A remake to a game as universally beloved as this SCUMM™ classic can’t possibly leave a real nerd unmoved. Johnny Reviews Tonight The Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition for the PC, Xbox Live Arcade & iPhone! Featuring pirates, carnivals and ambient sound effects.

Monkey Island SE was stealth-released amongst the flutter of countless monocles and spillage of gallons of tea by surprised gentlemen everywhere. I thought I could resist its siren call and focus on a concurrent title but, come release day, I knew I just had to play and review it properly. Whether it matched my expectations or tarnished cherished memories, it would definitely make for a good show. So, the other review I was working on was put on hold and I barely didn’t make posting this before leaving for holiday again.

But it’s a great way to start September!

This is my first “straight-to-video” review: the script was written solely for a video version, as approaching this from both the perspective of someone who has played the original and of someone who had not, wouldn’t work as well on paper. It also contains a few spoilers, but I believe you can only pick them out if you already know what’s going on.

Find out if “Punch-Out!!” is worth picking out by checking out the video review! I promise it doesn’t rhyme nearly as much as this teaser.

But it does have horrible puns!

Even though I had much less time to map it out, I was convinced that things would go much smoother than in the saga of the MGS4 playthrough. My optimism was duly greeted by a barrage of malfunctions and misunderstandings that delayed the review considerably, but, hey, better late than never.

There are a couple of gags that reference the MGS4 episodes, but they are quick enough not to bother anyone who hasn’t seen those. Think of the gags as a special treat for anyone who heroically sat through that viewing marathon.

Trailer:

My summer break continues, allowing me to take a gander at yet another cherished franchise and review the Wii remake of the final installment of the Sands of Time trilogy of Prince of Persia. Of course.

The original Prince of Persia is one of the first games I vividly remember playing, way back, in the years of the Amiga. The platforming action, the sword-fighting, the seminal tale of saving the princess in the last minute, these were all great elements, but it was the smooth animation that made it unforgettable. It really was something else.

Incredibly, the series went on to revolutionize platforming yet again, when most people had written it off, with Sands of Time and its “Time Rewind” feature. The latest, “next-gen”, Prince of Persia played it a bit safe but I have a feeling that the series will someday present us with more genre-defining features that will make us wonder how we ever played games without ‘em.