[GoT]

Narwhal - Means "corpse whale" in old Norse and today is the name of a unique looking whale with a massive single tusk protruding up to 10 feet long.

Review:
Tales of Monkey island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal



Well I stretched it out for as long as I could but finally I reached that point of no return, or the point of return maybe a couple times more if I really enjoy it or watch a friend play it through. That point being; The end of the game. This has to be one of the most anticipated games that I've ever......anticipated. The difference with this being that I never thought I'd see another one. Some monkey island fan sites actually died off due to no monkey island news to report for many years. One site that i used to frequent, up until the end of 2007 anyway was the world of monkey island site. The main reason, apart from being a massive Monkey Island fan (ie: massive nerd) is because i used to love reading paco vinks comics and i used to return there from time to time in hopes of either hearing news of a new game or seeing a new comic or.....well anything Monkey Islandish that i could get my mouse pointer onto really..... Well that website, which was shut down at the end of 2007 (but kept online) is now the front page for Telltales new game, which I'll get to reviewing very shortly. This page may be the first thing you saw of the new game after the news announcement and the same people now have this fansite which you can go to to get all the current monkey island goss. A one stop monkey shop!

So... the first thing I saw after I'd finally installed this much anticipated game was this:



That nasty nasty error kept me off the game for the majority of the first day but Telltale had some great people hard at work on their forums and once I was finally at sea with Guybrush I knew I was playing a monke island game again.

Storyline: I loved the prologue. What a fantastic intro, although it at first had me feeling a little nauseous. The rocking of the ships and flickering camera angles mixed in with a brand new control system had me reeling however I did not let this stop me and I thoroughly enjoyed every little hilarious conversation between our pirate couple. My excitement, like an unbreakable bottle, was not going to be shattered by some mere camera and control issues. Flotsam island ahoy! I loved this new concept immediately, its (as far as im aware) a completely original concept and I thought it was hilarious and is now firmly quite part of the legendary islands that make up the MI games. The characters on the island however left much to be desired. I didn't find any of them very entertaining (its goddamn lucky we've got Guybrush in the game still) however we had the Voodoo lady to make up for any lack of interesting NPC's. What could have been a lovely surprise was really not, due to a lot of screenshots of her being posted around the web before the release, but it was great to have a classic character back in the game. Whilst I found a fair chunk of the story particularly weak I enjoyed the overall grand plot and several of the other parts of the tale, like claiming the Narwhal and stopping the winds. SCORE 7.5/10



Puzzles: These puzzles seemed to me like classic monkey island style puzzles from the start! There was of course the mixing up of items in the inventory (what type of MI would it be without that) which I'm not a fan of but luckily it was only required a couple of times. The majority of puzzles took place inside the jungle maze, and the lovely little seaside town on the island seemed to be underused. Only one of the buildings was actually accessible to walk around in and it seemed like other smaller puzzles may have been added in to complement some of the larger puzzles. The puzzle help system, whilst not giving anything away completely, gives nice little hints if you click on things so many times. Some of the solutions to the puzzles were hilarious and had me laughing at the screen, and my housemates thinking I was a madman...again.SCORE 8.5/10



Graphics: Whilst 3D graphics (once again we're onto this topic aren't we?) seem to be a sore point with a lot of adventure gamers, I am now quite a fan of them. The camera angles were a let down, and quite annoying in some parts and perhaps if there was more then one play tester (I'm just going by the end credits of the game here) we may have seen some of these changed before release. One of the great areas of graphics in this episode was the awesome "fuzzy" type of look that the characters have at times which does away with that blocky 3D look that can be stereotypically associated with 3D games. The island map looked lovely as did the "pox of Lechuck" swirling around the island and I thought the NPC's (whilst lacking much charisma) were very well drawn (if not a little uninventive). SCORE 9/10

Sound: The genius here is Michael Land, famous for creating the iMUSE sound system as well as being the composer for all 5 monkey island games to date; as well as being involved in Sam & Max hit the Road, The Dig, Fate of Atlantis, Day of the Tentacle and Grim Fandango. This guy knows how to pump out a Monkey Island tune (because he composed them i guess) so its great to have such a fantastic artist on board, as it were. I love the score, i want it on my iphone, i am still humming it right now as i type this and I can't wait to hear it again in episode 2. The voice acting was spot on, I love the cast, even though we have some cast changes (like Lechuck and Elaine). Dominic Armato is fantastic as usual as Guybrush and I'm so glad they didn't change our heros voice. The only thing I can gripe about is the annoying wind, which grates on you a bit, after a while. SCORE 9.5/10

Dominic Armato

Controls: I didn't like the new control system. I had to use the keys a lot because the "hold down the mouse and drag" idea, although new and inventive, didn't work with me. I didn't mind the inventory coming in from the side but I think a nice scrolling inventory would have fit in with the fluid movements of the rest of the game. I tend to like the Sam & Max type inventory more where the items kind of all tumble out. I am glad though that they stuck with a point and click system for using items and i'm glad theres a run option, which saves time. SCORE 7.5/10



Presentation: As usual, i love the Telltale way of doing business. From buying, to downloading, to installing. These guys can't go wrong. The only gripe I had was all the issues getting it working in the first place. It seems to me that the majority of issues was with screen resolution however and this may not have effected as many people as I think it did. There were a lot of people that couldn't get it working that were posting on the Telltale site but as usual Telltale got it sorted pretty quick and offered a file as well as advice, which got me and others into the game. Also, great to see it on Steam as well.SCORE 8/10

Overall I am so excited that Monkey Island is back. I hope it's a massive success. I would love to personally thank everyone involved in bringing such a beautiful franchise to life once again. And heres hoping that it doesn't dissapear for as long next time! It was a long time between Grogs. 83%

"Thanks for chatting but I've got a wife and arch Nemesis to return to!" - Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate.