.com Escape from Monkey Island continues in the hilarious tradition of its critically hailed and award-winning predecessors, The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: Le Chuck's Revenge, and The Curse of Monkey Island. Developed by the team who created LucasArts's irreverent classic Sam and Max Hit the Road, Escape features an original cinematic story full of drama, intrigue, and of course, sidesplitting humor. The game is highlighted by hundreds of challenging puzzles, set amidst dozens of rich and brilliantly rendered backgrounds.The day fast approaches when Guybrush Threepwood, Elaine Marley-Threepwood, Stan of Stan's Previously Owned Vessels, and the other bizarre characters from the beloved, anachronistic Monkey series come back to PC shores. Review In contrast to most LucasArts adventures, the Monkey Island games have always been really over the top. Whereas games like Full Throttle and Grim Fandango emphasized character and story, the Monkey Island games have increasingly leaned toward trying to make you laugh by means of an endless barrage of puns and pop-culture references. This is true of Escape from Monkey Island, the fourth game in the series. Much of it is funny, although a lot of it isn't. This inconsistency winds through the whole game, from the puzzles to the interface. When it's good, Escape from Monkey Island is very, very good. But the game's missteps do detract from the overall experience. In this chapter of Guybrush Threepwood's adventures, the self-proclaimed mighty pirate and his new bride, Governor Elaine Marley, have returned from their honeymoon only to find that Elaine has been declared dead. This incorrect declaration has ended her lifetime term as governor, so she must now run against Charles L. Charles, a foppish glad-hander with a dark secret. What adds to the political intrigue is that the pirate hangouts in the Tri-Island area are being bought up and made into tourist-friendly venues like StarBuccaneer's and Planet Threepwood, thanks to an Australian land developer named Ozzie Mandrill. To top it all off, everyone seems to be looking for a voodoo artifact called the Ultimate Insult. These events aren't as unrelated as they may seem, and Guybrush must help Elaine stop the gentrification of his stomping grounds and find the Ultimate Insult before it falls into the wrong hands. To reach these ends, Guybrush must once again explore the strange Caribbean Islands that surround his home, Melee Island. He'll visit Jambalaya Island (the island most affected by Mandrill's takeover) and Lucre Island and once again return to the titular Monkey Island itself. Many of the locales will be familiar to longtime fans of the series, as will a number of the characters. LeChuck, Murray the skull, Herman Toothrot, Otis, Carla, Meathook, and many, many others make guest appearances. In fact, there may even be too many cameos by old favorites. There's an old joke. A guy walks into a bar and notices people keep yelling out numbers, and everyone in the bar busts up laughing. He asks the bartender what's going on. The bartender tells him that the regulars have told the same jokes for so long that now they just refer to them by number. Much of the humor in Escape from Monkey Island is like this. Many jokes allude to earlier events in the series, and they're only funny if you're familiar with the references. For instance, the fact that Otis the pirate likes flowers is a gag from the first game, and here it seems like the designers are simply pointing it out, hoping you'll remember how funny it was the first time around. It's true that Escape from Monkey Island does have plenty of new gags and characters, and many of them are really funny. The talking figurehead on Guybrush's new ship is particularly amusing, as are characters like Pegnose Pete; Marco de Pollo, the world's greatest cliff diver; and Miss Rivers, the teacher at the pirate reformation academy. The humor is enhanced by the universally excellent voice work. But some of the new characters aren't quite as interesting. Ozzie Mandrill, the evil real estate developer, is only funny if you think simply being Australian is funny - although his particular way of talking does lend itself to a very surreal match of Insult Sword Fighting, one of the more humorous sequences in the game. The bout with Ozzie is the only appearance of the preferred dueling technique in the Tri-Island area. This time, you'll learn Insult Arm Wrestling and Monkey Kombat, a variation on the Insult competition and a parody of the fighting game Mortal Kombat. The concept is funny, but unfortunately Monkey Kombat may be the single biggest problem with Escape from Monkey Island. You must learn to trade barbs in the monkey language, and it all builds up to a really funny parody of Mortal Kombat's famous opening. But the art of Monkey Kombat itself is a frustrating one. Monkey Kombat is a more complicated version of rock-paper-scissors - it features five fighting stances, each of which beats two other stances. You must say three of the four monkey words ("eek," "ooop," "chee," "ack") in a certain order to change stances, and each transition is unique. So, Drunken Monkey to Anxious Ape (and vice versa) might be "ack eek oop," while Charging Chimp to Anxious Ape might be "eek chee ack." These only "might be" the right combinations, because the combinations and hierarchy are randomized with each new game. The only way to learn the art is through trial and error and copious note taking, and it becomes tiresome quickly. However, Monkey Kombat plays a principal part in the entire last third of the game. The biggest change in Escape from Monkey Island from previous installments is that it uses a modified version of the Grim Fandango engine and interface. Grim Fandango was the first LucasArts game to use fully 3D characters on 2D prerendered backgrounds. It also featured a fully integrated keyboard interface that was designed to keep you firmly rooted in the reality of the game. Like Grim Fandango, Escape from Monkey Island uses 3D characters and 2D backgrounds, and it's a testament to the great artistic design that the game manages both to evoke and to improve upon the surreal pirate world that made its predecessor, Curse of Monkey Island, such a beautiful-looking game. The characters themselves fare a bit worse in Escape from Monkey Island, if only because they seem less expressive in 3D, but they still look great. The only problem with the use of the Grim Fandango engine is the interface. Escape from Monkey Island dispenses with the basic concept of Grim Fandango's simple, text-free interface and instead reverts to making you choose from a series of text options and sort your inventory using a more conventional menu. Cycling through the possible actions in any location is a bit cumbersome, and at times it seems like the game would have been much easier to control with a standard mouse interface - though the designers did add some funny bits that you'll discover when you're sorting through your inventory in front of other characters. You'll be cycling through your inventory often. The puzzles in Escape from Monkey Island primarily involve using objects in your inventory in creative ways, and many of these puzzles are good. But there are a few that make no sense at all, even in the bizarre world of the game. Finding Pegnose Pete's hideout requires a leap of logic that is baffling, and even after you finally locate the hideout, the solution makes little sense. But just as LucasArts was the first adventure-game maker to ensure that players would never die in a game, the company seems to be taking an equally strong stance against players getting stuck. Clues abound throughout the game, and a full walk-through is even included in the box - a bonus that seems as cynical as it is helpful. Escape from Monkey Island is a great game that can be frustrating. At times it'll seem as if there were simply too many designers working on it and everyone wanted their ideas included. The puzzles are hit and miss, and so are the jokes. This is best illustrated by the traditional LucasArts post-credits joke, in this case a string of pop-culture references that goes on and on, as if no one could decide which of them were funny so they just decided to leave them all. But in most cases, the game can be a real pleasure to play, because enough of the puzzles are good and enough of the jokes are amusing. As such, veterans of the Monkey Island series will surely enjoy the game in spite of its occasional problems. However, players who're new to the Monkey Island series may get the sense while playing the game that they're watching a bunch of old friends regale each other with old in-jokes; it's easy to feel as if you're being left out of the fun if you don't catch the references. So while new players should approach the game with caution, if you're a fan of the previous installments, then Escape from Monkey Island is highly recommended.--Ron Dulin --Copyright © 2000 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. -- GameSpot Review
C**E
Monkey me up Scottie!!
Just an awesome game series. There is nothing but pure joy, laughter and sheer frustration followed by laughter once you solve the puzzles and riddles.
S**I
I want mouse support
This game is a fun but i am missing mouse. after playing first 3 games in the series with the mouse, keyboard feels hectic.
S**R
Not as Much Fun as "Curse of Monkey Island"
Actually, the GameSpot review by Ron Dulin (you can find it in the Editorial Reivews section of this web page) really hits the nail on the head. If you liked the previous Monkey Island adventures, you'll probably enjoy this one as well, although there were a few irritating design flaws &/or problems.First of all, Guybrush is particularly difficult to navigate when he is very small; it's hard to tell which direction he's pointing until you move him forward and see where he goes. I found the keyboard interface clunky, and really missed the clever mouse control used in "Curse." I had the game lock up on me early on, and I stupidly hadn't saved yet, forcing me to start all over again from the beginning. The Monkey Kombat sequence is cute, but the rather amusing payoff sequence doesn't quite make up for some serious irritation with the process of learning and engaging in Monkey Kombat itself. My last complaint revolves around the character of Herman Toothrot, and I have to use a bit of a spoiler to explain the problem, so be warned. You have to throw a series of objects at Herman's head to get him to divulge information, and eventually, to get him to hand over a crucial item for the completion of the game. The programmers seem to have used some sort of toggle switch device to great disadvantage here. Of course, any "Monkey Island" player in the spirit of the game will start hurling anything in their inventory at Herman's head, often several times over once they've realized that this could lead to information; something I think the programmers forgot to take into account. Throwing an object at Herman once might get him to divulge information, but throw the same object at him again and you're back to square one and he clams up. This is the only case (although an important one) where you can go backwards in terms of a character's knowledge within the game. LucasArts is usually much more diligent about such issues, and I was both irritated and disappointed. If this problem doesn't make sense to you, don't worry about it (you're probably more clever about gaming than I am).Criticisms aside, I did enjoy the usual Monkey Island features we've all come to expect from the series; cornball humor, amusing situations, pop culture references, anachronism, and comfort in the knowledge that LucasArts has designed a game where you are not going to be randomly killed off after hours and hours of time invested. Guybrush and Elaine are great characters, with far more personality than some star-crossed lovers in a current sci-fi movie that George Lucas might be familiar with. I liked the ending of "Escape" much better than "Curse" (I thought the amusement park sequence dragged on too long), and I hope that more Monkey Island adventures will soon follow.
F**N
Return to the Classics
So many people in this day and age want a return to the classics. They clamor for the good days of old where things were happier than they are now. Escape from Monkey Island tries hard to keep the spirit of its classic predecessors, but in reaching so far in some areas it falls short in others.The Monkey Island games originated back in 1990 with pixilated graphics, text-only dialogue, and superb puzzles and plot. You played Guybrush Threepwood, pirate-wannabe intent on capturing the love of Governor Elaine Marley of the Caribbean's Tri-Island Area. However, the heck-spawn Ghost Pirate LeChuck also sought the governor's love, kidnapping her, and this sent Guybrush on a magical journey to rescue her from LeChuck's clutches.Two installments later, Elaine and Guybrush were finally joined in holy matrimony at the (woefully short) end of The Curse of Monkey Island, arguably the best game in the series.And thus, we come to Escape from Monkey Island, which opens after a three-month honeymoon during which Guybrush and Elaine were hard at work consummating the marriage. However, when they arrive back on Melee Island, their home and the location of the governor's mansion, they find that all is not well. (...)The first thing you notice when you get into the game is that the designers seemed intent on using the backstory that has built up through the previous games. Actually, that isn't the first thing you notice; the first thing you notice is the new 3D style. At first, I wasn't sure how this would change the game's classic feel, but rest assured. It gives it even more cartoony a feel than before. The interface, however, is a different story. For some reason the designers saw it fit to abandon the incredibly easy point 'n click of the earlier titles and implement a keyboard only system: the same one that gave both critics and consumers alike complaints about Grim Fandango. The people I've talked to are divided over the interface. For me as well as many others, the keyboard just takes some getting used to, but for more critical gamers, the keyboard is far too clunky. You decide.After noticing the new presentation, you start to notice the writing and the aforementioned backstory. I am speaking literally when I say that if you haven't played the previous games in the series, you won't understand half the jokes. Immediately you meet up with Carla and Otis, shipmates from the original Monkey Island, and Guybrush starts making cracks about pickpocketing, insult swordfighting, breath mints, and other things that gamers new to the series will only be able to say "Huh?" at. Even if you did play the prequels, much of the humor is too over-the-top and generally humorous rather than actually being funny.Still, though, there is a lot to like in this game. The plot is even more whimsical than in previous titles with many more twists and turns (in contrast to the relatively straight-forward plot of so many other LucasArts adventures, the notable exception being Grim Fandango), the puzzles are good, and some of the writing is undeniably hilarious.At the end of it all, I can't help think that this is the end of the Monkey Island line. All the right factors are there in the ending sequence. It's really a shame for gamers if it is, not only because there will be no more hilarious adventures with the originality that the series has come to offer, but because this isn't really a fitting end to the series. Don't get me wrong; it's still a great game with a lot of appeal, but it doesn't live up to the expectations of fans or the reputation of its predecessors, which is hard to do.PROS: It's a Monkey Island game! 'Nuff said.CONS: Due to some issues with the interface and mediocre writing in places, it just doesn't live up to the other games in the series.BOTTOM LINE: If you've played the first three games and are anxious for more monkey madness, you need this game. If you haven't, wait to play the first three before you try this one. If you were unsatisfied with the other games in the series, this won't do much to change your mind.
A**R
Retro Graphics in this game
I was surprised that this game, the fourth in a series, had returned to graphics that looked like a PlayStation game. The previous game had much more detail, the people looked like people, and the background actually had some depth in it. This time around, LucasArts went for a flat look that sometimes drove me crazy because Threepwood would disappear behind something and I couldn't get him out! This is not to mention the top-view parts of the game where Threepwood was transformed into a tiny 8-bit character. He was hard to see and hard to control when he was that small. I recommend playing this with a joystick, if you have one because the standard mouse cannot give you the fine control that you need sometimes. The puzzles varied from easy to figure out to the brainpuzzling monkey insult war and swamp trek. The sounds in this game were Above Average. All the characters had a different voice, a different accent, a different way of speaking. (reoccuring chracters had the same voices as in previous games) The music was excellently chosen from the creepy music in the swamp, to the kooky music for Stan the Salesman. A cute tip: if you type the word "skull" at any time of the game, Murray comes out to laugh at you. The game lets you go at your own pace, nothing is timed. Great for those who like puzzles!
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