The Secret of Monkey Island - Reception

Reception

The Secret of Monkey Island received positive reviews from critics. Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser of Dragon praised the designers' attention to detail, and cited the game's humor as a high point. Although they believed that the game was too expensive, they summarized it as "a highly enjoyable graphic adventure replete with interesting puzzles, a fantastic Roland soundtrack, superb VGA graphics, smooth-scrolling animation, and some of the funniest lines ever seen on your computer screen." Duncan MacDonald of Zero praised the graphics and found the game "quite amusing". His favorite aspect was the fine-tuned difficulty level, which he believed was "just right". He ended his review, "At last an adventure game that's enjoyable rather than frustrating." Paul Glancey of Computer and Video Games consider the game superior to Lucasfilm's earlier adventure titles, and wrote that, "Usually the entertainment you get from an adventure is derived solely from solving puzzles, but the hilarious characters and situations, and the movie-like presentation ... make playing this more like taking part in a comedy film, so it's much more enjoyable." He considered the puzzles to be "brilliantly conceived" and found the game's controls accessible. He summarized it as "utterly enthralling".

ACE's Steve Cooke also found the controls convenient, and he praised the game's atmosphere. He wrote that, "in graphics and sound terms ... Monkey Island, along with King's Quest V, is currently at the head of the pack." However, he disliked the designers' running joke of placing "TM" after character and place names, which he thought detracted from the atmosphere. He singled out the game's writing, characters and plot structure as its best elements. Amiga Power's Mark Ramshaw wrote, "With The Secret of Monkey Island, the mouse-controlled, graphic-adventure comes of age." He lauded its comedic elements, which he believed were the highlight of the game. The reviewer also praised the control scheme, noting that it allows the player to "more or less forget about the specifics of what physically doing ... and lose in the adventure instead." He noted that the game's plot and visual and aural presentation fit together to create a thick atmosphere, and finished, "Forget all those other milestone adventures (Zork, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings et al) — for sheer enjoyment and general all-round perfection, The Secret of Monkey Island creams 'em all in style." The game, along with its sequel, was ranked the 19th best game of all time by Amiga Power.

Writing for The One, Paul Presley stated that "Lucasfilm appears to have taken all of the elements that worked in its previous releases and, not only incorporated them into this tale of scurvy swashbuckling, but even improved on them in the process!" Like the other reviewers, he praised its controls. He also lauded its "hilarious storyline, strong characters and ... intriguing setting", but complained about graphical slowdowns. Nick Clarkson of Amiga Computing cited the game's graphics as "flawless", noting that "the characters are superbly animated and the backdrops simply ooze atmosphere." He highly praised its sound effects and music, and believed that its controls "couldn't be simpler". The staff of Amiga Action wrote that the "attention to detail and the finely tuned gameplay cannot be faulted." They called the graphics "stunning throughout", and believed that, when they were combined with the "excellent Caribbean tunes", the result is a game filled with "character and atmosphere." They ended by stating that "there is absolutely no excuse for not owning this game."

The Secret of Monkey Island has featured regularly in lists of "top" games, such as Computer Gaming World's Hall of Fame and IGN's Video Game Hall of Fame. In 1996, Computer Gaming World ranked it as the 19th best game of all time, "writing "Who could ever forget the insult-driven duel system or the identity of the mysterious Swordmaster?". In 2010, IGN ranked the Xbox Live Arcade version as the 20th best title of all time for that platform. In 2009, IGN named The Secret of Monkey Island one of the ten best LucasArts adventure games.