The first Monkey Island game is a landmark in computer game history. It pretty much begins the adventure genre (actually Maniac Mansion came before, but it is very limited and primitive when compared to the subtleties of MI). At its time, games were simple jump-hit-and-walk side-scrollers and flight or sports simulators, no more than an afternoon worth of fun for kids. Then came MI and introduced complex plots, not unlike movie´s (so much, in fact, that you are reading this on IMDb), complete with meaningful dialogues which affect the plot´s direction (instead of mere interludes between action scenes). In MI, as well as in the adventure genre it helped create, interaction with computer-controlled characters went beyond physical confrontation, including dialogue, negotiation (even bargaining prices!), seduction and intrigue. And, perhaps its most remarakable feature, the humour. Satyre, irony or just plain good nonsense, in the tradition of Monthy Python. Indeed, the experience of playing MI (and all subsequent Lucasarts adventure games) is very much like watching a movie, except that you direct the action of the protagonist(s), changing events and outcomes in the plot.
Way before videogames got into the present 3D trend, spawning tiresome clones of the likes of 'Doom', 'Tekken' and 'Tomb Raider', companies like Lucasarts and Sierra made games with subtlety, malice and humour, best suited for intelligent, mature players instead of competitive children with aching fingers. Today these adventures might seem tecnically rough in comparison with all these vectorial 3d shooters that require endlessly more memory and more processing power. But in terms of creativity, of mature entertainment (and I don´t mean porn), modern games seem to be dull, technologically-enhanced versions of the same old Nintendo and Genesis action games of the past.
Belonging to the same line of adventure classics of the Monkey Island series are Sierra´s 'Leisure Suit Larry' series, 'Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis', 'Sam & Max', 'Full Throttle' and 'Grim Fandango' (Lucasarts´ foray into 3d, although keeping the adventure genre´s highlights). But I don´t think any of these, great as they are, have half the importance of the Monkey Island games. Technology is ever-evolving, nonstop, but these adventure games offer a kind of entertainment mere technology cannot.
On a final note about 'The Secret of Monkey Island', look for a CD version of this game, updated with more songs (carribean rhythms like reggae and calypso) and a visual inventory - see 'Alternate Versions' in this entry.
