Review – Tales of Monkey Island

Arrr ye scurvy dogs!!

I can’t believe I haven’t done this any sooner, because honestly, Monkey Island is not just one of my favorite games, it’s a part of me. My dad used to play it and I started playing it myself when I was still a  darn little kid. I grew up with the Monkey Island series (mostly watching my sister play it because it was too difficult for me at first) and have always loved the games.

For those who know Monkey Island, scroll down towards the picture, for those who don’t know Monkey Island: a quick introduction! Monkey Island is a series of Adventure Games, of which the first game was created in 1990 by Lucasarts. You play as a young man called Guybrush, who wants to become a pirate. You have to go through ‘the three trials’ in order to become one, which are: mastering swordplay (by defeating the swordmaster), thievery (by stealing an idol) and treasure huntery (by finding the legendary lost treasure of mêlée island). Guybrush falls in love with the local governor Elaine, who is kidnapped by the ghost pirate LeChuck! As a real pirate you have to go rescue her!

Now that all sounds very heroic and awesome, but the greatest thing about the series is: it isn’t. Guybrush is kind of an idiot from time to time. He is not muscular or strong, but has a particularly strong sense of wit. The game consists mostly of you picking up all kinds of random things you find (Guybrush IS indeed kind of a kleptomaniac), and using them very creatively to find your way out of nasty situations like being held captive by a group of cannibals! Never thought a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle could be useful? Think again!

The other games from the Monkey Island series go along the same kind of story. LeChuck always comes back and Guybrush always has to defeat him. There is a lot of humor in the games, and when I say a lot I mean A LOT. You can’t play monkey island without a smile! For instance, when swordfighting, you don’t just have to fight, you have to throw insults at one another, and know the correct reply to each insult. For instance, when your opponent says “You fight like a dairy farmer” you say “How appropriate, you fight like a cow!” and so on.

Ooookaay so now let’s get to the review of ‘Tales of Monkey Island’ shall we! This game is made by Telltale games, you know, the same ones who made the Walking Dead game I just posted about? It’s the second Monkey Island game in 3D, but where the last one made Guybrush look like a balloon, this one makes him look rather handsome. I love the graphics, I love the story, and I love the new game interface! Some people miss the classical point-and-click system, but I like it this way too.

The story goes like this: Guybrush starts out by stabbing LeChuck with his cursed cutlass of Kaflu, but instead of killing LeChuck, he sucks all the voodoo out and makes LeChuck a normal man (who is suddenly all sweet and kind, especially to Elaine, yuck). Then where did all the voodoo go? Into the cutlass? No that would be too easy! It has spread all over the Caribbean as ‘The Pox of LeChuck’, is making pirates sick, and is making them behave like total badass pirates. Guybrush’s hand is infected, and he can’t restrain it (he even slaps random people in the face!). So Guybrush sets out to try and stop the Pox. If he can find La Esponja Grande (yes, the giant sponge), it could suck the Pox out of all the victims. But where is La Esponja Grande? And can he leave Elaine behind with the ‘oh so kind’ LeChuck while he goes off on his adventure? Anyway, I won’t give away anything else, but it’s a really good story. ^^ There are also some new characters, which are also very good, and the game still has Dominic Armato’s voice acting, and with that, you’re golden.

I really love the game, because I feel like the characters have grown. In the first game Guybrush is only 19 years old, and now he is about 28. His wit has become even sharper, his loyalty to Elaine is stronger than ever and his sense of humor is definitely still as good as before. He actually makes a lot of kinky jokes in this game, which in my opinion are all very very funny. Throughout the series you can see him grow from a young guy saying “I wanna be a flooring inspector (oops I meant Pirate)!” to an actual legendary pirate.

Out of all video game characters in the world, Guybrush is my No. 1 favorite. He is just so different than all the other characters out there, and he is amazing!

If you are interested in playing Monkey Island for the first time, try the Special Edition version of the first game! It’s a remake from the original game for tablets, and it’s really fun. If you swipe over the screen, it changes into the original version, so you can switch between styles as you play.

And last but not least, if you want to practice your insult swordfighting in Chinese, go HERE!

Now go play!

Jade

ps:

Nah, just kidding