Opinions: Monkey Island - Launch of the Screaming Narwhal

I love adventure games – I've said it before, you're probably fed up with me saying so, but it's a genre that just never gets boring. Often belittled as walking around clicking objects, but you can dumb down any game into a similar analogy – like first person shooters as “walking around killing things”.

With adventure games, it's the closest you get to an interactive film. You can talk to the characters as much as you like, walk around the set and inspect anything you find interesting and get really immersed in the experience. Then you get set a few challenges and puzzles, interspersed with cut scenes to fill the plot gaps.

But, as I mentioned when I played the Bone series, puzzles alone don't make the game fun. You need to empathise with the characters and find the plot amusing. This is where Monkey Island really excelled to make it one of the most famous adventure games ever. To hear that a whole new series of games was being launched certainly got my inner child excited, quoting Threepwoodisms all over the place.

For those a little late to the game, TellTale was founded by ex employees of LucasArts, who then continued to develop adventure games. Sam'n'Max was the first series to be developed on, with an episodic approach. 12 episodes have been released and each one has been as enjoyable as the last. Just like the original SCUMM engine, TellTale has developed a great gaming development platform and has been churning out some wonderful games. Recently, I've been enjoying the Wallace and Gromit games and these are no exception.

By complete coincidence, the engine that TellTale developed works flawlessly under WINE on Linux and all their games are on Steam. Outside of Steam, I ran into a few problems - which is upsetting. It wouldn't take their dev team long at all – especially if they hired in a Linux contractor, to make their games “certified for WINE”. The only way I could get it work outside of Steam was to download a game crack.

Monkey Island is based around the adventures of Guybrush Threepwood, a self proclaimed “mighty pirate”. The reality is that he's a bumbling, quirky fool with oodles of personality and humour to make up for his lack of manliness and his baby face. Unlike most pretenders, everybody sees through this bravado to the extent of questioning he is of grog swigging age.

Much like every feeble man, they often find themselves paired up with an incredibly strong woman with a possible testosterone imbalance. It's very clear that “Elaine” the successful governor, is wearing the trousers in their relationship, yet strangely she always ends up in the position of needing rescue.

And of course, every lead character needs a nemesis to balance them out. In this case, it is the Evil Ghost Pirate LeChuck, a reanimated dead pirate whose untold evil is known throughout the seven seas. Tales of his undead army are told from shore to shore, with Guybrush's involvement somehow always omitted..

Naturally, this game is in 3D and uses the traditional WASD for moving the character around. TellTalle has long since dropped the “pick up, open, close” actions and simply made it single click to perform an action.

One thing I've really enjoyed in the Wallace and Gromit games is the way you use the scroll wheel on the mouse to move between items. In Monkey Island, you must instead look at the inventory each time, which can get a little tedious. Combining objects has also become a little tiresome – having two combination zones and having to drop each object into the chamber in order to combine them. What's wrong with dragging an object over the top of the object you want to combine with?

However, it is a big improvement over the traditional point and click interface and maintains significant challenge without being too obscure. The use of a vocal hints are handy as well, prompting you if you are struggling with a particular section.

Just like the rest of the TellTales games, Monkey Island is being released episodically. The series starts with Guybrush failing to rescue Elaine from LeChuck and instead making him mortal again, catching the “pox of LeChuck” and blowing up the ship. Great going. Guybrush washes up on an island that is apparently “cursed” with winds that mean pirates are trapped indefinitely. This episode is based around this island and your missions is to some how get off the island...

I enjoyed every last minute of the game, managing some cultural references that should stand the test of time – just like the “Starbuccaneers” coffee shop in Monkey Island 4. I was disappointed not to see Murray make an appearance, but ALOLed when I clicked a skull to hear Guybrush ask “Murray?”. It's the little touches...

Everything about this game was just what an adventure game needs to be – hilarious, puzzling and leaving you wanting more. Thankfully, more is exactly what we'll have – either in the form of the Special Edition remake of the very first Monkey Island game, or in the rest of the series (when it is eventually released...

So if you haven't played an adventure game in a while – this is a great example of one and you should play it. If you enjoyed the original Monkey Island games – then frankly, you've probably bought it already... right?

Tis a good game - I enjoyed this episode and I'm looking forward to the next one.

Don't forget it's also available on WiiWare, apparently.

There's also a remake of the original Secret of Monkey Island available on PC and Xbox: http://www.lucasarts.com/games/monkeyisland/