iPhone and iPod Touch Games Round-up 4

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

Developer: Lucasarts
Price (as reviewed): £4.99 from the AppStore and a Lite version available!

In the interest of maintaining an unbiased position, it’s probably best if we don’t comment on what is undoubtedly one of the best games of all time – but since when did that matter?

Casting players as wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood, The Secret of Monkey Island: SE is a remastered port of the original point and click adventure that sees Guybrush trying to defeat the ghostly Lechuck and prove his piratey worth. It’s essentially a scaled down version of Lucasart’s earlier Monkey Island remake.

What the ‘SE’ denotes then is that the game has an overhauled aesthetic that gives the game a hi-res, cartoony look – though you can switch back to the original with a quick swipe. The music has been re-done too and the old-fashioned text replaced with full audio dialogue.


Unfortunately though, The Secret of Monkey Island: SE suffers from the same problem as other point and click adventure games on the iPhone – interface. It’s not just point and tap for MI, but a laborious virtual cursor that needs to be dragged around like a whimpering infant. Combine that with a buried verb list and inventory screen and the experience takes a hefty knock.

Verdict: Flawless in content, flawed in controls – Monkey Island on the iPhone remains a recommended title, but it may test your patience to the limits.

The Moron Test

Developer: DistinctDev
Price (as reviewed): 59p from the AppStore

Inspired by the swathe of flash games that swept across the internet not too long ago, The Moron Test is a fairly simple, if relentless, series of deceptively complex tasks that are designed to test your intelligence. In reality though, it’s more of an exam on your obedience and reflexes than anything else.

The tasks come thick and fast, with you constantly fighting against the clock in your effort to prove you aren’t a moron. Touch the green button, the red button and the blue button twice. Tap the mouse five times. These things don’t seem all that hard, but as with games like Warioware the challenge lies in deciphering everything at speed.


The Moron Test is forever throwing curve balls at you too, such as demanding you do nothing for five seconds to continue while displaying a big red button marked ‘CONTINUE’. It’s evil, evil gameplay.

As you’d expect, The Moron Test isn’t a game with tonnes of longevity or replayability. The tasks always come in the same order and get to be quite predictable after a while. Still, while it lasts it’s quite amusing and there’s a lot of fun to be had by frustrating your friends with it too.

Verdict: The low price makes it an attractive impulse buy, but it’s best to steer clear if you want anything more than a momentary distraction for your money.