The Secret of Monkey Island II (LeChuck's Revenge)
                  Lucasfilm, RRP œ34.99
         (Graphic adventure for PC, Amiga and ST)
             Reviewed on the PC by The Grue!

Since Guybrush Threepwood defeated the ghost pirate LeChuck and
rescued his one true love, he has made his way to Scabb Island,
but his fame is fading fast and people are becoming bored with his
"Did I tell you how I defeated the mighty LeChuck?" story. In
search of a new adventure, Guybrush is now searching for the
greatest treasure of them all - The Big Whoop! The first problem
is that no-one can come or go from Scabb Island because of the
embargo enforced by nasty pirate Largo, a follower of LeChuck. To
lift the embargo Guybrush must find four ingredients to make a
voodoo doll of Largo to rid Scabb Island of him. Unfortunately, by
doing this, the living beard of LeChuck that Guybrush has kept as
a momento falls into the hands of LeChuck's henchmen and it seems
that all they need to bring LeChuck back again is one living part
of him! They say the Big Whoop has great power but he must find it
before the resurrected LeChuck finds him.

Once Guybrush has managed to lift the embargo he can then travel
to Phatt Island and Booty Island, in search of the four parts of
the map which will lead him to the island where he will find Big
Whoop. This involves a fair bit of travelling back and forth from
all three islands in order to solve the various puzzles. There is
also a huge amount of sub-quests for the player to do. For
instance, when I actually got my first part of the map, Elaine
Marley's dog stopped me leaving the mansion with it and she threw
it out of the window. When I found it again, the wind blew it away
and it landed halfway down a cliff edge. Just as I thought I was
about to get it a bird came and snatched it away. Even when I
tracked the bird down and got rid of it I was left with a huge
pile of map pieces not knowing which was the one I wanted, and
that's just to retrieve one of the parts!

Stan the salesman is back again, this time selling coffins in his
own unique style, but a bit easier to deal with this time. Solving
puzzles should be fun and Monkey Island makes sure of that with a
grog drinking contest, a spin the wheel game and, best fun of all,
the spitting contest. This gives the player options such as Swish,
Hoooock and Chooook, complete with the most revolting sounds to
match. The storyline offers so much depth and playability that if
you get stuck there are often several other things you can be
doing. The interface is extremely comfortable to use, just click
on one of the verbs and then click on an object. Sometimes the
player might be expected to click on two objects, mostly for
giving an object to someone.

This is an excellent follow-up to Monkey Island I and is set to
becomes another classic from the Lucasfilm stable. Even when the
player gets stuck the game is a laugh a minute as you explore all
the possibilities. The VGA graphics are pretty damn good and cater
for Guybrush's colours changing as he moves into a dark area from
a light one. It will take a fair sized chunk on your hard drive,
about 9 meg, and takes about 15 minutes to install. Monkey Island
II offers two levels of play, the harder of the two giving you all
the puzzles etc. If you've got a PC, or an Amiga or ST with 1 meg
memory, then buy this now!