Escape from Monkey Island

"It's going, going, gone."

"Aw c'mon, let me take a plunge down a river of molten lava."

Fourth installment of the ever popular and LucasArts most famous game. This time, the game has been revamped with new a control sytem and 3D graphics. Technically, to appeal to more fans and to boost sales of the playstation 2 conversion, the license Escape From Monkey Island isn't a sequel to Curse Of Monkey Island. This is Monkey Island 4 but not neccessarily a sequel. But let's get down to the nitty gritty.

Each Monkey Island game has proved it's cult status and has become a huge hit in the adventure genre. Obviously, as the title states, it's not a game to be taken seriously and has made a name for itself with it's ludicrous plots, wacky character names (E.g Guybrush Threepwood), awkward items and puzzle solutions and it's puns and dry wit dialogue. That spells out comic classic. Well, okay, not entirely but the voice acting does help the comedy value of the game.

Escape From Monkey Island does live up to the hype and it's predecessors, immensely at some parts but then when you look at the whole revamp the game has had, you wonder if LucasArts could have created something more original that would appeal to new fans. The control system is undoubtedly inspired by the success of Grim Fandango because they are exactly the same. For instance, the last Monkey Island game had an original control system which worked pretty well. But for the franchise, EFML has used a partial amount of Grim Fandango's franchise. Which makes you wonder, did LucasArts plan this game well?.

"Oh, the lava is hotter than a flame-broiled otter and my shoes are slowly melting to the fiberglass floor."

The plot outline is again ridiculous in a appeasing manner. Guybrush Threepwood, your wannabe pirate, has return from his voyage with his wife, the Governor of Melee Island, Elaine Marley. But apparently, because of her absence for so long, parliament has declared her dead. And another politician, Charles .L. Charles is running for her place. You need to save your house and find a way to help Elaine win the election. But you get caught in the Marley family heirlooms, where the Ultimate Insult falls into the wrong hands and it is being used to take over the Carribean by overrunning pirates (hilariously in a bid to reform them).

Yes, this is wack but you can't complain if you enjoyed the last games. Which does unfortunately bring up the headline 'Won't appeal to everyone'. Basically, if you aren't a fan, or aren't interested in this genre, then EFML is hardly likely to grapple with your attention. But for fans, this isn't disappointing and will definetly bring some laughs as familliar faces return from the first game and the puns and dry wit is still very much intact.

Escape From Monkey Island's humour is very questionable. With gags such as "She'll be complient, submissive and obdient - in other words, she'll the perfect wife!" is very much the opposite of funny sexism. Neither is this little clarity -

"The pirates will see through your false tissues of lie and hope!."
"The pirates couldn't even see through a window!."

Tee hee.

Same as much as most of the intense vocabulary jokes EFMI bombards us with. However, some of the concepts are genuinely subtley amusing - such as the school for pirates, and the captain who thinks more than two people standing together on an island means they're terrorists. But the dialogue rarely steps out of the shell, and tries too hard that it seems it isn't trying in the first place. Most of the inane insults and jokes have been swept away and replaced for sappy and naff kids humour - this is a big chunk of a problem to veterans of Monkey Island.

"Ah, you biserable mastard!"

Character wise, Monkey Island has always excelled. And this is no different becase LucasArts cleverley marketed this game in that department. LeChuck, the pirate is back (The best character - but with hardware problems here). Elaine Marley proves to be a good sidekick and a genuinely cool character while the return of Guybrush truly states why he's such a great character. Other faces like Brittanny, Deadeye Dave, Pegnose Pete, Murray (a personal favourite) and other names with the use of alliteration are quite pleasant too. The only sorrow is that the dialogue doesn't compliment their presence in the game.

"Hey, look over there!."
"Yes I know, it's a three headed monkey"

Stylistically, EFML may take awhile to grab you. For me, it took about the intro and the first five minutes into the game. The graphics have been uplifted to 3D fully environmental features which is a only a tad more colourful than Grim Fandango. See what I'm getting at?. This is a nice upgrade and there isn't anything wrong about the graphics, although the FMV could have done with a little more construction and focus. Overall, it's nice to see the Funky put into the Monkey but it loses the appeal mostly.

Why?. Well, when Monkey Island happily lived in matrimony of the LucasArts brand of classic games, the graphics were something of a trademark. Then the deluxe, fresh but awfully simple graphics of Curse Of Monkey Island was technically great but the graphics here seem to succumb to the mainstream graphics found in today's modern games. Escape From Monkey Island have accepted the proposal of 3D polygons, but a pre nup must have been signed as only a semi effect.

"Well, that seems to have shaved the proverbial Dingo."

Gameplay values is a far cry from the previous games and into the neighbourhood of - wait for it- Grim Fandango. The control system is identical. The only difference is the item combination which EFML has and Grim Fandango doesn't. So I'm afraid this game does not win any points for originality here but the control system, in fairness, does not quite suit this game very well. It opens up a new environment in the game which gives Guybrush the freedom to explore in bigger scenarios, yes, but at the expense of very repetitive mistakes in moving him.

The old skool gaming is back, find items, talk to people, use items on other items and objects to achieve goals. So nothing should disappoint here. There is the small matter of next generation adventuring, when will LucasArts take on this idea instead of repeating the same gameply over and over again?. But for now, that isn't an important issue. The only other criticism is that there is no option for an easy or hard mode which the other games excelled at, this not only shortens the game's length but makes the gameplay meagre and very easy.

I was not too fond of the monkey fighting in which you fight monkeys using different stances and other keek ridden unfunny things. The insults would stem from oop and eee then ack and oh, er, chee. Again the concept may have seemed interesting, but poorly developed and frustrating. The controls are in the same format to Grim Fandango (considering you're not using a joypad). However, my personal feeling to the controls (that is, keyboard orientated) are just unnacceptable because they feel so jerky. The point and click system would be widely missed for a change.

"What Marco doesn't know is that we've secretly replaced his regular baby seal oil with Starrbuchaneers' brand Smear Whiz. Let's watch."

The Carribean themed music always did the trick for this title. And it returns for another helping, which sees old compositions remade for boot. There's nothing to complain about in the music or sound effects department as it's always on top form. The voice acting is back (hurrah!) and Dominic Armato is on the payroll for the role of Guybrush Threepwood again!. This is great, as he does a great job as well as the actress for Elaine Marley. The voice acting is superbly demonstrated and provides great humour to the jokes (Yes....they are jokes.)

...with the strong desires to be a pirate - "I wanna be a pirate!"

Now let me give the real synopsis of Escape From Monkey Island in reflection of the whole game. Escape From Monkey Island just becomes so rushed and uncontemplated that it seems as if it's trying to outbreak from the traditional adventuring roots. The game has never been known to be predictable, yet this entry manages it just fine. Some of the dialogue was pretty potent in line with it's predecessors, but some was also so bad that it became much more than mediocre jokes - while the voice acting all did their job of developing the characters, the script didn't.

Near the end, Escape From Monkey Island is tediously easy. The most plausible thing about the game is there were more vast puzzles, but the item solutions were fairly simple. The characters were greatly done, Elaine Marley finally proving to be a worthy character out of the long series. LeChuck suffered from bad dialogue and maybe needed a new vamp to his character design (which is the same as the last game, except in 3D). Murray, the evil demonic, meglomaniac skull makes a cameo appearance that is a huge shame to those who found his comic appeal in the last game hilarious. Some of the characters returning are sadly executed with poor jokes and the fresh ones that introduce themselves suffer from a diagnosis called being unmemorable. It's a pity - but the game isn't a complete failure.

Escape From Monkey Island is a worthy successor but does not offer anything new which is a disappointment, I have marked this game as a sequel because there is no other way to do it and if so, this game would fail on all counts because the jokes aren't so funny and the dry wit has been heard and said before. Nostalgia is a cheap way of marketing something and a weak way of making a sequel to a game. Even the rivalry between Guybrush and LeChuck wears thin at times. No dynamics but the game is nothing the other games weren't which is why it is allowed to stay in line. In this case, fans of Monkey Island would be far better off playing this on the playstation 2 to get something out of the game. This was probably meant to be the cream of the crop, but scrounging off the success of Grim Fandango is clearly visible at times.

Most people have discarded the game like a bag of manure, who can really blame them?. Escape From Monkey Island will be a game that will be easily and best neglected when or if LucasArts whip up another Monkey Island game that surpasses this one. For some, the game is dreadful, for others the game is delightful. But factually, the truth of the Escape Of Monkey Island lies in a stream that is slowly heading for that fatal waterfall not so far away...

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/05/04, Updated 07/30/04