as for the first game in the series. The project was led by Ron Gilbert
, and he was once more joined by Tim Schafer
and Dave Grossman.
-based point-and-click
adventure game
s. Actions and dialogues are depicted on an Animation Window which covers the top of the screen; verb
al commands are listed in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, while Inventory items are shown as icon
s on the lower right-hand corner. A Sentence Line is located below the Animation Window and serves in describing the actions of the player.
The game was one of the few adventure games that offered the player a choice in levels of puzzle difficulty. In some versions, before starting the game, the player is prompted to choose between regular version and "Monkey 2 Lite", a relatively stripped-down experience that bypasses many puzzles entirely. On the back of the game's packaging it is (jokingly) stated that this mode is intended for video game reviewers.
, several months after The Secret of Monkey Island
. The game opens in medias res
as Guybrush Threepwood
hangs on a rope above a hole, narrating to Elaine Marley
on a separate rope the events that led to this situation. The flashback
sequence starts on Scabb Island and constitutes most of the playable game's setting. During it, Guybrush also visits Phatt Island, Booty Island, and Dinky Island, voyaging on two different pirate ships.
The game was also the first and only in the original series under the direction of LucasArts that never actually took place on Monkey Island. However, it is revealed in the following game, The Curse of Monkey Island
, that the Carnival of the Damned seen in the LeChuck's Revenges conclusion was actually part of Monkey Island.
: The protagonist, a mighty pirate and thrill-seeker. Elaine Marley
: Governess of Booty Island and Guybrush's love interest. LeChuck
: The antagonist, Guybrush's sworn enemy. Largo LaGrande: LeChuck's old first mate whom Guybrush must overcome. "Voodoo Lady": A mystical woman who assists Guybrush on his journey. Wally B. Feed: An eccentric mapmaker.
Guybrush's story begins with him talking to two pirates and telling them about the time he defeated LeChuck
. He further tells them that he is looking for the treasure of "Big Whoop", and for a ship to take him there. The pirates tell Guybrush that Largo LaGrande, LeChuck's ex-first mate, has placed an embargo on the island, and is not allowing any ships to enter or leave. Guybrush, with the voodoo-doll that Voodoo Lady gives him, defeats Largo. However, in trying to prove that he was the one who killed LeChuck, Guybrush makes the mistake of showing Largo that he has LeChuck's beard. Largo then steals the beard and uses it to resurrect his old patron, this time as a zombie. The Voodoo Lady reveals to Guybrush that Big Whoop, the mythical treasure for which he is searching, is also the key to another dimension which will allow him to escape from LeChuck forever. In addition, she gives him a library book about Big Whoop which reveals that a map, made by the original discoverers of the treasure, still exists in four fragments.
After a lengthy quest involving library research, rigged gambling, theft, drinking contests, necromancy, monkeys and spitting, Guybrush is able to recover all four fragments of the map. He gives the map to Wally the cartographer so that it can be deciphered, but both Wally and the map are captured by LeChuck. Guybrush stows away in a crate of voodoo supplies which is delivered to LeChuck's fortress, and through yet more spitting to escape being turned into a chair, and an accident involving a match and a large quantity of explosives, he and Wally are able to escape, although without recovering the map. Literally landing on Dinky Island, Guybrush encounters Herman Toothrot, who claims to be teaching zen philosophy on the beach. Herman is typically unhelpful, but his parrot remembers the conversation between the sailors who originally discovered Big Whoop and guides Guybrush to the treasure's burial site in exchange for crackers. Guybrush excavates the site using dynamite, and lowers himself into the hole on a rope. Elaine Marley, in her home on Booty Island, hears the explosion and correctly deduces that someone is attempting to dig up Big Whoop.
At this point, we return to the scene from the overture, of Elaine and Guybrush talking. Elaine agrees to help Guybrush if it will shut him up, remarking "That was the longest story I've ever heard!" Unfortunately for Guybrush, at this point his rope snaps and he falls into a series of artificial tunnels. LeChuck confronts Guybrush, claiming to be the mighty pirate's brother, and stalks him through the tunnels, tormenting him with a voodoo doll. Running from LeChuck, Guybrush makes a number of surprising discoveries, including the skeletal remains of his parents in a medical examination room (underneath a large sign reading LOST PARENTS, with an arrow), an elevator to Mêlée Island, and the infrastructure for an amusement park.
By taking advantage of his surroundings, Guybrush is able to construct a voodoo doll of LeChuck, and maims the zombie pirate. LeChuck begs Guybrush to take his mask off
; Guybrush acquiesces, revealing the face of his "creepy brother, Chuckie". The reunion of the two "brothers" is interrupted by a man in brown coveralls, not unlike the delivery crew in Acts II and III, telling them that kids are not allowed "down here." The two brothers, now both appearing as children, exit the tunnels together and meet their parents aboveground in the "Big Whoop" amusement park, with Guybrush either agreeing with his "parents", stating his identity, or simply asking, "This is weird. What's going on here?". As the family leaves to ride the Madly Rotating Buccaneer, Chuckie turns towards the screen and grins, voodoo magic playing over his eyes. The last in-game screen shows Elaine standing outside Big Whoop excavation site, wondering "what's keeping Guybrush? I hope LeChuck hasn't cast some horrible SPELL over him or anything."
The project leader and designer was Ron Gilbert
. The development team for the game was largely the same as for The Secret of Monkey Island
, and Gilbert was once more joined by Tim Schafer
and Dave Grossman. Gilbert parted ways with LucasArts after Monkey Island 2, while Grossman went on to co-design Day of the Tentacle
with Schafer. Schafer's future projects for LucasArts included Full Throttle and Grim Fandango
.
According to Gilbert, the Monkey Island series was partially inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Monkey Island 2 features a number of tributes to it, particularly a scene with a guard dog in a prison being lured by a bone and Disneyland style underground tunnels and "E ticket
s" in the closing scenes. An even greater influence, however, was the 1988 book On Stranger Tides
, by Tim Powers
.
The game was released on floppy disks for the PC (with VGA graphics), Macintosh and Amiga (with standard 32-color graphics) in 1991, and was later included on a CD-ROM compilation of Monkey Island games called The Monkey Island Bounty Pack. Plans to release Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge for the Sega CD were scrapped after the Sega CD edition of The Secret of Monkey Island did not sell well. In 1994, the game was released on the FM Towns
, the last title LucasArts ever published on that system. The game's graphic interface was later adapted for the CD-ROM release of The Secret of Monkey Island.
LeChuck's Revenge was the first title to use Michael Land
's and Peter McConnell
's iMUSE audio engine that enabled the compositions in the game to change interactively
depending on the current environment or situation. The DOS
version uses sequenced music
played back by either an internal speaker
, the FM synthesis of an AdLib or Sound Blaster
sound card, or the sample-based synthesis
of a Roland MT-32
sound module.
, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge was highly anticipated. Amiga Power
called it the most eagerly awaited game of 1992. When the game was released, it received consistently high reviews for all versions, 95% from Amiga Computing
for the Amiga version, 96% from Computer and Video Games
for the IBM PC
version. When Kixx XL rereleased Monkey Island 2 as a budget game, the reviews remained high getting 91% from CU Amiga. The game is still considered very high quality with contemporary reviewers scoring the game highly. Monkey Island 2 is often considered the greatest in the point-and-click genre, and it still stands up well against modern adventure game titles. The game currently holds a rating of 91.6% on the review aggregator site GameRankings.
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge was rated highly for several reasons. The game is considered user friendly as it has a "lite" mode. This allowed beginners to play the game at an easier setting. The overall difficulty of both modes is also considered to be good. The redesign in controls, such as the fewer verbs and graphical inventory were rated well as increasing the game's ease of use.
Music in Monkey Island 2 was noted for its use of the iMUSE system. Reviewers noted that for the first time the sound is an integral part of the atmosphere. Graphically, the game was considered an improvement over its predecessor, with reviewers very impressed.
It is also noted by critics that the developers of Monkey Island 2 made using the Amiga version's 11 floppy disk
s relatively smooth, but also noted that installing the game on a hard drive is recommended.
The Special Edition was given a score of B+ by Gaming Bus; the site stated that there was more music and it was of higher quality, the graphics were improved, there was additional content, and the core game was still intact, though the hints were too helpful and there were some problems with controls.
in 2009, a Special Edition of Monkey Island 2 was released for the PlayStation 3, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Windows, and Xbox 360 platforms in July 2010. The Mac OS X version has not yet been released. The special edition includes updated graphics, a new musical score, new voice-overs, an art gallery, and an in-game hint system, however, the "lite" mode has been omitted. Players can opt to switch from the updated version into the older, pixelated graphics and music of the original game at any time, though an option allows players to retain the voice-overs of the remake. Players can opt to use the original point-and-click control scheme, or can directly control the movements of Guybrush using a control pad or similar device.
The remake was announced by LucasArts during their annual Game Developers Conference on March 10, 2010, with the previous creators of the adventures, Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman, in attendance. The trio of game designers have recorded a commentary track for the Special Edition that can be brought up in many locations, using silhouettes in the fashion of Mystery Science Theater 3000
overlayed on the graphics.
Craig Derrick announced in an interview information on a new interface that was in the vein of The Curse of Monkey Island
s and a return of the original voice cast, including Dominic Armato
as Guybrush, Alexandra Boyd
as Elaine, Earl Boen
as LeChuck, and even Neil Ross
as Wally. Phil LaMarr
was also confirmed as Dread and Tom Kane
as additional voices.
LucasArts
LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC is an American video game developer and publisher. The company was once famous for its innovative line of graphic adventure games, the critical and commercial success of which peaked in the mid 1990s...
in 1991. It was the second game of the Monkey Island series, following The Secret of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island is a graphic adventure game developed by Lucasfilm Games and published by the same company after its name was changed to LucasArts. The game spawned a number of sequels, collectively known as the Monkey Island series...
, and the sixth LucasArts game to use the SCUMM
SCUMM
Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion is a scripting language developed at LucasArts to ease development of the graphical adventure game Maniac Mansion....
engine. It was the first game to use the iMUSE sound system.
The game's story centers on the wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood
Guybrush Threepwood
Guybrush Ulysses Threepwood is the main character of the Monkey Island series of computer adventure games by LucasArts. The voice of Guybrush is actor Dominic Armato in the third, fourth and fifth games, as well as the enhanced remakes of The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's...
. After defeating ghost pirate LeChuck
LeChuck
LeChuck is a fictional character in the Monkey Island series of graphic adventure games. Created by Ron Gilbert for LucasArts, LeChuck was introduced in The Secret of Monkey Island and is the chief antagonist of the series. Gilbert drew on aspects of the characters in the 1988 novel On Stranger...
in The Secret of Monkey Island, little is known of what happened between Guybrush Threepwood and Elaine Marley
Elaine Marley
Elaine Marley–Threepwood is a fictional character in the Monkey Island series of graphic adventure video games. Created by Ron Gilbert for LucasArts, the character first appears in The Secret of Monkey Island and is one of the core characters in the franchise...
. The sequel involves Guybrush's attempts to both find the mysterious treasure, Big Whoop, and win back Elaine's love.
The development team for the game was largely the same as for the first game in the series. The project was led by Ron Gilbert
Ron Gilbert
Ron Gilbert is an American computer game designer, programmer, and producer, best known for his work on several classic LucasArts adventure games, including Maniac Mansion and the first two Monkey Island games. Gilbert was also co-founder of Humongous Entertainment and its sister company Cavedog...
, and he was once more joined by Tim Schafer
Tim Schafer
Timothy Schafer is an American computer game designer. He founded Double Fine Productions in January 2000, after having spent over a decade at LucasArts...
and Dave Grossman.
Gameplay
LeChuck's Revenge plays like most SCUMMSCUMM
Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion is a scripting language developed at LucasArts to ease development of the graphical adventure game Maniac Mansion....
-based point-and-click
Point-and-click
Point-and-click is the action of a computer user moving a cursor to a certain location on a screen and then pressing a mouse button, usually the left button , or other pointing device...
adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
s. Actions and dialogues are depicted on an Animation Window which covers the top of the screen; verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
al commands are listed in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, while Inventory items are shown as icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
s on the lower right-hand corner. A Sentence Line is located below the Animation Window and serves in describing the actions of the player.
The game was one of the few adventure games that offered the player a choice in levels of puzzle difficulty. In some versions, before starting the game, the player is prompted to choose between regular version and "Monkey 2 Lite", a relatively stripped-down experience that bypasses many puzzles entirely. On the back of the game's packaging it is (jokingly) stated that this mode is intended for video game reviewers.
Setting
LeChuck's Revenge is set in the fictional Tri-Island Area of the CaribbeanCaribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, several months after The Secret of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island is a graphic adventure game developed by Lucasfilm Games and published by the same company after its name was changed to LucasArts. The game spawned a number of sequels, collectively known as the Monkey Island series...
. The game opens in medias res
In medias res
In medias res or medias in res is a Latin phrase denoting the literary and artistic narrative technique wherein the relation of a story begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, rather than at the beginning In medias res or medias in res (into the middle of things) is a Latin phrase...
as Guybrush Threepwood
Guybrush Threepwood
Guybrush Ulysses Threepwood is the main character of the Monkey Island series of computer adventure games by LucasArts. The voice of Guybrush is actor Dominic Armato in the third, fourth and fifth games, as well as the enhanced remakes of The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's...
hangs on a rope above a hole, narrating to Elaine Marley
Elaine Marley
Elaine Marley–Threepwood is a fictional character in the Monkey Island series of graphic adventure video games. Created by Ron Gilbert for LucasArts, the character first appears in The Secret of Monkey Island and is one of the core characters in the franchise...
on a separate rope the events that led to this situation. The flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
sequence starts on Scabb Island and constitutes most of the playable game's setting. During it, Guybrush also visits Phatt Island, Booty Island, and Dinky Island, voyaging on two different pirate ships.
The game was also the first and only in the original series under the direction of LucasArts that never actually took place on Monkey Island. However, it is revealed in the following game, The Curse of Monkey Island
The Curse of Monkey Island
The Curse of Monkey Island is an adventure game developed and published by LucasArts, and the third game in the Monkey Island series. It was released in and followed the successful games The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge...
, that the Carnival of the Damned seen in the LeChuck's Revenges conclusion was actually part of Monkey Island.
Characters
Some of the notable characters include:Guybrush Threepwood
Guybrush Ulysses Threepwood is the main character of the Monkey Island series of computer adventure games by LucasArts. The voice of Guybrush is actor Dominic Armato in the third, fourth and fifth games, as well as the enhanced remakes of The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's...
: The protagonist, a mighty pirate and thrill-seeker. Elaine Marley
Elaine Marley
Elaine Marley–Threepwood is a fictional character in the Monkey Island series of graphic adventure video games. Created by Ron Gilbert for LucasArts, the character first appears in The Secret of Monkey Island and is one of the core characters in the franchise...
: Governess of Booty Island and Guybrush's love interest. LeChuck
LeChuck
LeChuck is a fictional character in the Monkey Island series of graphic adventure games. Created by Ron Gilbert for LucasArts, LeChuck was introduced in The Secret of Monkey Island and is the chief antagonist of the series. Gilbert drew on aspects of the characters in the 1988 novel On Stranger...
: The antagonist, Guybrush's sworn enemy. Largo LaGrande: LeChuck's old first mate whom Guybrush must overcome. "Voodoo Lady": A mystical woman who assists Guybrush on his journey. Wally B. Feed: An eccentric mapmaker.
Story
LeChuck
LeChuck is a fictional character in the Monkey Island series of graphic adventure games. Created by Ron Gilbert for LucasArts, LeChuck was introduced in The Secret of Monkey Island and is the chief antagonist of the series. Gilbert drew on aspects of the characters in the 1988 novel On Stranger...
. He further tells them that he is looking for the treasure of "Big Whoop", and for a ship to take him there. The pirates tell Guybrush that Largo LaGrande, LeChuck's ex-first mate, has placed an embargo on the island, and is not allowing any ships to enter or leave. Guybrush, with the voodoo-doll that Voodoo Lady gives him, defeats Largo. However, in trying to prove that he was the one who killed LeChuck, Guybrush makes the mistake of showing Largo that he has LeChuck's beard. Largo then steals the beard and uses it to resurrect his old patron, this time as a zombie. The Voodoo Lady reveals to Guybrush that Big Whoop, the mythical treasure for which he is searching, is also the key to another dimension which will allow him to escape from LeChuck forever. In addition, she gives him a library book about Big Whoop which reveals that a map, made by the original discoverers of the treasure, still exists in four fragments.
After a lengthy quest involving library research, rigged gambling, theft, drinking contests, necromancy, monkeys and spitting, Guybrush is able to recover all four fragments of the map. He gives the map to Wally the cartographer so that it can be deciphered, but both Wally and the map are captured by LeChuck. Guybrush stows away in a crate of voodoo supplies which is delivered to LeChuck's fortress, and through yet more spitting to escape being turned into a chair, and an accident involving a match and a large quantity of explosives, he and Wally are able to escape, although without recovering the map. Literally landing on Dinky Island, Guybrush encounters Herman Toothrot, who claims to be teaching zen philosophy on the beach. Herman is typically unhelpful, but his parrot remembers the conversation between the sailors who originally discovered Big Whoop and guides Guybrush to the treasure's burial site in exchange for crackers. Guybrush excavates the site using dynamite, and lowers himself into the hole on a rope. Elaine Marley, in her home on Booty Island, hears the explosion and correctly deduces that someone is attempting to dig up Big Whoop.
At this point, we return to the scene from the overture, of Elaine and Guybrush talking. Elaine agrees to help Guybrush if it will shut him up, remarking "That was the longest story I've ever heard!" Unfortunately for Guybrush, at this point his rope snaps and he falls into a series of artificial tunnels. LeChuck confronts Guybrush, claiming to be the mighty pirate's brother, and stalks him through the tunnels, tormenting him with a voodoo doll. Running from LeChuck, Guybrush makes a number of surprising discoveries, including the skeletal remains of his parents in a medical examination room (underneath a large sign reading LOST PARENTS, with an arrow), an elevator to Mêlée Island, and the infrastructure for an amusement park.
By taking advantage of his surroundings, Guybrush is able to construct a voodoo doll of LeChuck, and maims the zombie pirate. LeChuck begs Guybrush to take his mask off
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. It is the third film released in the Star Wars saga, and the sixth in terms of the series' internal chronology...
; Guybrush acquiesces, revealing the face of his "creepy brother, Chuckie". The reunion of the two "brothers" is interrupted by a man in brown coveralls, not unlike the delivery crew in Acts II and III, telling them that kids are not allowed "down here." The two brothers, now both appearing as children, exit the tunnels together and meet their parents aboveground in the "Big Whoop" amusement park, with Guybrush either agreeing with his "parents", stating his identity, or simply asking, "This is weird. What's going on here?". As the family leaves to ride the Madly Rotating Buccaneer, Chuckie turns towards the screen and grins, voodoo magic playing over his eyes. The last in-game screen shows Elaine standing outside Big Whoop excavation site, wondering "what's keeping Guybrush? I hope LeChuck hasn't cast some horrible SPELL over him or anything."
Development
Ron Gilbert
Ron Gilbert is an American computer game designer, programmer, and producer, best known for his work on several classic LucasArts adventure games, including Maniac Mansion and the first two Monkey Island games. Gilbert was also co-founder of Humongous Entertainment and its sister company Cavedog...
. The development team for the game was largely the same as for The Secret of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island is a graphic adventure game developed by Lucasfilm Games and published by the same company after its name was changed to LucasArts. The game spawned a number of sequels, collectively known as the Monkey Island series...
, and Gilbert was once more joined by Tim Schafer
Tim Schafer
Timothy Schafer is an American computer game designer. He founded Double Fine Productions in January 2000, after having spent over a decade at LucasArts...
and Dave Grossman. Gilbert parted ways with LucasArts after Monkey Island 2, while Grossman went on to co-design Day of the Tentacle
Day of the Tentacle
Day of the Tentacle, also known as Maniac Mansion II: Day of the Tentacle, is a 1993 graphic adventure game developed and published by LucasArts. It is the sequel to the 1987 game Maniac Mansion...
with Schafer. Schafer's future projects for LucasArts included Full Throttle and Grim Fandango
Grim Fandango
Grim Fandango is a personal computer game in the graphic adventure genre released by LucasArts in 1998 and primarily written by Tim Schafer. It is the first adventure game by LucasArts to use 3D computer graphics overlaid on pre-rendered, static backgrounds...
.
According to Gilbert, the Monkey Island series was partially inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Monkey Island 2 features a number of tributes to it, particularly a scene with a guard dog in a prison being lured by a bone and Disneyland style underground tunnels and "E ticket
E ticket
The phrase E ticket refers to an unusually interesting, thrilling or expensive experience. It derives from the admission ticket system used at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom theme parks before 1982, in which the E ticket admitted the bearer to the newest, most advanced, and/or most popular rides...
s" in the closing scenes. An even greater influence, however, was the 1988 book On Stranger Tides
On Stranger Tides
On Stranger Tides is a 1987 historical fantasy novel written by Tim Powers. It was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and placed second in the annual Locus poll for best fantasy novel....
, by Tim Powers
Tim Powers
Timothy Thomas "Tim" Powers is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Powers has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels Last Call and Declare...
.
The game was released on floppy disks for the PC (with VGA graphics), Macintosh and Amiga (with standard 32-color graphics) in 1991, and was later included on a CD-ROM compilation of Monkey Island games called The Monkey Island Bounty Pack. Plans to release Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge for the Sega CD were scrapped after the Sega CD edition of The Secret of Monkey Island did not sell well. In 1994, the game was released on the FM Towns
FM Towns
The FM Towns system is a Japanese PC variant, built by Fujitsu from February 1989 to the summer of 1997. It started as a proprietary PC variant intended for multimedia applications and PC games, but later became more compatible with regular PCs...
, the last title LucasArts ever published on that system. The game's graphic interface was later adapted for the CD-ROM release of The Secret of Monkey Island.
LeChuck's Revenge was the first title to use Michael Land
Michael Land
Michael Z. Land is an American video game composer and musician best known for his scores for various games produced by LucasArts.-Early life and career:Michael Land was born in the North Shore area north of Boston, Massachusetts...
's and Peter McConnell
Peter McConnell
Peter N. McConnell , also known as Peter Mc, is an American video game music composer who worked for LucasArts for nearly ten years. He studied music as an undergraduate at Harvard University in 80s under Timothy Vincent Clarke, Curt Cacioppo and Ivan Tcherepnin...
's iMUSE audio engine that enabled the compositions in the game to change interactively
Dynamic music
Dynamic music is a concept used in many video games, whereby specific events cause the background music to change. Its first uses in major video games were Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge and Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. It has since been used in such games as Mushroom Men and Guitar Hero...
depending on the current environment or situation. The DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
version uses sequenced music
Music sequencer
The music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...
played back by either an internal speaker
PC speaker
A PC speaker is a loudspeaker, built into some IBM PC compatible computers. The first IBM Personal Computer, model 5150, employed a standard 2.25 inch magnetic driven speaker. More recent computers use a piezoelectric speaker instead. The speaker allows software and firmware to provide...
, the FM synthesis of an AdLib or Sound Blaster
Sound Blaster
The Sound Blaster family of sound cards was the de facto standard for consumer audio on the IBM PC compatible system platform, until the widespread transition to Microsoft Windows 95, which standardized the programming interface at application level , and the evolution in PC design led to onboard...
sound card, or the sample-based synthesis
Sample-based synthesis
Sample-based synthesis is a form of audio synthesis that can be contrasted to either subtractive synthesis or additive synthesis. The principal difference with sample-based synthesis is that the seed waveforms are sampled sounds or instruments instead of fundamental waveforms such as the saw waves...
of a Roland MT-32
Roland MT-32
The Roland MT-32 Multi-Timbre Sound Module is a MIDI synthesizer module first released in 1987 by Roland Corporation. Along with its compatible modules, it established an early de-facto standard in computer music and was the first product in Roland's ミュージくん line of Desktop Music System packages...
sound module.
Reception
After the success of The Secret of Monkey IslandThe Secret of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island is a graphic adventure game developed by Lucasfilm Games and published by the same company after its name was changed to LucasArts. The game spawned a number of sequels, collectively known as the Monkey Island series...
, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge was highly anticipated. Amiga Power
Amiga Power
Amiga Power was a monthly magazine about Amiga computer games. It was published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing, and ran for 65 issues, from May 1991 to September 1996....
called it the most eagerly awaited game of 1992. When the game was released, it received consistently high reviews for all versions, 95% from Amiga Computing
Amiga Computing
Amiga Computing was a monthly computer magazine of a serious nature, published by Europress and IDG in both the UK and USA. A total of 117 issues came out. The games section was called Gamer, although later Amiga Action was incorporated into the magazine and became the games section.- External...
for the Amiga version, 96% from Computer and Video Games
Computer and video games
A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device, but following popularization of the term "video game", it now implies any type of...
for the IBM PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
version. When Kixx XL rereleased Monkey Island 2 as a budget game, the reviews remained high getting 91% from CU Amiga. The game is still considered very high quality with contemporary reviewers scoring the game highly. Monkey Island 2 is often considered the greatest in the point-and-click genre, and it still stands up well against modern adventure game titles. The game currently holds a rating of 91.6% on the review aggregator site GameRankings.
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge was rated highly for several reasons. The game is considered user friendly as it has a "lite" mode. This allowed beginners to play the game at an easier setting. The overall difficulty of both modes is also considered to be good. The redesign in controls, such as the fewer verbs and graphical inventory were rated well as increasing the game's ease of use.
Music in Monkey Island 2 was noted for its use of the iMUSE system. Reviewers noted that for the first time the sound is an integral part of the atmosphere. Graphically, the game was considered an improvement over its predecessor, with reviewers very impressed.
It is also noted by critics that the developers of Monkey Island 2 made using the Amiga version's 11 floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
s relatively smooth, but also noted that installing the game on a hard drive is recommended.
The Special Edition was given a score of B+ by Gaming Bus; the site stated that there was more music and it was of higher quality, the graphics were improved, there was additional content, and the core game was still intact, though the hints were too helpful and there were some problems with controls.
Special Edition
Following the release of a Special Edition of the first Monkey Island gameThe Secret of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island is a graphic adventure game developed by Lucasfilm Games and published by the same company after its name was changed to LucasArts. The game spawned a number of sequels, collectively known as the Monkey Island series...
in 2009, a Special Edition of Monkey Island 2 was released for the PlayStation 3, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Windows, and Xbox 360 platforms in July 2010. The Mac OS X version has not yet been released. The special edition includes updated graphics, a new musical score, new voice-overs, an art gallery, and an in-game hint system, however, the "lite" mode has been omitted. Players can opt to switch from the updated version into the older, pixelated graphics and music of the original game at any time, though an option allows players to retain the voice-overs of the remake. Players can opt to use the original point-and-click control scheme, or can directly control the movements of Guybrush using a control pad or similar device.
The remake was announced by LucasArts during their annual Game Developers Conference on March 10, 2010, with the previous creators of the adventures, Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman, in attendance. The trio of game designers have recorded a commentary track for the Special Edition that can be brought up in many locations, using silhouettes in the fashion of Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
overlayed on the graphics.
Craig Derrick announced in an interview information on a new interface that was in the vein of The Curse of Monkey Island
The Curse of Monkey Island
The Curse of Monkey Island is an adventure game developed and published by LucasArts, and the third game in the Monkey Island series. It was released in and followed the successful games The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge...
s and a return of the original voice cast, including Dominic Armato
Dominic Armato
Dominic Armato is a voice actor who is known primarily for his work on LucasArts games.Dominic had been a fan of adventure games, specifically LucasArts game such as the Monkey Island games...
as Guybrush, Alexandra Boyd
Alexandra Boyd
Alexandra Boyd is a British actress, who is best known for playing Clarissa Mason in Coronation Street. On British TV Alexandra has also appeared in two episodes of Doctors was Denis Waterman's love interest in New Tricks and has also appeared in Holby City...
as Elaine, Earl Boen
Earl Boen
Earl Boen is an American actor and voice actor. He is perhaps best known as criminal psychologist Dr. Peter Silberman in the Terminator series...
as LeChuck, and even Neil Ross
Neil Ross
Theodoric Neilson "Neil" Ross is an English voice actor and announcer, born in London, England and now resident and working in Los Angeles, in the United States. He has provided voices for in many American cartoons, particularly those based on Hasbro products and Marvel Comics, and numerous...
as Wally. Phil LaMarr
Phil LaMarr
Phillip "Phil" LaMarr is an American actor, comedian and voice actor. One of the original cast members on the sketch comedy series MADtv, he is also known for his small, but memorable role as Marvin in Pulp Fiction...
was also confirmed as Dread and Tom Kane
Tom Kane
Tom Kane is a prominent American voice actor with over 25 years of experience. He is most widely known for his animation work...
as additional voices.
External links
- Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge Official Website
- Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge on the Monkey Island wiki
- Soundtrack (MT-32 version)
- Illustrated Monkey Island 2 story (Amiga version)
- Monkey Island 2 Code Wheel
- Mix 'n' Mojo - Voodoo Ingredient Proportion Dial OnLine Interactive Code Wheel (HTML + JavaScript)