It’s been nine years since we last heard from Guybrush Threepwood and the rest of the Monkey Island crew in their last swash-buckling adventure in 2000’s Escape From Monkey Island and boy have they changed.  Not only has the developer of the title changed, but some of the visuals have received an update as well.  With all of this updating, does the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island have the same feel as the previous Monkey Island games, or did that get an unnecessary update as well?

In Tales of Monkey Island: Episode One, you play as Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™.  The game’s opening sequence introduces Elaine, Guybrush’s wife, and The Ghost Pirate LeChuck, who has kidnapped Elaine in order to make her his bride….again.  Guybrush comes sailing in to rescue his wife, only to be blown away from the ship and stranded on an unknown island with a cursed hand courteous of LeChuck.  Once you begin your adventure on the island, that is when you get the sense of this being a true Monkey Island game.  One of your first missions on the island is to prove yourself a mighty pirate, which acts as an homage to how The Secret of Monkey Island started.  The Tales of Monkey Island thankfully doesn’t require players to have played any of the previous Monkey Island games.  Long time fans will be able to pick out little references to the past games, but that doesn’t mean this title is only for the die-hard Monkey Island fans as there’s plenty in this title for new players who enjoy a good adventure game.

The controls for Tales Of Monkey Island are a mix of on-screen clicks to particular points of interest and moving Guybrush around using the WASD keys.  FPS shooter players will be familiar with this control scheme, but Guybrush’s movements feel clunky at times and it’s hard to navigate him through the 3D world.  Guybrush can also be moved by holding down a mouse button and pulling him towards the intended destination, but that feels a little strange at times as well.

The interface has also received a bit of an upgrade.  Gone are the actions like “Look At” and “Talk To” to which now you simply point at a particular point of interest, click, and Guybrush will interact with it.  If it’s an item, he’ll either comment on it or pick it up.  If it’s a character, he’ll start a dialogue with them.  Items in your inventory can be called up with the TAB key, but you can also move your mouse to the right edge of the screen to call it up as well.  In previous Monkey Island games, to combine items, you simply took one item, put it on another, and the items would be used together.  In Tales of Monkey Island, there are two slots in your inventory screen where you can place the items individually in order to combine them.

Graphically, The Tales of Monkey Island isn’t anything spectacular in comparison to current-gen games.  This is neither a good thing nor bad as the Monkey Island series has never been known to push the envelope graphically.  The main players in the game received a nice artistic upgrade, but some of the side characters can look awfully familiar at times, such as the pirate you commandeer a boat from and the news reporter you meet early on in the game.  Regardless of that, the visual style overall is reminiscent of a true Monkey Island game.

When I think of a Monkey Island game, the one thing that sticks out the most is the humor.  The humor in Tales of Monkey Island is spot-on to the past games.  As you progress through the story, the dialog between Guybrush and other characters is always entertaining and rarely bores you enough to want to skip through the dialog.  Most of what you’ll encounter in the dialog will be nonsense and won’t make a difference to the game’s story, but learning all of the little intricacies of the characters that populate the island are always entertaining.

FINAL THOUGHT: It’s safe to say that the Monkey Island series is in good hands with TellTale Games.  The sights, sounds, puzzles, and dialog are all reminiscent of a true Monkey Island game.  Adventure game fans will be pleased with the offering TellTale has made with the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island.

8.5/10

Related posts:

1. Tales Of Monkey Island Gameplay Trailer Includes Ghost Pirates, Cursed Cutlasses, and …a One-Headed Monkey?! The release date for TellTale’s Tales of Monkey Island...
2. E3 2009: Monkey Island Series is Back, ‘Tales’ and ‘Special Edition’ Announced We knew we loved Telltale Games.  2 pieces of...
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The release date for TellTale’s Tales of Monkey Island is nearly upon us (July 7), and a new gameplay trailer was released today.  The first chapter, entitled “Launch of the Screaming Narwhal”, will include the cast you know and love from the Monkey Island series.

The gameplay trailer shows the game has kept it’s humor in tact.  I’m the kind of player who likes playing around with dialog to find out as much information as possible, or to simply see what kind of humorous dialog I can uncover.  The banter between Guybrush and Governor Marley is a great example of why I loved the Monkey Island series.

TellTale also made sure to note the inventory system, specifically the ability to combine items.  The ability to combine items can raise the difficulty of the game quite a bit as players could be spending a ton of time combining items in order to get the desired effect.  At least we can say the game might take a little longer than the 2-3 hours TellTale says it could be completed in.

Related posts:

1. Review: Tales Of Monkey Island: Episode One It’s been nine years since we last heard from...
2. E3 2009: Monkey Island Series is Back, ‘Tales’ and ‘Special Edition’ Announced We knew we loved Telltale Games.  2 pieces of...
3. LucasArts To Playthrough Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition LIVE! [UPDATE] During E3, one of the biggest surprises to come...

We knew we loved Telltale Games.  2 pieces of news for you. 1. Not only are they re-releasing great PC adventure games, but they’re also working on a new 5 part series, called Tales of Monkey Island!  and 2. LucasArts will be re-releasing The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition.

Tales of Monkey Island – Guybrush Threepwood is back along with a bunch of people who worked on the original game.  Tales of Monkey Island will be released over 5 chapters for the PC and through the Wii’s Wiiware, similar to the Sam and Max series.

While explosively stripping the evil pirate LeChuck of his demonic mojo, Guybrush Threepwood inadvertently infects the entire Caribbean with the arch-fiend’s expelled voodoo, which threatens to transform buccaneers into unruly pirate monsters. Pursued by a notorious cut-throat Pirate Hunter and a creepy French Physician who believes that Guybrush’s eerily-infected hand holds the secret of eternal life, Threepwood sails the seven seas in search of La Esponja Grande, a legendary sea sponge with unparalleled voodoo exfoliating abilities. But little does Guybrush know, his quest is part of a larger, more sinister plot, and good and evil are not always as they seem…

We’re VERY excited for this release from TellTale Games and can only say Thank you for reviving the series once again.

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition – The game from 1990 is back with updated graphics, new voiceovers and a re-mastered musical score.  Expect this to hit XBox Live and PC.

Back by popular demand, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition faithfully re-imagines the internationally-acclaimed classic game (originally released in 1990) for original and new audiences alike. The development team at LucasArts is bringing the game into the modern era with all-new HD graphics, a re-mastered musical score, full voiceover, and an in-depth hint system has been added to help players through the game’s side-splitting puzzles. Purists will also delight in the ability to seamlessly switch between the updated HD graphics and the original’s classic look.

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Related posts:

1. Review: Tales Of Monkey Island: Episode One It’s been nine years since we last heard from...
2. Tales Of Monkey Island Gameplay Trailer Includes Ghost Pirates, Cursed Cutlasses, and …a One-Headed Monkey?! The release date for TellTale’s Tales of Monkey Island...
3. The Secret of Monkey Island, LeChuck Taylors Ever wonder why Guybrush Threepwood had a hard time...