According to this:
- iMuse is completely gone
- digital music isn't really accurate
- Parts of original intro (dancing monkeys) and credits were removed
- Easy difficulty removed
- around 30 minutes of commentary in total
- "Hacked-In" autosave mode
and especially "The commentary itself is not terribly insightful [...] There is, however, a rather extended track about how awesome iMUSE is, despite its complete absence from the game."
I thought the 1UP review was very negative and nitpicky. It also didn't do much to concentrate on the improvements and additions, probably my favourite of which was the new control system. Out of the points mentioned, the only thing I found really disappointing was that the original intro was removed.
I think it is incredulous that the 1UP review even mentions the removal of the 'Easy mode' which is a moot point. The game now has a hints system, which completely relegates having that option!
Also, on the PC version, the iMuse effect isn't 'Completely Gone' as the review states, I'm not sure about other ports of the game, but the PC version works well in the transitions, and yes, I really held this to scrutiny listening over and over when I had my extensive playthrough last night!
Well, the easy mode did have some different puzzles than the regular mode. This is quite a different thing than a hint mode. You can really play the game twice this way, and that's nice, IMO. So while I would not consider this a super major flaw, it's still sad.
Without spoiling too much, I don't think 'no easy mode' is a big deal.
Some dialogue is different, and really the affected puzzles are either more truncated, or cut from the hard mode, but not much is being missed without it.
It would be nice to have been included for the option, but then so would the original intro, which is probably the one biggest disappointment.
The XBox version is the only version without iMuse. Everything else has iMuse but the PC version portrays it the best, it seems. I only wish they would crossfade between alternate tracks instead of straight jumping from one to the other (cemetery, Largo's room, etc).
I didn't like to comment on iMuse for sure but having only played the Xbox version I was sure it wasn't included for that platform.
I finished with about two thirds the amount of points as the top person on the leaderboard. Not sure how the points are worked out.
Did anyone manage to extract music from the game? I have unpacked the *.xwb files into wav's, but they are not standard PCM files. I tried to use xWMAEncode, but somehow it didn't work. If you had better luck than I, please post your success story.
The filenames on the other hand seem to indicate that LucasArts put effort to implement something similar to iMuse (though we can dispute about the results...) - there are 250+ music cues.
Seldon wrote:Did anyone manage to extract music from the game? I have unpacked the *.xwb files into wav's, but they are not standard PCM files. I tried to use xWMAEncode, but somehow it didn't work. If you had better luck than I, please post your success story.
The filenames on the other hand seem to indicate that LucasArts put effort to implement something similar to iMuse (though we can dispute about the results...) - there are 250+ music cues.
Also, has anyone managed to extract the .pak file like extractpak can do with the first game? I can't get extractpak to work with monkey2.pak.
Graxer wrote:Also, has anyone managed to extract the .pak file like extractpak can do with the first game? I can't get extractpak to work with monkey2.pak.
Looks like Monkey Island Explorer 0.0.3 Beta extracts everything from monkey2.pak just fine.
It's a shame that the intro is missing. And I hope the y fix the error with the bearded young Guybrush in the dream sequence.
Apart from that, all criticism has been considered: touch screen optimization for iPhone, along with icons on the bottom black strip. Almost perfect. I hope they fix the missing intro and end sequence.
As for the easy mode: I never really played it. Most changes are that you can finish chapter 2 with a single Scabb-Phatt-Booty-Scabb-turn. You don't have to travel around that much. Apart from that, the puzzles are easier with some locations like the spit contest, the lottery, or Rum Rogers having been removed. It has the same storyy by been less entertaining and funny; Largo's bra becomes a shirt, and Wally's monocle has no meaning at all. As Guybrush said to Stan: I think I can live without that junk.
I liked the easy mode because it's hilarious how easy it is (wanna buy the map piece from the shop? don't go and get a library card so you can get a drink so you can win the spitting contest so you can get a boat so you can get the monkey head - just buy it for 100 pieces of eight!)
Johelian wrote:Probably a stupid question, but can either this or the SoMI:SE be run using SCUMM VM on PSP?
If you extract the original game files from the SE resource files for both games, you can. But it wouldn't be the SE it'd just be the regular versions you already have.
