Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 1 (PC) Review
Is this a good monkey, or do we need to spank it?
Man I loved the Monkey Island games back in the day. Playing the first Monkey Island on my Amiga 500 was one of those gaming milestones (like when you first played Shadow of the Beast, Halo, Ico, Wipeout or COD4). It changed my gaming life forever.
Now I am mega stoked for the upcoming re-release of the first Secret of Monkey Island came but after having played some of the later incarnations of Monkey IslandTM I was a bit worried for these new episodes.
This time around Guybrush has it all worked out, all he has to do it enchant a magical cutlass with root beer and a voodoo hex and then plunge it into LeChuck, his arch nemesis. In typical Guybrush fashion this does not go exactly to plan and instead of killing LeChuck he unfortunately makes him human. Oh and he end up getting the spirit of LeChuck in his now possessed left hand.
Whilst trying to come to terms with the sudden ressurection of LeChuck, Guybrush accidentally blows up the ship he, LeChuck and his wife Elaine are on. When Guybrush comes too he is on a warm sandy beach of a Flotsom Island. The main thrust of this episode is to escape Flotsom Island and return to Gellato Islands look for Guybrushs wife and the now mortal Captain LeChuck. So, typically bonkers story CHECK.
Graphically the game is a mixed bag. I say this but you need to understand my reasons as it might not bother you at all. The styling of the game is very much a fusion of the later Monkey Island games and more modern adventure games adaptations (like Sam and Max / Wallace and Gromit all by Telltale). The backgrounds and characters are beautifully coloured and very vibrant. The animation is, as ever, sublime and it really looks like a Saturday morning cartoon at times. Which makes it all the more jarring when you get a cut scene and see one of the character models close up. Some are just fine but others offer just large areas of blocks colour almost like they are made of clay. It reminds me of the art style and look of title like Little Big Adventure (google it it was a classic!) or early CD-Rom titles. That said the animation of said characters is top notch, it just makes no sense why they look so plasticky. Other than that the graphics capture the look and feel very well. There was the odd bit of texture tear but nothing special, oh and on occasion the sparkle effects from Guybrushs hands would turn into small blocks rather than the twinkly dots they should have been.
The sound is great. The original styling’s of the music have been replicated very well. The general calypso vibe still runs throughout the score and has been infused with a few more modern touches. The music works well and helps move the story well but the real star is the voice acting. The original cast has been assembled by Telltale (from the later Monkey games that is) and this shows. The dialogue is delivered well and is witty and culturally relevant in many places one of the objects you collect is a glass tube shaped like a U or, to put it another way, a U-Tube.. geddit? Good. There are plenty of references to the older games, mostly in subtle way, like Elaine calling LeChuck a SCUMM which is the old engine that the Monkey Island games were built with.
All these elements would mean diddly if the story and game blew. Luckily for all concerned the game is a cracker. Sure it is no Monkey Island 1 or 2 but man is it great fun. Like any other point and clicker you make your way around collecting items, combining them and putting them to good use. Telltale have cranked out enough of these now to get this mechanic right, and they have hit it spot on. Very little pressing and guessing was used in my way though the game. Most puzzles made perfect logical sense and held little more than a mild brain teaser. That is not to say the game is a doddle, there are the odd head scratches but all in all the game took me a little over 4 hours to finish and I took my time and talked to each character about a lot of the irrelevant things.
The only real gripe about the game, apart from the minor whinge about the character graphics, is that the control system is slightly boinked. With a usual point and click you, well, point and click. Tales is not the same and it feels like the control scheme was designed for a controller not a mouse. You move your character by holding the left mouse button and sliding the mouse in the right direction. Holding down the right button will make Guybrush run. This seems workable but a lot of the time it can be plane awkward to get the character to move exactly where you want him. There is a solution and this is how I played 90% of the game. You can use WSAD or the cursor keys to move him instead. In this fashion it works well and I would say that when the PSN / XBLA / Wii versions ship of this the controls with be a doddle.
Final Thoughts:
This game has been made with great care and knowledge of the reference material after all Dave Grossman does work at Telltale & Ron Gilbert was a consultant of Monkeyoligy (see the credits!) on the project. The script is funny, not as funny as the older ones but a good, light laugh. The pacing is well handled but the whole game can be finished on first play in 4 hours. On 2nd play you could probably get that down to something stupid like 2 hours, if that. That said, even if it is 2, 4 or 6 hours you spend on the title it is worth it. This feels exactly how it was meant to feel – a great introduction to the world of Monkey Island and a positive step on the road to another winning franchise by Telltale. More please!
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