“Escape from Monkey Island” came out during the darkest time of 3D graphics, and it shows. Not only do the locations and characters look awful, but the control system also has to be one of the most user-unfriendly in the history of graphic adventures. Moving around the maps and interacting with objects can get incredibly frustrating, and it’s very easy to miss interactive areas of the screen without a mouse.
That aside, it’s hard to deny that this was the series’ first serious attempt at telling a story with a fleshed-out plot. A bad attempt, but at least they tried. Things like the infamous Toothrot retcon are an insult to the players, but at the same time, we can’t deny that the spirit of the original games was built around self-deprecation and continuous betrayal of the fans’ expectations. I think the problem is that the franchise has adopted a more childish and cartoony approach as it progressed over the years. “Escape” started along the same lines as “Curse”, but it really gets worse and worse as it progresses.
The puzzles also get incredibly tedious and frustrating for no particular reason, with the parrot one winning the crown for the most annoying activity to engage in a video game. Monkey Kombat has been mentioned by most players as their biggest turn-off, but I thought it was a decent alternative to the insult battles. At least it made me use my brain, unlike the other puzzles. Most of the second half just had me try all objects on everything without even knowing what I was doing, most of the time not even sure about what my objective was supposed to be. It’s not that the puzzles are built around a pun or absurd ways to get to a relatively straightforward outcome, they are just random item combinations to troll the player. There were bits like that in the previous games too, but here it felt like they really jumped the shark in all possible ways.
There are also a million bugs waiting for you, including game-breaking ones waiting for you. I would recommend not playing altogether, but if you do, make sure to save often and keep multiple saves. I also needed to download a separate launcher to play my Steam copy.
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The art takes a hideous, ill-advised turn for pre-rendered 3D backgrounds and 3D characters, and it looks terrible. The controls are indescribably awful and make the experience of playing this game miserable. It also crashes to desktop regularly on Windows 10, though maybe it's unfair to hold that against a 20-something year old game.
Unlike the art and controls, the writing and puzzle design are okay, and mostly in keeping with the series, but also a distinct step down from the earlier games.
Only for series completionists.
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Escape From Monkey Island is the fourth instalment in the series. Up until now, the game was a 2D point and click adventure controlled by the mouse, but now has made the transition into 3D.
The game is now controlled using a keyboard or controller. This means instead of clicking in the direction you want to move, you must move manually, and get close enough to objects to interact with them. When multiple objects are near each other, you can cycle through them and press the appropriate button to use, pick-up or view.
The graphics are good enough but is a massive disappointment compared to the wonderful graphical style of the previous game; Curse of Monkey Island. Like the previous game, the dialog and voice acting is brilliant, and the characters are very likeable. The main character, Guybrush is on mighty fine form, full of his usual sarcastic wit. There are plenty of references to previous Monkey Island games, especially when meeting all the returning characters.
The game begins with Guybrush returning home from his honeymoon with his new wife, Elaine; the governor of the Tri-Island area, only for them to soon discover that Elaine been declared dead and her mansion is planned to be destroyed. Other problems are that the arrogant, unlikeable Charles L. Charles is running for governor and an Australian businessman named Ozzie Mandrill is purchasing all property and replacing them with tourist shops and mass market chains.
In previous games, the majority of the puzzles were very logical, although occasionally a few puzzles seemed strange, particularly near the end of the game. In this game, the majority of the puzzles are strange and don't make much sense at all; so it doesn't seem possible to do without use of a walk-through. Finding Pegnose Pete is a wonderful example. First you have to create a strange perfume and spray it on Dave who owns the prosthetic shop. He will then give a name of a customer. You find this person's records by using his strange filing system which contains directions and times. You then cause an argument between two chess players and steal their clock. Then you go to the swamp and place the clock on the raft. Looking at the time on the clock, you then go the direction that is stated on the document and on the next section, the time will change again, so you repeat the process. After meeting Guybrush from the future and exchanging some strange items, eventually you will find Pegnose Pete's house.
Soon after, the next challenge is to get into the bank. You prise off the manhole cover and find a message with three names. You then talk to Dave and ask for a free gift and he will tell a random story but asks you to fill in the names. After stating the three names you found under the manhole, Dave will choose to give you some prosthetic skin. You can then put this over the manhole and bounce your way through the bank's window!
With a game like this, it's not good enough just to have a humorous characters and story, because you need logical puzzles to get a sense of satisfaction, but this game is severely lacking. Time and time again, you feel so frustrated that you can't play the game without constantly reading a walk-though, but then when you get to the end and have to learn Monkey Kombat; not even a walk-though can help.
Monkey Kombat replaces the trade-mark witty sword fighting from previous games and you must learn which monkey fighting stance beats each other. It's basically a more complicated version of rock-paper-scissors but has five fighting stances, each of which beats two other stances. To move from one stance to another you must chain 3 monkey words together and each transition is unique. For example Chimp to Baboon is “ack, oop, chee” but Ape to Baboon is “ack, eek, oop”. However, a walk-though is useless because the commands are randomly generated. What you have to do is keep fighting the monkeys and make notes at what stance they are in and what they say to change stance. Then make more notes of which stance beats each other. It's not fun at all and requires patience rather than skill. On the plus side, when it is over there is only ten minutes or so of the game left.
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worst of the original 4 games, but 1-3 are all excellent and this one is just good, I think this is underrated and I was very happy to see GOG finally put this on their store