Hello there Destructoid, how are you doing today? That's nice to hear. Me? Oh, I'm doing OK. Yesterday I had some child-and-woman-free time for the first time in a while. Of course, I had already beaten Ghostbusters and I was pretty tired, so first I played some Sonic Unleashed, which I bought for $20 last week. It was my first time playing it, and it definitely met my expectations. That game sucks. Here I was enjoying "alone time" and I walk into this abomination. Something had to be done.

I was already tired and disappointed, so like an asshole I decided to go outside and get a little high, foolishly hoping it would improve my opinion and enjoyment of the game. I say foolishly because after all these years you think I'd have just accepted that Sonic chokes giant donkey dick and that there is no hope in changing that.

I returned to the couch and discovered the error of my ways. The game still sucked. Hard.

Fuck Sonic.

Anyway, I decided to hit that big fat Xbox Guide button and then continued to press the Y button, which magically transported me to the Dashboard, where I was met with an image of my disgusting avatar. Spooky shit. I quickly found my Game Library tab, and promptly navigated my way to one of my new favorites: The Secret of Monkey Island:Special Edition.



I was saved.

Now, I say new favorite because I this is the first time I've ever played this game. I believe I have encountered it before when I was young at a family member's house, but I never played it. Just saw a bit of it. I don't remember that shit vividly anyway, so it's irrelevant. I must say, for such an old game it's surprisingly refreshing, if that makes any sense. It feels like a whole new experience for me. Of course, I've never really played point and click games before besides Zack and Wiki and that game isn't really the same as this one.

No, Monkey Island relies more on it's amazing cast of characters and the equally amazing dialogue that those characters deliver. The "puzzles" are there, but it's more about the overall experience, at least for me. I absolutely loved a recent sequence where I had to learn a bunch of pirate insults to train for "insult swordfighting". As tedious as this task got near the end, I was constantly smiling and chuckling, something an angry bastard like myself doesn't normally do.

As for the visuals and audio, well, I honestly prefer the new look and of course the spoken dialogue, but then again I've only ever played it like this. Nostalgia is having no effect, obviously. I think the game looks good. It's slightly generic I suppose, but still appealing. As I said, I also love the spoken dialogue. The actors are of a higher quality than most "AAA" retail released games feature. Again, I'm constantly laughing while I play.

I still haven't finished the game and in fact have a long way to go, but I'm planning on playing it again tonight, hopefully. Well, that's all the time I have for you today Destructoid. I'm off to go play with my kids and do all that great family stuff while my wife probably plays WoW.

Have a good one guys.