I’ll be honest with you: I love Adventure games, and the fact that we’ve had a recent resurgence of them, whether they’re updates of old games or new franchises, makes me one very happy gamer. If you read my review of the first chapter of Tales of Monkey Island you’ll know that I had very little to complain about. But for those of you still on the fence about this series from TellTale, or for those who may be purchasing the game on an episode-by-episode business, read on to see what I thought about the second chapter: The Siege of Spinner Cay.

Chapter two picks up where Launch of the Screaming Narwhal left off: You’re on the high seas in search of Guybrush’s missing wife, Elaine, and ultimately in search of La Esponja Grande. Like the first chapter, you’re almost immediately launched into an on-deck battle of sorts before you can continue with your journey. As the title suggests, you spend the majority of your time in the Jerkbait Islands, of which Spinner Cay is the port and home to the Vacaylians, a mer-people of an ambiguous gender. You soon find yourself island hopping as you search for the three summoning artifacts so that you can locate the infamous large sea sponge needed to cure the Pox Guybrush unwittingly set loose in the first chapter.

Overall, this second installment wasn’t as enjoyable as the first, although I can’t quite put my finger on why. As with the first, the characters are what really shine here, and are truly brought to life through the amazing voice acting. Guybrush is particularly endearing, of course, and (as blasphemous as this may be) I actually found myself missing TellTale’s iteration of the character while playing through The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition. As much as it’s joked about in the game, there really is something about the beard that makes the character, and while the facial animations of some of the other characters may be lacking at times, the team obviously focused on Guybrush, as his facial expressions and gestures (combined with the excellent voice work) can really make the otherwise drab dialogue vastly more entertaining.

Compared to Chapter I, this segment is rather short, although it is artificially lengthened by a lot of “back-and-forth.” For one, although you can quick travel on the large map from island to island, this isn’t true when visiting various locations on the larger islands. Unlike Flotsam Island’s map, where you could click a location once visited and have a mini Guybrush run to it before taking you there, in Chapter II you must physically walk to each location every time - something that gets old very quickly, especially when magnified by the still-present, unnecessarily tedious navigation system (you must hold and drag your mouse to direct Guybrush, rather than simply pointing and clicking to send him there).

Likewise, the puzzles in Chapter II seemed to be even more paired down than the first, with most of them involving nothing more than trekking back and forth. While I could appreciate the satire in some of the puzzles (for example, having to teach LeChuck how to solve puzzles in an Adventure game), it felt more tedious than funny, and for many for whom this game may be their first leap into the genre, probably completely lost. Overall, the humor wasn’t as good as the first chapter, although, for some reason the pyrite parrot never ceases to bring a smile to my face: “It is I, Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate!”

However, I have to give credit to TellTale for avoiding the pitfalls that so often plague Adventure games. Voice acting is stellar, something rarely found in these games so often riddled with atrocious voice work. Bugs are almost entirely absent, an enormous surprise, given that many otherwise successful games of this genre are so often destroyed by game-ending bugs. Music is excellent: in fact, I love the main theme and actually wish it was used more in the game itself. Animations are also strong, although not perfect. However, in a genre of mostly static backdrops, it’s nice to see moving backgrounds, and the way the world shakes or bobs with the surrounding environment (i.e., the bobbing of the screen when at sea), is something I have never seen done before and that really helps bring the game to life.

Although a traditional hint system still isn’t present, you are sometimes given visual cues or dialogue hints if you get stuck, and again, TellTale has provided a walkthrough if you get stuck.

While the relatively high production values and stellar characters definitely make me want to play the next episode, somehow the wait for Chapter III will definitely be bearable. However, as the flaws are few, I can’t help but recommend this episode as well and hope that the series only improves with the next three chapters.

[raw]

Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Siege of Spinner Cay Publisher: TellTale Games Developer: TellTale Games Platform(s): PC (reviewed), Wii Release Date: 08/20/09 (PC); 08/31/09 (Wii)

Doin It RIGHT: - Characters really come to life through great voice acting and good animation. - Not hilarious, but generally entertaining. - Great character designs and music.	Doin It RONG: - Lack of quick-travel artificially lengthens game & adds tedium. - Relatively short on puzzles. - Shorter experience than Chapter 1.
FINAL SCORE: 7/ 10

       

Tags: adventure, chapter 2, guybrush threepwood, LucasArts, point-and-click, siege of spinner cay, tales of monkey island, telltale

This entry was posted on Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 4:07 pm and is filed under PC, Reviews, Wii. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.