Escape from Monkey Island

"The Fourth Monkey Island Game Has Its Moments"

Escape from Monkey Island is the fourth game in LucasArts Monkey Island series, dating from all the way back to the original game, Secret of Monkey Island, which came out in the early 90's. Escape from Monkey Island (EFMI) picks up shortly after where the last Monkey Island game (Curse of Monkey Island) left off. The series is known for being just absolutely hilarious and very witty and very memorable characters to boot in an actual good story. EFMI has a lot to live up to, being the fourth in the series, both in humor and even story. Does it live up to its predecessors? In many ways, yes it does, but there's also so many ways in which it doesn't and often even really disappoints. And the jump from 2D to 3D, along with an altered control scheme, really hinders the experience. Make no mistake, the game is still quite a bit funny, but the game just feels like a mockery of itself in many cases.

Story: 6/10

As I mentioned above, the Monkey Island series is known for telling good, funny stories, as often is the case with LucasArts adventure games (Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, Sam & Max, etc). In this game, you continue the role of Guybrush Threepwood, wannabe pirate and now turned husband. You and your wife Elaine (who is the governor of a tri-island area by the way) return from your honey moon and you find out that Elaine has been declared dead because they've been gone for so long (over the course of the past 3 adventures) So the game starts out as you trying to help Elaine gain her position as governor back. Things go awry, and familiar and not-so-familiar villains show up and the adventure begins.

The Monkey Island series, while utterly silly and hilarious, is supposed to still retain that comedy within its own fictional boundaries. However, EFMI goes outside of those boundaries. For example, the series takes place in a pirate-like setting. But in EFMI, there's common use of comedy by using modern day things. The game makes a mockery out of Starbucks (Starbuckeneers) and Planet Hollywood (Planet Threepwood), and while it's certainly a funny concept at first, it's never been how the series humor was used. The game staggers on its humor at times. When the game is funny, it's really funny. Burst out loud funny, just like the previous three games. But those moments are few and far between. There are too many times where the game tries too hard to be funny, which is where things like "Starbuckaneers" come in. It will make you smile, but it's hokey.

As always, there are returning characters and some new ones, and it's the characters that bring forth the comedy. Guybrush is just as dorky and funny as before, and his voice actor from the third game reprises his role. However, while it is nice to see some returning favorite characters, they are more often than not put to waste as far as the story goes. There are actually quite a lot of cameos, but most of them serve no purpose other than to be cameos, which is pretty disappointing. My biggest disappointment was what they did with my favorite character that first appeared in the third game: Murray the evil talking skull. He brought so much fun and humor to the last game, he became nominated as the second best "sidekick" on the Gamespy network. I don't mean to spoil his role in this game for any of you, but I'll tell you this just so you're not as disappointed when he shows up. Murray is a bouncer. Now, again, at first, an evil talking skull being a bouncer is a funny concept. But it's such a waste of one of the best characters in the series, especially since he virtually never shows up again in the game. He's not even funny, and even his reprising voice actor seems bored. So much potential wasted. Other characters suffer the same.

This time there are two villains, one being that loveable familiar zombie pirate (LeChuck obviously) while another is just downright annoying, named Ozzy Mandril. He's Australian (another real life thing brought into the games fictional setting) and for some reason the game developers seemed to think that being Australian is funny. Well, it's not. So there's a lot of poking fun at Australians (like didgeridoos, kangaroos, etc) which baffles me as to why they put this in the game.

The story's ending is ultimately disappointing.

EFMI has funny characters (thankfully Guybrush carries this game all the way with his humor) and a goofy story, but it's not that well crafted. And some of the funniest parts will only be funny to vets of the series who have played all of the previous games (mostly with the cameos) It also opens up a few plot holes in the series which the previous game had fixed beautifully.

Gameplay: 6/10

LucasArts used to be well known for making classic point-n-click adventure games like Sam & Max, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and the highly acclaimed Grim Fandango. These games focus solely on solving puzzles. EFMI has some pretty difficult puzzle designs, but some are pretty fun and even funny as well. However, there are quite a few difficult puzzles that are only difficult because they are terrible in design. For example, there is a moment in the game where you have to find a file of a criminal by figuring out what his real name is, and then using this machine with symbols on it. The machine was made by a monkey, and the symbols are pictures of animals and plants and such. Normally, there would be subtle clues lying around so something like this could be figured out. But it's all just trial and error. You have to literally guess what the hell to do, unless you resort to a handy walkthrough, which you probably will end up doing considering this is a bad way to implement a puzzle, and simply just a waste of time on the player's part. As it turns out, the pictures mean some sort of group of letters (like a picture of a pig means letters A through H) Go figure.

This is often where the game fails in experience: through trial and error type puzzle design. Most of the time this isn't the case, and the game is fair to you by giving subtle clues here and there, be it the background, inventory, or dialogue. But when the trial and error ones show up, they're just downright frustrating.

The games control scheme is a bit of a mess. For those of you who got the chance to play a little good game known as Grim Fandango, just know that the control scheme from that game is identical to EFMI. They got rid of mouse control point-n-click system that works marvelously for these types of games and you now have to use the keyboard. It's awkward, and even after you get used to it, it never quite works that well. Instead of clicking on an object to get information about it, you have to walk up to it until Guybrush tilts his head towards it. Needless to say this can often times get tedious and annoying.

I have to say this though: with the entire above aside, there is one major part of the game that has to be the worst. It's a trial and error type of puzzle that's called "Monkey Kombat"(a spoof of Mortal Kombat) Learning how to play this is just downright confusing and stupid. Instead of Mortal Kombat type controls, you have to memorize (or write down, it's easier) what each "monkey phrase" means, and which one counter acts other phrases and such. (Phrases like eek, oop, ack, chi) What the hell were they thinking? I cannot stress this enough that Monkey Kombat totally brings this game down. Had it not been for this, I would have given EFMI's gameplay a good 7 at least.

Graphics: 7/10

For the first time in the Monkey Island series, EFMI jumps from 2D to 3D. I must say that the backgrounds and environments for this game are wonderful. They are cartoony, but it keeps the feel of Monkey Island. Character models are a bit blocky though. Their animations are a bit awkward a lot of times, and even more a bit generic. Their facial expressions seldom change. The FMV cutscenes are pretty good, but nothing astonishing.

Sound/Audio: 9/10

The game uses the same music from the previous installment. And I must say that I loved the music from the previous games. They set the tone of the games mood and atmosphere perfectly, and there's no exception here. The voice actors for Guybrush, LeChuck, and Murray return and do a splendid job.

Replayability: 3/10

There is no reason to go back and play this game twice. Like all adventure games of this genre, there is only one path to take, and no unlockables. The only reason to replay the game is if you liked the story and the humor a lot, but that can't last for very long.

Final Thoughts:

EFMI is an o.k. game: nothing more, and nothing less. It's quite arguably the worst of the Monkey Island series, but that doesn't mean the game is abysmal. It's available for the PC and the PS2, and quite honestly I think the PS2 version might be better simply because of the controls. There are also some glitches in the PC version. It's a good, pretty funny game, but there are a lot of disappointing aspects - mostly being some of the puzzle designs, shoddy controls, and awkward humor that sometimes doesn't belong. If you're a fan of the series, I'd say it's worth looking at for the most part, and for new comers, well, you might end up enjoying its humor, but I'd recommend playing the previous games more than this one.

Overall: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/28/04