Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 3 (PC) Review
Another month and it is time for the next thrilling instalment of Telltales’ Tales of Monkey island series. Episode three, Lair of the Leviathan, signifies the mid-point in this series of five episodes, with the final two scheduled for the end of October and November respectively.
When we left Guybrush last episode he was, once again, at the pointy end of LeFlay’s sword. As LeFlay makes her demands the crew all turn and see an absolutely Manatee bearing down on them. Said Manatee then swallows the ship wholesale along with all the crew. Guybrush must now make good his escape from the inside of the Manatee, through the front entrance and not the service exit – as Guybrush puts it.
Once again the art style is sublime and really captures the whimsical nature of the entire franchise. This time around you spend a fair chunk of time in the stomach of a sea creature so sandy vistas and Caribbean couture are not exactly in abundance. The new characters are a mixed bag, with some looking great (like Moose and Bugeye) and others, like Noogie, seeming a little “plastic” – a criticism of the characters in the first episode. Oh and I seem to be having an unhealthy affection for Morgan LeFlay – one of the best new characters Telltale have introduced. I would go so far as to say that a story line featuring LeFlay solely would not be out of the question.
Sonically this time things are a little mixed. The general themes and mixes are still in place and the production values are as great as ever but there seems to be a lack of inspiration in the music. Perhaps it is the change in setting, the drab guts of a oversize sea cow is not exactly inspirational material! The voice acting is once again top notch though and the dialogue is delivered and handled with expertise and care.
The game lasts a similar amount of time to the previous entrants in the series but the puzzles are at times far too tenuous. Getting Noogie to smack the bongos faster to make the bile levels rise took me over thirty minutes to work out – there really was no logic to that one. The return of series favourite Murray was a master stroke and brings a new lease of malevolent comedy to the series. On the subject of the humour, this is probably the least funny of the three episodes so far – that is not to say it is not funny, just not as much. Another neat nod to the past games is the Face-Off fight you have with Bugeye. His reminds me greatly of the fights with Sword Master of Melee Island ™ from the first Monkey Island game. Not as well executed or realised but still good fun and a nice change to the pace.
And whilst I think about it, Morgan LeFlay reminds me greatly of the Sword Master from the first Monkey games… possible later revelation maybe? No probably not but still, you never know!
Final Thoughts:
To be honest there is nothing that wrong with this episode of Tales of Monkey Island – so why the lower score? Well the illogical nature of some of the puzzles, the reliance on location triggers (basically you try 101 things to resolve a problem but then you manage to walk to the right place at the right time and you are given a certain item that resolves the issue you have just spent 25 minutes trying to solve) can become very frustrating at times. And that is the main thing from this instalment, it left me very frustrated at times and at others I just breezed through. So the pacing is a little off, the music a bit lacklustre and the graphics have taken a plastic “tinge” again. That said this is still a great diversion for 4 or 5 hours and fits well in the over arc of the series. This is still a great slice of Monkey Island it’s just the weakest of the three so far.
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