Tales of Monkey Island

Although I expected “Tales of Monkey Island” to be following the same structure as other Telltale games, I was pleasantly surprised to find out it felt just like any other classic chapter in the Monkey Island franchise. The plot might not be the most interesting ever, but it’s hands down the most fleshed-out in the series so far. I particularly liked the way they played around with LeChuck’s character to use him in unexpected ways. On the other hand, Elaine felt a little off both before and after the pox. She’s definitely been the hardest character to adapt from “Curse” onwards. A lot of new characters and locations have also been introduced, and, although not memorable, they managed to expand the MI world in new ways.

The puzzles are a mixed bag, but they are generally more accessible than they have been in the past. The most frustrating thing gameplay-wise has been the new inventory together with the item combination system. Even when knowing the solution to a puzzle, you would get stuck for skipping a dialogue or just because you didn’t use the items or commands the exact same way the developers had it in mind.

Despite the humor being able to capture the original spirit of the series, the visuals are probably the biggest flaw of the game. Although not as awful as “Escape from Monkey Island”, the 3D graphics are still quite ugly, and the atmospheric touch of the first two games remains unmatched.

Tales of Monkey Island is the fifth instalment in the point-and-click adventure series and was released in 5 episodes and later sold as a complete package. Although you could play a random episode and find enjoyment within, the story follows on directly.

Despite the game's name, at no point do you visit Monkey Island; which is a first for the series. Like Escape From Monkey Island, it is rendered in 3D. Back by popular demand is the point and click style of interaction, although the lead character; Guybrush Threepwood is still controlled by the keyboard. It would have been nice to have some control options to choose from because I wasn't overly keen using the keyboard to move, and if you want to use a game controller, you still need the mouse for the interaction.

As always; the dialog and voice acting is brilliant, and both primary and secondary characters are very likeable. The game makes a return to form on the old style puzzles; ones that actually make sense, rather than the terrible puzzles featured in the previous game.

The story starts with Guybrush trying to put an end to the cursed zombie-pirate LeChuck using the Legendary Cursed Cutlass of Kaflu. The voodoo magic that is used is a botch job using substitute ingredients and the effect causes LeChuck's voodoo energy to contaminate Guybrush's hand and turns LeChuck back into a human. Guybrush washes up at Flotsam Island, where the Pox of LeChuck spreads to the residents, and the Voodoo Lady informs Guybrush that he needs to locate a powerful voodoo sucking sponge known as La Esponja Grande to remedy the situation.

The previous game, Escape From Monkey Island was rammed full of references to previous games meaning the humour served the long time fans, but Tales of Monkey Island will please newcomers by only containing a small amount of these inside-jokes.

There is a hint system which you can increase the frequency, although I didn't seem to notice it to much despite having it on the maximum setting. When I did notice it, it sometimes seemed to hint far too early. For example, when finishing a conversation with the Grim Reaper looking dude in the final chapter, Guybrush made a comment about his boat looking too clean. I guessed that I must use the dirt in my inventory on his boat. It seemed a bit weird giving me a hint without giving me a chance to look around and think about it. There were times I seemed a bit lost earlier in the game and I received no hint, so to me; the feature seemed a bit broken.

Overall, Tales of Monkey Island is a great point-and-click adventure, full of great puzzles, characters and humour and is highly recommended.

Going into this game I knew absolutely nothing about Monkey Island, hell all I knew was that it was some old point and click adventure game, but knew nothing of the plot or characters. This game quickly helps you grow acquainted and well thats probably one of the few good things, the game really has some interesting characters. Now my praise ends, this is an early Telltale game, so they didn't quite get their system down yet. The puzzles in this are a bit tough and almost a bit unfair sometimes, the pacing is odd with some episodes dragging and others being too short, and the story sort of just meanders with nothing big really occurring until the final episode. I really wanted to like this more but it was a bit boring and forgettable and it did have some fun moments and the characters were pretty likable but damn the game did nothing for the franchise. And the puzzles range from flat out boring and tedious to confusing.