 Like the original release , The Secret of Monkey Island : Special Edition received positive reviews from critics . Sean Ely of GamePro praised its updated audio , and said that the new graphics " blow the old <unk> visuals ... out of the water " . He cited its script , humor , plot , puzzles and balanced difficulty level as high points , and finished , " The Secret of Monkey Island : Special Edition is impressive , hilarious and downright worth your money . " <unk> Hatfield of IGN wrote , " Almost 20 years after its release , [ The Secret of Monkey Island ] remains a blast to play . " He called the new graphics " slick , if a little generic " , and noted that the " original graphics have a certain charm to them that the fancy pants new visuals just don 't . " However , he enjoyed the redone music , the new hint function , and the added sound effects and voice acting . He summarized it as " one of the best times you 'll ever have pointing and clicking " , and noted that " few games are this funny . " Justin Calvert of GameSpot noted that " the Special Edition looks much better and is the only way to play if you want to hear ... what characters are saying , whereas the original game 's interface is less <unk> . " However , he wrote that " the voice work is such a great addition to the game that it 's difficult to go back to the original edition . " He praised its humor , writing , puzzles and characters , and he believed that it had aged well . Eurogamer 's Dan Whitehead wrote , " <unk> like me will almost certainly find something to <unk> about over the span of the game , but the overall impact of the redesign is undeniably for the better . " However , he preferred the original game 's Guybrush design , and believed that the new control system was " rather less intuitive " than the old one . He finished by stating that " few games can stand the test of time with such confidence " . 
