Baby, It's Time To Fight Like a Cow Again

My wife has given me many things. Support, love, two beautiful children...there are too many thing to count here in a simple entry. She has effected my life in ways I could have never predicted, and now, so close to our anniversary, one of those things she has shared with me has returned, and I could not be happier.

For it was my lovely wife who introduced me to Monkey Island.

I had always been a gamer. Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, Odyssey, Sega Genesis...I was in there. My parents, however, never owned a computer, so I had not experienced anything beyond the standard shoot-em-up, collect the coins, save the princess/skate park/world type games. I didn't know there was anything else.

When I got older and managed to finally get a PC, my lovely wife asked if I had ever played The Secret of Monkey Island. I had no idea what she was talking about, so we scored a copy and ran through it. It was, in a word, amazing. It was everything I loved about games and didn't know it. It had puzzles. It had humor everywhere. It had monkeys. It had a story that actually made sense. (Seriously, after the third castle the princess wasn't in, why didn't Mario take a step back and ask for directions to the correct one? Men.)

After that, I was into anything with an action menu. Loom. Grim Fandango. Total Throttle. Sam and Max Hit the Road. The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour. Above all, of course, the next three installments in the Monkey Island series. These games are the reason that even hack-and-slash action games have to have at least half a story to hold my interest. The bar was set, and it was set high.

Now, after years of pining for a return to the Tri-Island area, I'm finally getting back in, for they've returned. As if a return wasn't enough, they're back with a vengeance. I get the fifth installment, Tales of Monkey Island, but I get a completely new version of the original Secret of Monkey Island, now full of voice-over goodness. I'm not kidding when I say that I was giddy at this development.



So it is with great satisfaction that I look forward to putting in my first ever pre-orders to ensure that, come July, my lovely wife and I will sit down at the computer and spend time with old friends. Once again we'll help Guybrush Threepwood overcome the vile LeChuck. Once again we'll seek advice from the Voodoo Lady, get swindled by Stan, and convince someone that there is a three-headed monkey behind them. Once again, we will seek out swag, for no swag means no grog, and ladies and gentlemen, we are getting dangerously low on grog. And for all of this, I owe my lovely wife a debt of eternal gratitude.

Oh, and the kids and the love and support and stuff. Those are nice too.