A brand new tale in the
world of Monkey Island is out, and I’m hoping for a fun old style
game in the vein of the classic adventure genre. I went ahead and
pre-purchased all five episodes, and can’t wait to delve in. But,
before starting to the new stuff, I decided to refresh my memory on
that which came before. This is a review of my experiences with The
Escape from Monkey Island. I think this is my favorite game in the
series.

Get the Game Running

Like
Monkey Island 3, I had Monkey Island 4 on CD. Unlike Monkey Island
3, MI4 is not supported by SCUMMVM. I was on my own getting the game
to run. Thankfully the game installed and ran with no problems.

Unfortunately, this Monkey
Island is buggy in the “CD” state, so I had to search
around and find a patch (http://www.worldofmi.com/thegames/monkey4/index.php#Downloads
or http://www.lucasarts.com/support/update/monkey-4.html).
For some reason my mind told me to look for patches before starting
the game; perhaps I have some deep routed ill memories about this
title somewhere below the surface.

Even with the patch, there
was still one show stopper bug. When talking to some pirates playing
Chess, if you don’t finish the puzzle the first time on the
screen the game locks up when you come back later. Unfortunately,
you can start the chain of events without knowing there is an actual
puzzle going on yet. I had to restore a previously saved game going
quite back a ways in order to get past the bug. In retrospect I remember
having this problem the first time around too.

There is also a 3rd party
replacement for the MI4 loader (http://quick.mixnmojo.com/escape-from-monkey-island-setup)
which supposedly gives you an easier way to install the game, download
the patch, and change the settings. I could never get it to work,
unfortunately, so can’t comment on it. The idea sounds promising,
however.

Getting used to
the Interface

Escape from Monkey Island
is the first 3D Monkey Island Game. I’m not sure if the 3D rendering
adds anything to the game, but it didn’t detract either. The
look of the game was very similar to the style of the previous game,
which had the visual appeal of a cartoon. I don’t mind cartoons, so
it was all good.

This
game uses the keyboard as the primary interface, so no more point
and click. I remember this frustrating me greatly the first time around.
Imagine a game from the year 2000 that didn’t use a mouse? This
time I didn’t mind the keyboard usage. It took a while to get
used to, but once I was there it was fine.

That was a great
Honeymoon, are we dead?

The game starts with our
cartoony heroes, Guybrush Threepwood and Elaine Marley, coming back
to Melee Island from their honeymoon. Unfortunately, Governor Marley
has been declared dead and they are trying to demolish her house.
As Elaine goes off to get herself declared undead—no not like
that—Guybrush tries to stop the house demolition. Along the
way we reintroduce LeChuck as a political candidate in the Melee Island
Governor race, Ozzie Mandril an Australian real estate developer turning
all that is piratey into big tourist traps and a quest to unravel
the secret of the Marley Heirlooms and discover the ultimate insult.

The puzzles are logical
and somehow manage to avoid the endless “point and click until
something works” phenomenon that exists in much of the genre.
By introducing some random element into the puzzles, the puzzles are
slightly more varied and require some thought to solve. For example,
at one point you need to figure out how a filing system works to find
the hideout of a thief on Lucre Island. The filing system is consistent
but the name changes, so each time through the puzzle is slightly
different.

As you would expect, Guybrush
has to find a ship and a crew. Each adventure leads to the next, eventually
leading to Monkey Island and a final showdown with LeChuck. In Part
1, LeChuck was a ghost. In Part 2, LeChuck was a zombie. In Part 3
he was a demon. This time they switch between all three personas as
LeChuck’s character takes shape. I especially liked seeing Ghost
Pirate LeChuck rendered with “modern” capabilities.

The
insult sword fighting idea returns in this game as Monkey Combat.
You need to shout a series of nonsense monkey words to move to a position.
Each position wins over a different position and you banter back and
forth w/your opponent. This is the weakest point in the game, unfortunately.
It is tedious to figure out the magic commands and it feels like just
a roadblack to enjoyment.

The banter between the
Elaine and Guybrush is fantastic and for me really nailed the essence
of the characters. Guybrush was a bit more naïve, and focused
on comic relief. He played his character as if he were a kid in a
candy store, and everything he explored was new and exciting. Elaine,
on the other hand, takes the more serious stance on things. The voice
acting and characterization of all the characters is what really made
the game a joy to play.

What Next?

Well, I’m out of
legacy Monkey Island games to add to my playlist. I guess it is time
to move on to something more recent, the Launch of the Screaming Narwhal.
This is my first foray into episodic gaming and I’m not sure
what to expect. I hope the five episodes of Tales of Monkey Island
are equal to (or greater than) a single game. We’ll have to
see how it goes.

System Requirements

• Windows 95/98/ME/2000
• Pentium 200 MHz
• 32 MB RAM
• DirectX 7.0a
• 4MB PCI or AGP video
  card
• 4X CD-ROM drive
• 6-Bit Sound Card
• 195 MB Hard Disk space
• 75 MB Hard Disk space
  for swap file
• Keyboard (optional suppport
  for gamepad and joystick)