Building comparison
head to head
Tales of Monkey IslandvsThe Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is variance, and it is a single point.
Tales of Monkey Island
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Telltale's episodic comedy adventure sending Guybrush Threepwood after a pox plaguing the Caribbean.
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Lateral-thinking puzzle solving that converges to a walkthrough once solutions are known.
Tales of Monkey Island leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Tales of Monkey IslandThe Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Axis by axis
Execution0 vs 0
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Tales of Monkey Island
Click-driven; no physical demands.
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Pointing and clicking has no physical ceiling
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Tales of Monkey Island
LeChuck and pirates are pure script.
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Insult swordfighting is scripted dialogue lookup, not prediction
Variance2 vs 3
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Tales of Monkey Island
Modern design telegraphs most puzzle information.
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Puzzle solutions are hidden information until discovered
Optimization5 vs 6
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Tales of Monkey Island
Episodic inventory puzzles each have one intended solution.
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Once solutions are known the game is fully solved
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.
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