Monkey Island 2 burst back onto the scene recently. We’re going to discuss that.

Whether you love or hate the Adventure genre, whether you prefer jogging onto the battlefield, guns rattling, or spelunking some dismal ruin in quest of a bizarre cuirass or tinny helm, the gravity this genre bears is striking. Every instant of choice in gaming can be traced sidelong down the history spiral, backward from The Last Express, to Myst, to Monkey Island 2, to Zork. Zork came first, untouchable and byzantine, a monster of a game.

The best thing I can compare it to is Shadow of the Colossus, where the world itself bears down on you, swollen with hostility, but I’d be caramel glazing the apple if I said SOTC had anywhere near the amount of cruelty that Zork once brandished. It’s a fairly player versus environment gambit, but in both cases the level is sort of its own monster, lingering to be gutted.

The labyrinth in the first Zork is perhaps the cruelest lock ever devised, genius but vicious. No wonder quality control overcompensates for puzzle difficulty; if we still had those conundra to deal with, the market would evaporate. We still have roguelikes to suck that kind of joy from, and they do the cartography for us!

A Slightly Flawed Map Of The G.U.E.

Boffo segue, that. Monkey 2 is in the long and short of it, a game about a Map. You get the feeling, with Monkey 1, of being adrift in an aimless sea, bereft of conciousness. It’s the most dreamlike thing. Melee contains its own, goofy ecosystem, channeling a small town vibe. But once the story kicks in, you’re cut loose, and out of port you sail. Rambling around has a dreary, sleepy feel to it, puzzles are scarce and simple, contained more often than not. Like a fish in an ornate tank. But there’s freedom enough for the newcomer.

Monkey 2 pares down that ideology, to a brittle point. There’s a world here, a moist, funky world. A world with dancing jives and undead musicals and slick voodoo smog. There are places to go, and people north of parody and south of reality, content to belt out a razor edged ballad in the blink of firelight, or sling a homely one-liner your way. It’s a magical place. You’re deeper in than Monkey 1; down and out on the shore of a dark nether, swapping stories with vagrants. The choice is overwhelming, and how can I describe? The abodes go further down. Monkey 1 was more about ascension. You scaled the cliffs of the titular isle, the ropes of Melee. Lights all abound.

Monkey 2 is a game of descent. Even breaching the canopy of high trees feels otherworldly. Every environment hides crevices beneath its surface, dim libraries with horn-rimmed Medusa, dank crypts brimming over with bloated cadavers. It’s a game that hides much. Chapter 1 has you dredging the hidden rooms of an old ship town, shadows of what looms. I remember feeling curious, delving for once. Every new room uncovered, a glistening catacomb to be pillaged. Locked kitchens, submerged bars with jangling simian pianos. There is much below the surface, and all of it, ALL of it is crucial.

The Only Limit Is Yourself

Ron Gilbert might not have known what he was getting into with Monkey 1. They threw in injokes, baffling puzzles and strange dialogue choices. It was an excersise in amusement; that it sparked a following was unheard of. Somewhere along the line, they channeled that carefree spirit into genuine intellect. And the greatest of theme parks was spawned.

Now, a word on the Special Edition. Say what you will about coy ending PSAs, they botched the product. The art no longer drips with thick Purcell lines, the music sings but key tracks are slurred, the blare of a trumpet somehow inferior to haunting golden era midi, the crescendo of an electric violin almost wicked in its peal. The dialogue’s been altered, and not for the better, although the ones intact are as a rule poisoned by inept voice acting. Armato is least fitting for MI2’s bum Guybrush, but Phil LaMarr excels as Captain Dread, although I’m biased toward that man as the premiere Jamaican. Boen broke the ending.

But the classic MI2 is one of the few games I will always call art, regardless of discrepancies in definition. It is the best adventure game, one of the best games ever, and whirrs with Zork’s hostility while evading its violence. This is a Caribbean thick with atmosphere, peril is present but restrained. Guybrush’s journey is guided, although loosely. Nobody’s telling you what to do. Chapter 2 drops you in an organic Disneyland and says “Explore.”

The ending ties all this together. But it is not a boon visited on the faint hearted. That is a journey you must undergo alone.

And the reward shall be just as tasty.