Our old Point-and-click adventuring friend Guybrush Threepwood is back again! It’s not really Monkey Island 5 (according to the developers) but a series of smaller adventures that will eventually form a complete game. Does Telltale succeed in reviving the old classic? Monkey Island is without a doubt one of the top (if not the top) game in the point and click adventure game genre. Guybrush has captivated and entertained multiple generations on several platforms. The strongest memories for myself is from the first couple of Monkey Island games on the Amiga – it looked fantastic on that computer, and the atmosphere.. ah, but I digress.
Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is the first part in a series of five game episodes that will be released on a monthly basis starting July. Without much fanfare you are thrown into the story in a confrontation with Guybrush’s old arch enemy, the Zombie pirate LeChuck, who’s about to sacrifice a monkey for naval domination. According to lovable adventure-game logic Guybrush needs to dip a sword in a carbonated beverage in order to dispose of the dreaded pirate.
He fails miserably and washes up on Flotsam Island with a newly acquired zombie arm, which does its best not to obey its new owner. The new 3D graphics in Tales of Monkey Island literally add new depth to the game, but some of the colorfulness of the original characters is unfortunately lost in the process. Don’t get me wrong – it’s still a very enjoyable and funny adventure game, but it can’t quite measure up to the original games in the series.
As in all adventure games, it’s the puzzles that define the game’s quality, and the ones in Launch of the Screaming Narwhal are really amusing. As usual in point and click games you’ll have to find a number of items and try to combine them for the proper effect – often using trial and error. It starts out fairly easy, but the puzzles pick up difficulty as the game progresses. Sometimes they are pretty farfetched, but they never stop being amusing.
The first part of Tales of Monkey Island is not a grand comeback for the series, but then again it’s not intended to be. Once we have all the five parts, they will most likely combine to an awesome adventure game.
