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Systems > PC > T > Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 4 - The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood > Staff Review
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Review by Lewis Denby
November 17, 2009
Threepwood remains witty, pirate hunter Morgan LeFlay retains a surprising amount of humanity, and the remainder of the supporting cast do a decent job at playing the numskull nutters that the series has always portrayed so well. Each of Telltale’s Monkey Island efforts seems to ramp the humour up ever more so. We’re now at the point where Tales of Monkey Island has far surpassed the original incarnations in the comedy stakes. If you think otherwise, go back and play them. And take off those rose-tinted specs. You look ridiculous.
It’s true that each episode, taken entirely in isolation, seems to be marginally improving the formula every time. The script gets barmier, the locations tighter, the objectives more fluid. But these aren’t isolated games. These are part of a five-strong series of monthly outings, and now, as we near the finale, things are starting to wear a little thin.
You may have noticed this review is a little late. That’s because I played The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood a couple of weeks ago, and have been struggling with an angle ever since. It’s a solid adventure game. The puzzles are functional, though often uninspired and recycled from earlier games. The characters are well developed, with consistent and endearing personalities. The settings are... well, they’re ones we’ve seen before, only this time it’s dark... Had this game been bundled into the context of the first episode, the series would have made an impossibly brilliant start. But it wasn’t. This is Episode 4. And it screams out for something fresh.
It’s rarely a chore to play through. The short length helps that, and the restrictive nature of the game world and its neatly intertwined objectives only contributes to the tightness. It raises plenty of smiles. But when it’s essentially becoming the same episode stuck on repeat ad nauseum, how much praise is it reasonable to lavish?
There’s just nothing that stands out as truly inspired, nothing that leaves an impression for more than a few hours after you’ve completed the game. It’s a decent few hours of entertainment, but not an adventure you’ll be talking about for months in the way that, say, Machinarium will surely be. Monkey Island remains about as traditional as it’s possible to get. That’s fine, but stick rigidly to that formula month after month after month, and you’d better have some spectacular little ideas to mix things up.
The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood has far too few of these. It also has a perplexing graphical glitch that renders a character’s shirt with big purple splodges all over it – something to do with the light-mapping having not worked properly, I believe, from my limited technical knowledge. When the game’s as by-numbers as it already is, big screaming problems like this one only solidify the negative image it exudes.
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| Largely solid but woefully unimaginative, Tales of Monkey Island is becoming a little tiresome now. | ||
| Read more about the review rating scale... | ||
Staff reviews represent the opinion of the individual staff member that wrote them and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the site staff as a whole. If you disagree with the contents of this review, you may click to leave feedback on our dedicated forum. Thank you!
| HG 2010 Fundraising Progress: $137 / $3000 (5%) |
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Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 4 - The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood |
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Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 3 - Lair of the Leviathan is another PC game in the Graphic Adventure genre that has been attracting activity lately, so you might want to check it out and see what all of the fuss is about!
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