Imagine my surprise when I heard that one of my most beloved of childhood point-and-click adventure games, 1991's The Secret of Monkey Island, was being remade for a 2009 audience for PC download and Xbox Live Arcade. That surprise then became fear over what would be done to the game's visuals. Would the 320x200 pixel art be run through that ugly "smoothing" filter (Gasp! Visible pixels in a 20-year-old game! Not that!), or would it be redrawn completely? The answer, apparently, is both, because the new version reportedly lets purists press a button to change, on the fly, between old and new versions. Neat.
LucasArts has put up a new site" for the remake, and it features an interesting video with developer interviews, screen shots, and concept art. Most unnervingly, it features a new, hip-n-happening version of Guybrush Threepwood, who has apparently now become a douche-baggy fitness trainer with a deformed eyebrow line and the same generic smug, one eyebrow up, one eyebrow down expression that every damn animated character now has:
1991
2009
Anyway, it will be fun, and also slightly unnerving, to see a re-imagining of this game when it comes out. I'm also very pleased to hear that Dominic Armato is returning as the voice of everyone's favourite wannabe pirate. Even stranger is the fact that Telltale Games are working on a new, totally separate episodic series for PC and Wii Ware, featuring many of the original development team. Visually, the character renders look pretty amateurish, but I'm sure it'll be fun to play.
Weird, huh? You wait ages for a new Monkey Island game, and a whole bunch come along at once.
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