In Monkey Island 2, we play once again as anti-hero pirate Guybrush Threepwood now on a quest to find the Treasure of Big Whoop. While bumbling around Scabb Island, all inhabitants trapped on the island by an embargo on travel placed by tyrannical pipsqueak pirate Largo LaGrande, and looking for clues, Guybrush inadvertantly makes a big mistake leading to the revival of the fearsome pirate LeChuck, almost reuintes with a former flame while on his treasure hunt, and discovers some pretty insane secrets.

Some small improvements were made this go around. Firstly being the word parser was consolidated a little, removing certain redundant commands such as "Turn Off" "Turn On" "Walk To" and "Take". The inventory system was upgraded to display small images of each item, rather than just text of what that item is in purple. The font in the menu was restyled to fit the game's graphical style, and the Imuse music engine was added to enable Michael Land's music score to dynamically shift from one area to the other, matching the vibe of the scene. Also, the more angular, cartooney art-style was starting to be introduced more. Where as The Secret of Money Island tried for a more "realistic" approach, Monkey Island 2 started the whole angular, weird, cartooney effect on the characters - which fit in with the rest of the LucasArts lexicon such as Sam & Max, Maniac Mansion 2: Day of the Tentacle, and Zak McKraken, allowing for a wider aray of in-game subtle advertising for other LucasArts I.P. In general, this gave the game a bit more of a softer vibe, a bit more "90's".

Monkey Island 2, just like it's predecessor, became a cult classic that is now much more appreciated now, than it was in it's day. And little wonder, while the 1st game was great, Monkey Island 2 was a really tightly designed, programmed, and put together game compared to the first. It took what made the first one great, and improved on it. It also added a small vibe that made it more palletable to a wider audience than wannabe pirate young adult computer nerds or graphical adventure junkies looking for something more forgiving that a death-fest Sierra game.

TO be a bit, uh, brutally honest, I did not like the early 1990's that much. And Mi2, as much as I praise it now, there was a little dissappointment as they abandoned the more realistic art-style of the first game a bit. I felt the photorealistic closeup portraits were a nice touch, and it made it feel more like an interactive movie than a game for kids. I noticed this was happening everywhere, not just games. Every cartoon I liked got cheaper animation. I also just hated how everyone had this attitude of "this is the 90's and you better shake your hinie or you're gonna get left behind" - yeah, then leave me behind then!

BUT! The saving grace were the puzzles and overall layout of the game. Unlike Monkey Island 1, which I could, at that point, play from end to end to completion in about 4 hours - yes, including Insult Swordfighthing - this one was a bigger game, a much bigger one, and it did have more confusing puzzles. A nice touch is there was an E-Z mode to start out on. I played both and got VERY proficient in both modes. I could almosot beat the whole game in an HOUR in easy mode, and about 5 hourrs in hard mode.

One of the most confusing puzzles in hard mode is where you need to cheat on a wheel-of-fortune style alley game. So you go to this clubhouse door in another alley while some oaf with a giant hand holds up 2 fingers and says "if this is three" (holds up pinky, index, and ring) "then what is this?". I had a classmate named J.P. and I must have spent HOURS with him trying to figure this puzzle out on a field trip. I don't even think a proper hint was online for it until I was in my early 20's in the 2000's. Another one was the whole cracker puzzle on the final island.

Overall, it is one of my favorite graphical daventures for the PC.

Here's a quick outline of what's omitted/changed in this variation.....

• Largo does not need to have mud dumped on him to obtain clothing, but it omits a fun cut scene
• Because of above, the bucket is already gone from the men of low moral fiber's resting spot
• There's no need to catch the rat to fire the chef at the bloody lip, items are missing for this puzzle anyway
• You don't need to steal Wally's monocle for Captain Dread to sail
• The entire screen and setting for the Spitting Contest is omitted completley
• The game on Phatt island is rigged to let you win every time, saving a very tedious puzzle that took me 30 years to figure out
• There's an unexplained 2nd Envelope in Phatt Island (Captain KAte Capsize)
• The house on the island off Phatt is uninhabited and requires no items or puzzle to get the map piece from the skelton in the bathtub
• The lack of need to steal Wally's Monocle means there is no lens or no point to it at least at the Phatt City Library
• Captain Kate Capsize is no longer standing next to Stan's on Booty Island, so no sea diving trips (darn), no framing Kate either
• The thrift shop on Booty is considerably easier, and most of the items are pretty useless. The Map piece can be bought there outright
• One of the best (and most hilarious) cut scenes is omitted when climbing the tree, this omits the WoodTick Carpenter too
• Rapp Scallion's entire Weenie Hut segment is omitted + the Ash2Life from the VooDoo Lady's Shelf (+ book Fetch Quest)
• Pretty much all the book stuff is reduced to entertainment for no other purpose than entertainment as a result
• No fisherman scene at Booty, you can just snag a fish from the kitchen in Phatt Island (which is unattended, and also loses a LOT of humor)
• you don't need to swipe the dog from Elaine's house to find the map piece, nor due to the fish, obtain a fishing hook
• LeChuck's Castle is darned easy as there's no matching bones to a certain song
• The puzzles on Dinky Island are a bit more simplified as well, jsut a box of crackers, no distilled water needed
• The rest of the game plays out similar to hard mode from that point on

So as you can see, easy mode is not hard at all, and it loses a lot of the hilarious, fun, and enriching content from the game.

When you start the game, Guybrush tells his daring tales of his previous adventure defeating the GHost Pirate LeChuck and going on a new quest to find the elusive treasure "Big Whoop". You finally gain control near the "no digging" sign outside of Scabb Island's bridge into town. Immediatley upon entering the bridge, the little pipsqueak known as Largo LaGrande empties your pockets (except the Shovel if you grabbed it already), and then your adventure begins.

Getting rid of Largo LaGrande - We need to somehow subdue this guy to get off the island which he has placed an Embargo on. To gain hints on this, you can exit onto Scabbs map and then head to the swap in the east and take the coffin to the Voodoo lady who will give you a hint that you need to construct a VooDoo Doll of Largo to get rid of him and allow people to come and go from the island as they please. We need four key ingredients: Something of the Thread, Something of the Head, Something of the Body, and Something of the Dead.

something of the Thread - This one's really easy, just nab an article of clothing from Largo's room at the Inn when he's not there. Just close the door while in his room and there it is.

Something of the Head - Also in Largo's room, you can nab this when you get his clothing, there's a toupee on a foam head in his room that you can swipe while you're there.

Something of the Body - This too is pretty easy, Largo comes into the Bloody Lip Tavern when you start talking to the barkeeper. Take a piece of paper from wally B. Feed's Cartographer service across the walkway from the bar, and use that to pick up his spit that sticks to the wall (yuck).

Something of the Dead - There's a tombstone in the graveyard to the southeast. If you read it, you'll find out it's Largo's grandfather. Remember the shovel you purloined from the sign in Woodtick (you DID snag the shovel, didn't you?), yeah, use that to dig up his grandfather's thigh bone.

Making the VooDoo Doll - Now drag all the assorted crap over to the VooDoo Lady and she'll make you a voodoo doll of Largo LaGrande, however, these are not "prime" specimens, so it only works at close range - like a cheap R/C car - and does little else than physical anguish.

Offing Largo - IF "offing" him is what you'll call it. Go to his room, he'll be there, make sure to have the pins and the doll cued up close and the text speed down so you have a chance to pin his doll before getting kicked out of the room. Then a cutscene will proceed outlining the further of the story - Uh-Oh, LeChuck is being revived, and he's none too happy about it I'm sure!

With Largo LaGrande wiped off the island, yet the threat of LeChuck being revived, Guybrush continues his quest to find the treasure of Big Whoop and the map pieces needed to find it. THat's what this chapter is all about.

Now on a trek to LeChuck's Castle, it's your job now to guide Guybrush to get his treasure map back, and I guess rescue the Cartographer Wally B. Feed! This is a nice, short little section.

As luck would have it, the explosion at LeChuck's fortress mid-ocean blew you to the island of Dinky, where our old pal Herman Toothrot is trying to now carry out a more organic, and Zen filled lifestyle. Why this guy never has a pair of pants is anyone's guess.....but it just so turns out you are closer to your goal than you initially realize.

When you start the game, Guybrush tells his daring tales of his previous adventure defeating the GHost Pirate LeChuck and going on a new quest to find the elusive treasure "Big Whoop". You finally gain control near the "no digging" sign outside of Scabb Island's bridge into town. Immediatley upon entering the bridge, the little pipsqueak known as Largo LaGrande empties your pockets (except the Shovel if you grabbed it already), and then your adventure begins.

Starting out - You will wander into Woodtick after the cut scene adorned to the hilt with riches, of course, LArgo comes and takes them all away (except the Shovel if you snag that before the infamous cut scene that starts the story).

With Largo LaGrande wiped off the island, yet the threat of LeChuck being revived, Guybrush continues his quest to find the treasure of Big Whoop and the map pieces needed to find it. THat's what this chapter is all about. This part of the game is a lot harder than the E-Z mode version, and some of the puzzles really require some deep thought and even timing to get right.

Now on a trek to LeChuck's Castle, it's your job now to guide Guybrush to get his treasure map back, and I guess rescue the Cartographer Wally B. Feed! This is a nice, short little section.

As luck would have it, the explosion at LeChuck's fortress mid-ocean blew you to the island of Dinky, where our old pal Herman Toothrot is trying to now carry out a more organic, and Zen filled lifestyle. Why this guy never has a pair of pants is anyone's guess.....but it just so turns out you are closer to your goal than you initially realize.

Plot: 8/10 or a WTF/10 - Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's revenge has been the favorite of the MS-DOS crowd for about a decade now, with a lifespan of over 30 years. People often mistake that these games were some kind of huge hit at the time, no, they became a huge hit about 20 years later when everyone started picking up 486s to play old DOS games on them - like I had been doing already for a decade to that point. It's Plot is one of the most controversial elements because according to creator, Ron Gilbert, the fact that Guybrush and Elaine broke up was to allow the series to continue. However, in the installment after - in which Ron had no involvement (he was working on Full Throttle at the time for another company), they're back together in the typical romantic lamestreamer whirlwind.