Escape from Monkey Island

"Set Sail for one of the funniest games ever made! ARRR!!!"

Every person in the world is unique from every other, but there are a few things that just about everyone likes. One of them is money. The second one is…well…more money. And the third is, you guessed it, pirates. All right, so maybe not everyone likes pirates, but how can you resist letting out a good ARRRRRRR every once and awhile? So, my love of all things piratey brought me to the game Escape From Monkey Island. Made by one of my favorite developers, LucasArts, this fourth game in the long line of award winning (and hilariously funny) Monkey Island series is far different from its predecessors. But, fret not, Guybrush fans! You are about to embark on what is quite possibly the best adventure game ever created (Yeah, it even beats out a little game you might have heard of called Myst.)

Set sail for great fun on Planet Threepwood!

There are plenty of pirates in the land that are great and mighty, but none are mightier than the likes of Guybrush Threepwood! Well, maybe not in this game. Guybrush and his wife Elaine, the governor of Melee Island, have been gone from their home for so long, Melee has labeled them both as dead. Unfortunately for Elena, that means that her governor’s seat is open, and is being taken by a man named “Charles”, who hides a very important secret. Meanwhile, you play as Guybrush, determined to set your name straight (and get your name off the dead list for that matter), and probe into the mysteries of the “Ultimate Insult”. Overall, the storyline was very well crafted, and it kept me captivated through the entire game. It’s pretty damn funny too.

Now, Monkey Island has always stuck true to its roots. In this game, you get the usual. A solid game with a lot of funny puzzles, hilarious dialogue, totally 3D graphics, and…wait…3D graphics? Yes, it’s true. With Escape From Monkey Island, the game plots new territory by being the first title in the series to go into three dimensions. Now, some of you may cry bloody murder, but overall, this choice has helped the game. For one thing, everything is still as colorful and cartoonish as in the other games, with buildings, landscapes, and characters all beautifully animated. No problems with how the game runs are evident due to a solid framerate and virtually no slowdown evident. However, a lot of the backgrounds have annoying jaggies on them, along with the characters close up. While annoying as jaggies can be though, it really doesn’t inhibit the gameplay that much. The look of Monkey Island has stayed intact for it’s jump into 3D. As for the jaggies, they can just walk the plank. Yarrgh.

As you probably know, controlling Guybrush in the past was made easy due to the fact that the game was flat as paper. But now in 3D, it’s not so easy anymore. This time you dump the mouse all together, and just stick with the keyboard. It felt funny to me at first, but after awhile I got used to it. But, I just want to say that never before has a character been this stubborn to move. You can either walk or run through the environments. Walking is slow, so I would suggest running…even though that’s almost as slow. After ten years in the game business, Guybrush must be getting a bit old, because I’ve seen old men with walkers go faster than he does. Also, turning in this game is made hard because Guybrush actually turns too much when you tell him to. This makes it a pain in the ass to get over to doors, area exits, paths on the world map, etc. I also had a hard time remembering which button does what, and got lost a lot. Luckily the menu is easy to navigate. If only Guybrush was as easy to control as the menu.

As sweet as a six pack of grog!


True, even though most adventure games are different from each other, they basically boil down to being based on one thing; puzzles. With Monkey Island though, it’s always been a little different. One day the guys at LucasArts thought “hmm…what if we provide buyers of the game with puzzles…and a bit of humor to go along with it?” After ten years, their idea has flourished into what is likely the funniest game you’ll ever play. Monkey Island is basically solving different puzzles, and gathering items to help you along the way. Some of these puzzles are fairly easy to complete, and some of them are real zingers that will keep you thinking. This means that you have to ask people how to do things, what they want, and how they want you to do it. Luckily instead of just going through tons of banal dialogue, you get some really funny stuff. This is what makes the game so enjoyable to play. You’re always going to get a bit of a laugh. Now, with the items, you’ll get such varied things as a pack of jerky pretzels, to a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle. To really master the game, you should collect all the items. Characters from the old game are back and funnier than ever, including Murray, Stan, and *gasp*…LeChuck! And, for your benefit, all are funnier than ever! A great adventure awaits you, one that you definitely will remember for awhile.

One of the main reason it’s so fun to play this game is the dialogue. This by far is the best voice acting ever in a game. Not only are the actors really into the characters, but they actually make the characters funnier by acting them out. Also, the writers for the game have done a superb job by giving the characters great personalities, and by writing some of the best lines ever. Example: when you talk to Ozzie Mandrill, and he asks you if you know who he is, you can say “Aren’t you the pirate death metal star that bites the heads off of monkeys?” This and much more can be found in a game that’s just bursting with humor.The scenes in the game are well animated by the music. For instance, Jambalaya island has a slow, easy going theme to it, while Melee Island has sort of an action, piratey theme to it. Overall a great job done on the audio.

To close it up, this is one of my favorite games to have played since I started gaming, and I recommend it to anyone out there who has a good pc. Luckily, you don’t need to have some super dooper totally kickass machine that kills of everything else in existence. In fact, the game doesn’t even take up much space on your hard drive. Great story and gameplay, graphics that make the game very cartoonish, and great, loveable characters make this one not to miss. Basically the only fault in the game is that some of the puzzles are way too hard, and that, unless you want to want to hear a few lines again, you won’t be playing it again. But still, this is a game not to miss, and anyone should pick it up. Yaargh.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/15/02, Updated 07/15/02