Escape from Monkey Island

"This game has got more monkeys than you can shake a voodoo doll at.. apparently.."

STORY

Escape from Monkey Island is the 4th game in the Monkey Island series (the first one to appear on a games console) and definitely one of the funniest games I've ever played. It revolves around Guybrush Threepwood a carefree pirate who has just returned from his honeymoon with his new wife, Elaine Marley. They return to the Island of Melee where Elaine was the govenor to find that she has been claimed dead and an election is being held for a new govenor. It's up to Guybrush to save the day by traveling to Lucre Island and speaking to his wifes lawyers. But soon Guybrush discovers a more sinister plot involving a sinister man from Sydney with an agenda and its up to him to stop it.

The story is extremely original so I'm giving it 9/10.

GAMEPLAY

In the game you must go around picking up items,combining items,talking to people etc. to get a step closer to your goal. A lot of the things you must do are quite ridiculous. e.g on one level you must find a way to distract a drunk man so you can steal his bowl of pretzels. The gameplay is really fun and it feels slightly less linear since you can choose how you react to certain questions. There's even some mini games. Two of them are called ''Insult Arm Wrestling'' and ''Monkey Kombat'', I kid you not. Later on the puzzles do become quite tricky though and it can be frustrating when you are stuck but if you do buy this game then don't use a walkthrough. I admittedly turned to a walkthrough near the end and I regretted it.

I would give the Gameplay 8/10

GRAPHICS

The graphics in this are pretty nice. If you have played the game Grim Fandango on the PC you will know what to expect as they share the same engine. The areas are bright and colourful (in most places) and very well designed.

I would give the Graphics 8/10

SOUND

This is where the game really shines. The sound in this game is wonderful. Guybrush makes humorous little remarks about each object you come across (It's a rather un-spectacular duck) Each piece of music is wonderful and fits the areas perfectly. The voice acting is great also and you may recognize a few voices. Played MGS2? The voice of Solidus is also one of the villains here.

I would give the Sound 10/10.

PLAY TIME/REPLAYABILITY

This game will take you a good 10+ hours the first time round but when you know what to do you will whizz through it. When you've finished the game you'll probably wait quite a while before playing a game as there isn't much else for you to do. There is basicly no replay value.

Play Time- 8/10
Replayability- 1/10

FINAL SCORE

This is a brilliant game. It is has a really interesting (yet insane) storyline and will make you laugh til your lungs hurt. Buy it!! Buy it now!!!!!!

9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/02/03, Updated 03/02/03