Review: Tales of Monkey Island, Chapter I

Even the most diehard point-and-click adventure fans will admit the heyday of adventure gaming seem to belong past.  Still, these games seem to be making a comeback lately, with venues like Nintendo’s DS and Wii opening the door for both ports and new games alike.  Particularly making waves recently (sorry for the awful pun), was LucasArts’ recent revelation of Monkey Island: Special Edition, an updated version of the classic, being released July 15 on PC and XBLA.  Following on its coattails (or should I say, proceeding it?) on July 7 was Telltale Games’ first installment of the new game Tales of Monkey Island, the first truly new game in the Monkey Island franchise in years.

Being a point-and-click junkie myself, I was eager to get my hands on both Monkey Islands, and was able to play through the first episode of Tales, subtitled Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. Never having played any of the original games in the franchise, I was going in as a virgin, so-to-speak, with only an inkling about the franchise from which this game was spawned.  While some may consider this a disadvantage when reviewing Tales of Monkey Island, I consider it an advantage in some ways, as it enables me to appreciate the game as it is, without any preconceptions.  So, what did I think so far of this ultimately five-episode series?  Keep on reading to fnd out.

The game begins on the high seas, as our hero, Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™ is attempting to rescue his wife from the dread Pirate LeChuck.  However, things go horribly wrong, and Guybrush soon finds himself washed ashore on the cursed Flotsam Island, where all winds blow inward.  As a result, Guybrush is trapped there (along with everyone else), unless he can track down the mysterious “Deep Gut” who may be the only who can help our hero escape the island in order to find out what happened to his wife.

While I didn’t find Launch of the Screaming Narwhal as side-splittingly funny as the indie title Ben There, Done That by Zombie Cow, you will find yourself chuckling and even laughing out loud a few times throughout the game, especially when characters quote famous movie lines.  And these characters are certainly colorful: while I would hesitate to call the game beautiful, it does have a strong graphical presence, and animations are good, particularly Guybrush’s facial expressions.  The voice acting, for an adventure game (a genre notorious for atrocious voice acting), is enough to blow you out of the water; but to be fair, the actors have done an excellent job for any video game: each character has his (or her) own unique voice, which really brings each of the people Guybrush meets in his journey to life.  My particular favorite is the mysterious voodoo queen (apparently a franchise staple), whom Guybrush encounters approximately midway through this first chapter.  Certainly, the characters were the most memorable of any I’ve seen in an adventure game to date.

The heart of a point-and-click adventure game are the puzzles, and while Tales is no Professor Layton, it has its fair share.  The opening sequence has a few small puzzles that serve as a brief tutorial and introduction into the game controls, then you are on your own. As with many adventure games, some of the puzzles are solved merely with trial-and-error; in this game’s case, that usually means having to perform various actions in a certain order, due to various cause-and-effects. However, should you get stumped, Telltale has provided a step-by-step walkthrough.  However, I warn you that this walkthrough reveals everything, rather than simply giving hints.  The quality of the puzzles, overall, was fairly unique, and in actuality, wasn’t as riddled with the “combine item” puzzles that can often bog down many adventure games.  I was also relieved to find that Tales allows you to pick up any object at any time when you encounter it (many games of this genre will let you see an item you know you will need, but not let you pick it up until you encounter the puzzle it’s used for, forcing you to backtrack to recover it). And while I did find a couple of the puzzles a little tedious (rather than challenging, partially due to the controls – see below), for the most part they were neither insanely difficult nor ridiculously easy.  I actually found some to be particularly enjoyable, even when having to use trial-and-error.  Still, especially with a planned future WiiWare release, the game’s lack of a hint system may pose a problem for those unfamiliar with the genre, and it’s a little disappointing that Telltale’s walkthrough is so revealing; a staggered hint system (ala Professor Layton) would have been nice for those who needed it.  Perhaps this will be remedied in the future.

Overall, this game had excellent production values and surprisingly few flaws.  My biggest gripe was the controls: why Telltale decided to ignore the conventions of most point-and-click games is beyond me.  Being a junkie of these games (as I mentioned before), I’ve become hardwired to the traditional control scheme: you point somewhere on the screen and click, and your character will walk there.  Double click, and they’ll run there.  Right-clicking will often bring up your inventory.  While the lack of the right-click was merely an annoyance (I kept doing it out of habit, trying to bring up my inventory) and the in-game method worked fine (hover to the mid-right edge of the screen and the inventory box pops out), controlling Guybrush’s movement was tedious at best, and frustrating at worst.  Rather than using the standard point-and-click scheme, Telltale has opted for a “drag-and-pull” method.  In other words, to move the character around the screen, you must click on him, hold, and then pull your mouse in the direction you want him to travel.  This is annoying, as he will bump into things (you have to navigate around them), and it is particularly frustrating when you are zoomed in, as he won’t move unless you drag.  Needless to say, I got used to it as the game progressed, but I honestly wish Telltale would scrap this navigation system in future games, as I couldn’t see any reason using this method over more traditional ones.

One positive navigation element included in the game was a map: once you visit a certain area, it becomes accessible from the island map, which you get a birds-eye view of whenever you exit the jungle.  You can click on a previously visited area, and chuckle as a miniature Guybrush runs through the jungle to his destination.  My guess is this was a clever way of disguising a load screen, although I can’t be certain.  Still, I encountered very few loading screens and only brief (if any) load times when traveling to new locations (including entering a building).  Of course, I’m sure this will vary depending on the specs of your computer, and I would expect the WiiWare version to have more lag, although again, I can’t know this for sure.

Considering this was only part one of five, I thought the length was decent: it didn’t feel too long or too short (depending on your puzzle prowess, you could probably play it in a day or a weekend), and when you calculate it out, it’s not a bad investment for approximately $7.  However, keep in mind that (as with most games of this genre) replay value is limited: once you play through once, you don’t have too much inclination to play through it again.  However, I could definitely see myself playing through at least one more time, especially once all five episodes are released, to see how all five parts fit together.  Considering that each episode will be released monthly, that gives me about four months to forget this first episode enough to enjoy playing it again.

If you’re still on the fence, Telltale offers a demo of the first episode, so you can try out the game before you buy.  If you like it, you can easily purchase it.  Then all you need to do is enter your access key (or your account email and password) and it will automatically unlock the rest of the game for your enjoyment.  Although the game is currently only available as PC download (available directly from Telltale or from third-party services, such as Steam), it should arrive on WiiWare soon, and perhaps even XBLA down the road.  However, if you are a fan of the old LucasArts adventures, point-and-clicks in general, or just want some light-hearted fun, you could do less with your $7 an episode.

You can purchase all five episodes from Telltale’s site for $34.95, and your purchase will entitle you to get the entire series on DVD (for that coveted hard copy) when all five episodes are released.  The DVD is free with your purchase of the full game; you only pay shipping and handling.

And, while you anxiously await part II to be released, The Siege of Spinner Cay, you can enter the Monkey Island “Game Designer for a Day” contest, for your chance to have your dialogue included in one of the later episodes.

Doin It RIGHT: - Superb voice-acting. - Animations and graphics are good. -Stays true to the series with witty dialogue and fun pop cultural references. - Puzzles are creative, and some are actually pretty fun. - Almost no loading times. -Almost no bugs.	Doin It RONG: - Controls are awkward, especially for moving Guybrush around the scene. -Have to wait 1 month for the next episode. -Although it’s very entertaining, replay value (as true to the genre) is limited. -A hint system would have been nice for genre newcomers.
FINAL SCORE: 9 / 10