This is a great game. I will never play the original again and it used to be my favorite game ever.
I would give it 9.5/10. If they fixed the following, I would give it 10/10.
# Timed sequences seem impossibly hard (End, Spit Contest) - incredibly frustrating, made it take way longer than it needed to
# No opening credits song - seriously, that was a horrible way to start the game, felt flat and pissed me off there was no song. The game coaxed me back in though.
Minor nitpick I'd like to see fixed: Slower LeChuck.
I never really laughed that much at a Ron Gilbert game. Maybe my imagination was a little out of sync with his. I always thought he had dry humor. I bet that if I played this I'd be rolling in laughter just from the voice acting.
I'm having lots of fun with the game; one thing that bothers me is when there are commentaries during cutscenes. At least sometimes you can take the opportunity to play the commentary when there's a break when you have to choose a line of dialogue, but several scenes don't have that like the opening with Bart & Fink and in the fortress at the start of part two. Then there are parts where I wish there were comments, but there aren't.
Another thing is the seizure-like movement of character heads; I realize this is in line with the original version, but I would've preferred some smoothness. I had the same problem with the close-ups in the SoMI:SE. In the original there was no lip movement with the faces, so for the SE they didn't have any either, yet I feel it could've been an improvement if they did make them more lifelike.
Largo's voice doesn't bother me. I admit I always imagined a Joe Pesci type of voice for him, but this one's okay.
after playing it again yesterday, i can tell they've put in alot of effort into the game, but simply been rushed to release it or whatever. it's probably an amazing game, but only 85-90% complete in terms of programming and testing...
The problem with LeChuck's walking speed is he had more frames than Guybrush in the original game. In the SE they gave a lot of characters extra frames. Because Guybrush didn't have that many to begin with he looks nice and smooth. Because LeChuck had an atypical number of frames (according to the commentary) he looks like he's walking very fast because of all the extra frames they gave him. If they'd just cut out some frames he'd look normal. It's not really a speed issue. In fact, this is probably one of the things that's most easiest to mod.
Verb Bar – This is an unsupported addition to the PC Version. It's buried away in your settings.ini file. It will work in conjunction with the Context Driven Radial Menu. Moving your mouse to the bottom of the screen will slide out all verbs letting you choose any action as if in classic mode.
1. Once you create a savegame a settings file will be created – NOTE some of these folders/files may be hidden on your system properties.
2. Vista/Win7 – C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\LucasArts\Monkey Island 2 Special Edition
3. Windows XP - C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\LucasArts\Monkey Island 2 Special Edition
4. Open up the Settings.ini file and you will see an entry called “VerbToolbar=0”. If you change that to “1”, this will enable the Verb Toolbar.
5. Save Changes and reload the game.
Direct Control – The Xbox 360 Version lets users directly control Guybrush with the analog stick. If you plug a 360 controller into your PC, you should be able to control guybrush directly. You can also turn direct control "off" and still play with a 360 gamepad by turning "directcontrol=1" to a zero in the above mentioned settings.ini file.
EDIT: Ah, I see MusicallyInspired already posted it in the review thread, good!
Nice, I think an inventory icon would've been way more useful, though. If you don't have a mouse wheel you have to reach over and press the I key on your keyboard, which is a bit counterintuitive.
I'm having lots of fun with the game; one thing that bothers me is when there are commentaries during cutscenes. At least sometimes you can take the opportunity to play the commentary when there's a break when you have to choose a line of dialogue, but several scenes don't have that like the opening with Bart & Fink and in the fortress at the start of part two. Then there are parts where I wish there were comments, but there aren't.
Another thing is the seizure-like movement of character heads; I realize this is in line with the original version, but I would've preferred some smoothness. I had the same problem with the close-ups in the SoMI:SE. In the original there was no lip movement with the faces, so for the SE they didn't have any either, yet I feel it could've been an improvement if they did make them more lifelike.
Largo's voice doesn't bother me. I admit I always imagined a Joe Pesci type of voice for him, but this one's okay.
Anyway, my opinions on the SE version: Definately worth picking up. The addition of voices HD graphics, widescreen, concept art, commentary, orchestrated soundtrack, intuitive interface, hint system and full support for most computers (without emulation) all outweigh the cut intro, decrease in Imuse usage, bugs, Missing panning animation sequences and out of synch (whether intentional or not) bone song, which were all minor issues.
For the game itself: Definately worth picking up if you are a fan of the franchise. It's definately diffrent to the last 3 games, but has a certain charm that the others don't. I personally didn't find it that funny, but it was still very enjoyable.
Something else that was seriously out of sync was (should I use a spoiler tag? I'll use one just in case)
the music changing to LeChuck's theme when Guybrush discovers Wally's message on the table. It was supposed to change when he sees it, but in my case it changed long after the cut-scene was over and I was on my way out of the room.
Hm... During my playthrough the timing was right. I guess it's to the more limited digital iMuse system - digital music, unlike midi, can't change just at absolutely any point (or it wouldn't sound right), so it's a matter of luck if you get it right or not.
PS. Hm... which reminds me, AFAIK, CoMI and EMI had digital music and a perfectly working iMuse system, did they not?
Loving MI2, what I like is the audio were you hear the big 3 talk about how they did this scene, I think that was amazing.
I will resume playing when I get back from the play I'm in at the moment (Slice of Health showing in parts of Liverpool) I will post a clip of what I can film today from Youtube of the play, it ends July 21 so I will have more time to play the game, this week we only have two day performances next week its three days and that's it, more time to indulge in MI2 since last playing it back in 1994 I was left with a bit of a stall mate and got lost in the jungle scene, this time it will be different.
Its a pity they don't have a Predator cameo scene in that part now that would be good to see.
They left a Twitter/Facebook message that said they hear what the fans are saying and will have a news update about most of it in the near future. They also said that there currently are no plans for a Mac version of MI2:SE at this time but if that changes they'll let everyone know.
yeah lucas arts should make 2 patches one for the xbox 360 version for the missing imuse and a second one for all the version for the intro that is missing not that they wanted it but for fault
Was there a statement from lucasarts regarding the bugs (especially imuse in 360 version), yet ? Are they gonna release a patch?
Speaking of which (bugs) - and sorry if this was mentioned before - but does anyone else have the problem that savegames sometimes are not precisely saved the moment you actually did save? E.g.: When I received the voodoo doll from the voodoo lady I rowed back to the shore and saved my game then. When I loaded that saved game later, it brought me back to inside of the voodoo lady's shack while she's still in the middle of making the doll for me (and this ain't the only moment in the game this happens).
Comments
I would give it 9.5/10. If they fixed the following, I would give it 10/10.
# Timed sequences seem impossibly hard (End, Spit Contest) - incredibly frustrating, made it take way longer than it needed to
# No opening credits song - seriously, that was a horrible way to start the game, felt flat and pissed me off there was no song. The game coaxed me back in though.
Minor nitpick I'd like to see fixed: Slower LeChuck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btYC5ODM3Us
Another thing is the seizure-like movement of character heads; I realize this is in line with the original version, but I would've preferred some smoothness. I had the same problem with the close-ups in the SoMI:SE. In the original there was no lip movement with the faces, so for the SE they didn't have any either, yet I feel it could've been an improvement if they did make them more lifelike.
Largo's voice doesn't bother me. I admit I always imagined a Joe Pesci type of voice for him, but this one's okay.
That actually makes it so much more bearable
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1348479
Verb Bar – This is an unsupported addition to the PC Version. It's buried away in your settings.ini file. It will work in conjunction with the Context Driven Radial Menu. Moving your mouse to the bottom of the screen will slide out all verbs letting you choose any action as if in classic mode.
1. Once you create a savegame a settings file will be created – NOTE some of these folders/files may be hidden on your system properties.
2. Vista/Win7 – C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\LucasArts\Monkey Island 2 Special Edition
3. Windows XP - C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\LucasArts\Monkey Island 2 Special Edition
4. Open up the Settings.ini file and you will see an entry called “VerbToolbar=0”. If you change that to “1”, this will enable the Verb Toolbar.
5. Save Changes and reload the game.
Direct Control – The Xbox 360 Version lets users directly control Guybrush with the analog stick. If you plug a 360 controller into your PC, you should be able to control guybrush directly. You can also turn direct control "off" and still play with a 360 gamepad by turning "directcontrol=1" to a zero in the above mentioned settings.ini file.
EDIT: Ah, I see MusicallyInspired already posted it in the review thread, good!
Like this?
Anyway, my opinions on the SE version: Definately worth picking up. The addition of voices HD graphics, widescreen, concept art, commentary, orchestrated soundtrack, intuitive interface, hint system and full support for most computers (without emulation) all outweigh the cut intro, decrease in Imuse usage, bugs, Missing panning animation sequences and out of synch (whether intentional or not) bone song, which were all minor issues.
For the game itself: Definately worth picking up if you are a fan of the franchise. It's definately diffrent to the last 3 games, but has a certain charm that the others don't. I personally didn't find it that funny, but it was still very enjoyable.
PS. Hm... which reminds me, AFAIK, CoMI and EMI had digital music and a perfectly working iMuse system, did they not?
My first review! I'm kinda new to this whole "video review" thing, so I'm sorry if I'm a bit rushed in places.
HEEELP!
I had this problem at first too. I believe going into the options menu and lowering the resolution fixed it.
But eventually you get 72 save virgins.
Hater. Go buy the international Direct2Drive version.
I will resume playing when I get back from the play I'm in at the moment (Slice of Health showing in parts of Liverpool) I will post a clip of what I can film today from Youtube of the play, it ends July 21 so I will have more time to play the game, this week we only have two day performances next week its three days and that's it, more time to indulge in MI2 since last playing it back in 1994 I was left with a bit of a stall mate and got lost in the jungle scene, this time it will be different.
Its a pity they don't have a Predator cameo scene in that part now that would be good to see.
Got the memo, still don't see it.
It's a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Maybe we're just not intelligent enough to see it.
Or to far gone down the crinimal path to know what is right anymore.
No wonder no one replied to my obscene posts!
I remember you calling it Stream before and people tried to correct you but you took no notice. lol
It's better in every way.
exactly
Speaking of which (bugs) - and sorry if this was mentioned before - but does anyone else have the problem that savegames sometimes are not precisely saved the moment you actually did save? E.g.: When I received the voodoo doll from the voodoo lady I rowed back to the shore and saved my game then. When I loaded that saved game later, it brought me back to inside of the voodoo lady's shack while she's still in the middle of making the doll for me (and this ain't the only moment in the game this happens).