Escape from Monkey Island

"A classic, hilarious adventure game marred only by some fiendishly cryptic puzzles!"

Ahoy there matey! Welcome to the world of swashbuckling pirates! But this adventure will surely be different from the world of pirates you all know! Meet Guybrush Threepwood; a "mighty" pirate who has recently been married to the woman of his dreams, the pirate-governor of Melee Island, Elaine Marley. But an unexpected disaster strikes when the two love birds return home to find their home in the process of being destroyed! On top of that, Elaine has been declared dead and lost her position as governor! This dilemma will lead Guybrush on a strange journey where he will battle against commercialism, the horror of pirates being turned into productive members of society, a talking monkey, a no-nose crook, and a greedy Australian land developer! Will Guybrush be able to restore the Caribbean to its former pirating glory!?

I have never played any of the previous Monkey Island games, but that certainly didn't stop me playing this one and thoroughly enjoying it! Escape from Monkey Island has its own separate story, but if you haven't played some of the other games, you'll be missing out on a lot of the jokes relating to old characters. Nevertheless, if you're a fan of adventure games, then this one is certainly worth a look!

As with most games, one of the first things you will judge this one on is the quality of its graphics. If you're playing this long after it came out (like me), the graphics certainly are starting to look a bit dated. Character models look a little jagged and, at times, a little bland. Ultimately though, the quality won't really bother you. The cartoony style aids the game in its humorous tone and the slightly dated graphics even make it that much more funnier at times.

Likewise, the background music can seem a little dull. It certainly has that 'piratey' feel to it, but don't come in expecting a grand orchestral score as many more modern games have. It does its job, but you're not going to remember it once you stop playing. On the other hand, the voice acting is absolutely superb! Escape from Monkey Island has some of, if not the best, voice acting I have ever heard in a game! It's realistic, it's varied between characters and, most importantly, it's funny. The actors do a terrific job of portraying their characters through the witty dialogue. Unlike the background music, the voice acting is something memorable.

Speaking of memorable, the puzzles certainly fall into the same boat. Unfortunately, they're not so much memorable because they're good, but more because they're incredibly cryptic and sometimes downright insane. Some puzzles are at a decent difficulty level and can usually be figured out after flexing some brain power. Sadly, most puzzles require some extremely strange combination of items and cryptic use of clues that they're near impossible to decipher. Even if you manage to figure one of them out-usually by luck or trial and error-you don't feel that satisfaction of overcoming an obstacle, you just wonder how on earth you actually managed to figure it out!

Otherwise, the gameplay is quite strong. Walking around the islands is easy enough and the controls work as they should. Dialogue options are presented well and you never feel as though the game is rushing you. You can take things at your own pace and enjoy them. On the downside, you actually only visit four different, small islands in the course of the game. A few more islands would have been nice to trek around!

Luckily, the story is funny enough that it will help you to push through the puzzles and forget the little area you actually explore! Guybrush is a really likable character and the witty story is a nice break from some of the more serious games available recently. For Monkey Island veterans, you'll also be happy to know the demon/zombie/ghost pirate LeChuck is back! Ozzie, the Australian land developer, isn't the only bad guy you'll have to confront!

Finally, we come to what is usually the biggest weakness of adventure games... the replay value. Escape from Monkey Island is no exception and provides you with zero incentive to play the game through a second time. On top of that, it only takes around seven hours to beat (unless you end up stuck on some of the more fiendish puzzles the game throws at you). If the puzzles weren't so difficult, you could probably almost halve that time. As mentioned before, a couple more islands and side-adventures would have been nice.

All-in-all, Escape from Monkey Island is worth a play through for any fan of the adventure genre. If puzzles aren't normally your thing, then you might want to steer your boat in a different direction as some of the puzzles are just too fiendish! If you can still find a copy of it around it should be pretty cheap, so do yourself a favour and check your bargain bin and pick up a copy! Just make sure you have a walkthrough on hand in case you get stuck!

-- Category Scores --
Gameplay: 7.6 - Good
+ Excellent controls and exploration.
- Some puzzles are too cryptic and difficult.
Graphics: 7.9 - Good
+ Cartoony and humorous.
- Starting to show their age.
Sound: 9.2 - Excellent
+ Fantastic voice acting!
- Dull soundtrack.
Story: 8.1 - Very Good
+ Quirky and bizarre, but very funny!
Value: 6.5 - Mediocre
- Zero replay value
Tilt: 8.4 - Very Good

Overall: 8.0 - Very Good

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/24/09

Game Release: Escape from Monkey Island (EU, 06/29/01)