Formal Evaluation of

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Formal Evaluation of

• By Pete Kinnunen

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Basic Information

• The Company LucasArts
• The Author Ron Gilbert
• Type of Game Interactive Fiction
• Price 14.99 (Thats with the sequels)
• System Specifications
• MS-DOS 5.0 or higher
• 386/33 DX (486 recommended)
• 1 Mb EMS required (2 Mb EMS recommended)
• Mouse
• 256 color VGA/MCGA
• SoundBlaster and 100 compatibles, Adlib, Roland
  MT 32

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Game Overview

• What is the Secret of Monkey Island?
• You play as Guybrush Threepwood, a man who wishes
  to become a pirate. He has to complete three
  trials, which in turn lead him to the love of his
  life. Regretfully she is kidnapped by the Ghost
  Pirate LeChuck and you have to save her.

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Installation

• Originally installed via floppy and run though
  DOS.
• It was provided with the third instalment of the
  series The Curse of Monkey Island
• Requires you to install Curse of Monkey Island,
  and you are given the option to play any of the
  first 3 games.

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Artwork and Sound

• The graphics are your basic 256 colors, nothing
  to impressive for today's date. Still, they hold
  up fairly well and portray what they intend to.

• The sound is your basic MIDI soundtrack, simple
  ambience music and some sound effects

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User Interface

• Provided with a screen showing your environment
  and a panel containing dialog, actions and
  inventory

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Game Play

• Using your environment and available actions, you
  attempt to solve puzzles which will progress the
  storyline.
• Example Using Look at command with the chicken
  in your inventory provides a description

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What makes it fun?

• The Secret of Monkey Island is designed to be
  humorous.
• Much of the dialog and interaction with the
  environment is absurd.
• Certain themes continue throughout the game,
  becoming a running gag.

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What makes it fun?

• One Example
• To win a sword fight, you must be able to win the
  battle of wits via insults.
• One Exchange
• "I got this scar on my face during a mighty
  struggle."
• "I hope now you've learned to stop picking your
  nose."
• And the first insult/comeback you learn.(becomes
  a running joke)
• "You fight like a dairy farmer."
• How appropriate, you fight like a cow.

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How it compares

• Outdated
• It is from 1990, so the graphics are good for
  their time, but a tad bit outdated for the
  current market.
• Interaction
• Most puzzles have only one solution and very few
  changes per run through.
• Overall though
• This game is a classic for the genre, and the
  humor carries over to this day.

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Summary

• Strengths
• Witty dialog, creative puzzles, unique look at
  the life of a pirate.
• Weaknesses
• Older graphics, not to many differences per run
  though.
• Improvements
• The sequels have improved on the graphics engine
  and made the puzzles still difficult but more
  logical.

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