Like most adventure games, the gameplay in the Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition consists purely of exploring, acquiring items, interacting with other characters and solving puzzles. While a few of the trickier problems may stump you on occasion, most puzzles are reasonable and logical, and the game always makes it clear what your immediate goal should be. If you should find yourself stuck on a specific puzzle in the Secret of Monkey Island, an in-game hint system can guide you, first giving you vague suggestions before explicitly revealing what you should do. This makes it impossible to become stuck in the Secret of Monkey Island, although try to avoid abusing the hint system as you’ll find it to be a much more rewarding experience if you solve the puzzles on your own.
Despite the simple gameplay style in the Secret of Monkey Island, there are a few minor control problems. Moving, talking and picking up objects all work fine, but using items from your inventory can be a bit more tricky. The inventory screen in the Secret of Monkey Island is pulled up with your right trigger, while your verb screen (used to select what action you would like to take, for example, Give an object) is brought up with the left trigger. Thus, simply using an object requires you to pull up both menus, a process which must be repeated every time you make an error or an inaccurate attempt at solving a puzzle. While not a huge hassle it does slow the pace of the otherwise brisk gameplay in the Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition.
