The Pirate Review - Escape from Monkey Island

Look behind you, a fully rendered three-headed monkey!

The very first computer game I ever bought, even before I owned a PC, was The Secret of Monkey Island by then Lucasfilm Games. (I played it on my work computer after hours.) It might not seem like much today, but the 16-color graphics and mouse-driven interface were quite respectable by 1990 standards. It was the first computer game, aside from Zork and other early text adventures, that really appealed to me—I didn't need to have fine-tuned hand-eye coordination and lightning-fast reflexes like my brothers to succeed at this game, just a keen eye for detail and the ability to solve puzzles. And it was funny. Along with a burning desire to be a pirate, protagonist Guybrush Threepwood had a great sense of comic timing. Monkey Island quickly became my personal benchmark against which all other adventure games were judged.

You need to know this before you continue with my review, because I don't come to this game free of biases. In fact, I have purchased and played all three previous Monkey Island games and enjoyed each one. And although Escape from Monkey Island is still a solid addition to this series, and among the best of current adventure titles in the U.S. market, it's just not as good a game as its predecessors.

What to Like
Hey, it's a Monkey Island game. That means a lot of wisecracking comments, unwashed scalawag pirates, and puzzles ranging from the simple to the very difficult.

This is also the first title in the Monkey Island series to be produced in 3D. Despite some misgivings on my part when I first heard about this, it works surprisingly well. If you're a seasoned adventure gamer, the look—which more closely resembles a console game—may be a little disconcerting at first, but it doesn't take long before you get comfortable with it. The graphics are good and look acceptable even on a low-end graphic accelerator card.

LucasArts once again scores high on the audio meter, with near-perfect character voices and a stirring piratey soundtrack all the way through the game. Although most voices are crystal-clear, LucasArts also wisely included a voice-and-text option to make sure you don't miss a word.

For first-time gamers, a bare-bones walkthrough has been included in the package. It's sealed so you don't prematurely spoil any puzzles. Take it easy on the walkthrough, though—the game will be over far too fast if you spend too much time using it. The key is to look over everything carefully and listen to everyone's comments—they often contain very subtle clues.

What Not to Like
EFMI feels like it was rushed to market in time for the holiday season—and insufficient playtesting means lots of bugs. LucasArts already has a patch available on its website for some of the more annoying ones, but even with the patch installed I had some problems. At one point, other characters simply stopped responding—they'd gesture, but no words would come out—so Guybrush started having some very one-sided conversations. Technical support had a workaround for this, but in a game that depends so much on conversation, that's a MAJOR bug that should have been caught in the development phase.

This is also not a newbie-friendly game. Unless you've played this series from the start and you know who Carla, Otis, Elaine, Meathook, the Voodoo Lady and LeChuck are, you may be at a bit of a loss over all the in-jokes. There is a quick summation at the beginning, but it's sketchy at best.

LucasArts has switched from the old tried-and-true mouse-driven SCUMM interface to something called LUA, which requires extensive use of the keyboard. This is extremely counterintuitive and annoying. I can't tell you how many times I reached for the mouse so I could maneuver into a tight spot, only to realize (again!) that this game doesn't support mouse controls. Yech.

I can't really put my finger on it, but the humor in EFMI doesn't always measure up. Yes, it's definitely funny, but it doesn't quite have the spark of earlier games. (The series did change quite a bit between MI2 and MI3—the original creator left LucasArts to start his own company—but MI3 still had that indefinable buzz.)

One thing I consider a major drawback to the game is the "Monkey Kombat" mini-game (you'll know it when you get to it). Although Mortal Kombat fans may find this funny, it gets old really, really fast.

Conclusion
Despite the bugs and problems, Escape from Monkey Island is a good title and worthwhile to play; I enjoyed it a lot. Fans of the series may notice this title doesn't get as much bang for the buck as the earlier games, but it's still fun.