Review: Tales of Monkey Island, Chapter 3

We’re now officially at the halfway mark of the Tales of Monkey Island series, and so far it’s been a bumpy journey; both for Guybrush and us gamers. While the first episode set off to a good start, the second was lacking and frankly a bit disappointing. Even as big a fan of Adventure games as I am, I wasn’t looking forward to the next installment (The Lair of the Leviathan) as much as I could have been. However, I will admit right away that my reservations were unfounded: not only is this third chapter the best so far in the series, it is also one of the most enjoyable adventure games I’ve played.

Unlike the first two episodes, this chapter starts off pretty quickly with Guybrush and his ship (including the deadly Morgan LaFlay) getting swallowed by a giant manatee. I have played a lot of adventure games, some set in some pretty exotic locales, but I have to say that the innards of a giant manatee are on top of the list when it comes to cool game settings.

One thing that really makes this third episode great is the puzzles. A lot of adventure games fail in this category, either because the puzzles are just bad/stupid, or because you end up having to concoct ridiculous scenarios (such as taping your cellphone to a cat). They usually involve lots of inventory juggling, forcing you to randomly try combining items hoping you come up with a solution. Lair of the Leviathan is refreshing because its puzzles generally make sense; some are not only very creative, but a lot of fun.

For example, at one point you must enter into a “Pirate Face-off” competition with one of the pirates you meet in the belly of the beast. When it’s your turn, the screen switches to a close up of Guybrush, giving you various options for his eyes and mouth to create a unique “Arrrgh!” face. The whole process is very entertaining, and one thing that adds to the freshness of the puzzle is that Guybrush must first learn the various facial techniques before he can perform them. Another puzzle involves figuring out how to use a limited phrase list to communicate with a manatee. Not only are these examples fun, they were also humorous. In fact, I think part of what made this episode my favorite was the fact that it was the funniest of the three in a lot of ways.

So far my biggest complaint with Tales of Monkey Island has been the way you guide Guybrush around. Thankfully, this episode had smaller areas with fairly open spaces, so having to drag Guybrush wasn’t as annoying. Also, the TellTale team came up with a really clever quick travel system when you’re inside the manatee, so moving around was probably the easiest of the three titles so far. I would still like to see support for the “click here, go there” navigation system in the future. I do have to mention that it annoyed me a little that they depicted manatees as carnivores. I guess I’m being a bit silly, since everything else is asking me to completely suspend disbelief (Giant manatees? Surviving inside of one? Talking underwater?), but it was a detail that jerked me a little from the immersion of the game, and one I felt like I had to mention.

As with the previous episodes, the characters really help make Tales of Monkey Island outstanding. The voice acting is terrific, and the facial animations help bring them to life. This episode has a particularly interesting development of LaFlay’s character, which helped draw me into the story more than I had been in previous chapters. The music is also outstanding, and helps create the various moods throughout the episode. Combined with the great visuals, the music aids in making a fantastic experience.

The general downside to point-and-click adventure games (as a genre) is that the replay value is low. Once you’ve experienced the story and solved the puzzles, there just isn’t much to encourage another play through. However, Lair of the Leviathan, was so enjoyable that I actually wanted to play through it again. If you decide to only play one episode of the series, make this the one. If you are on the fence, then this episode definitely makes playing the first two worth it, at least in my book. Hopefully the final two chapters will be as enjoyable as Lair of the Leviathan is.