Today, by myself, twelve people I've beaten. (Escape from Monkey Island (PC))

Member Name: butters

Product:	Escape from Monkey Island (PC)
Date:	22/04/06 (313 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Guybrush with another excellent adventure.

Disadvantages: Not piratey, and illogical puzzles

The 4th and currently final in the Monkey Island series, you play as Guybrush Threepwood, a pirate that has managed to defeat the evil pirate LeChuck 3 times. Now married to the governor of Melee Island, they come back from their honeymoon to find that a mysterious land developer is trying to rid the world of piracy. With Elaine declared dead, the story follows Guybrush Threepwood trying to defeat LeChuck, as Elaine tries to run for governor again. It's an adventure game, meaning it's not an action game and mostly relies on puzzles.
This time round the series has become 3D, with an enhanced version of the Grim Fandango engine. Of course this changes the controls somewhat. Now it's no longer a point n click mouse operated game, but is instead played with the keyboard. It's not as comfortable as a mouse since you can no longer just click on objects so find out about them but have to walk up to them but it doesn't really become an issue. The controls aren't actually bad, but they're just not as natural as point n click controls.
Obviously now there's 3D environment and mostly, it works. Being released in the year 2000 it's not exactly winning any awards for graphics but the cartoony environment is portrayed well, even if the graphics don't have the same charm that Curse of Monkey Island had.
Charm is still there though. Whilst the looks of the environment and to an extent, the characters have changed, the characters remain as lovable as ever. You've got Guybrush, the extremely wimpy pirate with a sense of humour that is just as good as previous games.
It is also worth nothing that the story has a fair amount of retcons that don't add up with previous games. Whilst it doesn't hinder your enjoyment of the game, it's safe to say that things like this really shouldn't be included.

The game plays out the same as other adventure games, in that you have to go around speaking to people and exploring to solve puzzles, whilst at the same time unravelling the story and advancing. The puzzles are, largely as good as in previous games and, provided you can do a fair bit of exploration and conversation like usual, you won't find many puzzles that are illogical. They do exist though, with one very illogical puzzle nearing the end of the game that is not only illogical, but doesn't seem to fit within the monkey Island story either. It pushes the suspension of disbelief. And this continues into other aspects of the game as well. When I say your first task though is to go find some lawyers to get your mansion back, you'll realise that whilst the puzzles are logical and fun, they're not really piratey. That is really the games major letdown. Whilst the puzzles are good, as are the environments, they don't feel piratey. One island for example has things like "Planet Threepwood" and "Starbuccaneers", obvious parodies on the consumerist world we live in. Though I love parodies when they're done well, things like that just don't have a place in the Monkey Island world really. I want taverns where humorous puns can occur about Guybrush not looking old enough to buy grog, not being able to buy a coffee.
The problem, it appears is that this game is trying to be different. For example, instead of insult sword fighting, a brilliant aspect of previous games where your sword fighting skill relied on your wit, not your sword, there is not insult arm wrestling etc. The story is all about the world advancing with piracy getting wiped out, but it just doesn't have a place here. The humour and genius of insult sword fighting in previous games has gone, and instead has been replaced with an unlovable puzzle that thankfully only takes up a very small section of the game.
The parodies do continue though, including a parody of Mortal Kombat. I won't spoil too much but think of a cross between insult sword fighting and Mortal Kombat. It just doesn't match and provides a low end to the game.




Extra Information.
***************

I don't understand these at all but I think it will work on most computers really since
it is 5 years old.

Available on PC, Mack and Playstation 2 but I recommend PC to keep it retro (it's obviously not on the original Amiga).
Works on Windows 95 & 98 and also on my PC which is XP home edition. Needs DirectX (7.0 or higher) compatible computer basically.
200MHz required but 266MHz or higher is recommended.
Memory: 32MB RAM
Sound: 16 bit sound card.
3D accelerator card required.
CR-ROM: Quad speed IDE or SCSI CD-ROM.
Video: 4MB PCI or AGP Direct 3D or OpenGL Graphics Accelerator
Input device: 100% Windows compatible keyboard required.

A joystick can also be used instead of the keyboard too.

Can be found for about £8.50 used and new on www.amazon.co.uk

Sound.
******

Great. Everything from the theme tune to the voices which I think suits the characters perfectly. In the cut scenes you'll hear some of the voices but a lot of talking is done when you choose so it is important that the voices match.

Dominic Armarto-Guybrush Threepwood
Charity James-Elaine Marley
Earl Boen-Charles L. Charles and LeChuck
Nick Tate-Ozzie Mandrill
Denny Delk-Murray

Each voice is as stupid yet as fitting as the next.

My Opinion.
***********

I've been a little harsh with the game but it can all be summed up in one sentence. It is a brilliant game, but not Monkey Island. Mostly, the puzzles are logical and the characters are humorous. The humour for a start is some of the best in the series, and I'll even say that some of the puzzles in this are amongst the best in the series. However, everything from the story to the puzzles is just a bit too far away from what you are used to when playing the Monkey Island games. It just isn't piratey. If you were to review the game as a pure adventure game and cut off previous ties to the series it is part of, the game would get a glowing review ending in the sentence "Aside from a few illogical puzzles you get an adventure game packed with humorous dialogue and circumstances". However, when something is part of a series, it's only natural that you would compare them. I would recommend this game to people who like adventure games, and Monkey Island games because if nothing else it is an enjoyable adventure. It is just a shame the developers felt the need to put so many references to modern society in the game that the Monkey Island world seems to have faded.

Summary: Another great game.