Escape from Monkey Island

The Good
The fact that it's a Monkey Island game alone should excite anyone, and it did me. The return of the guy who voiced Guybrush from part 3 was rather good as well.

The Bad
Where to start? Once I heard that they were going to make it a 3D adventure type game, like Grim Fandango I started to worry. But, I still had faith considering it was a Monkey Island game, and they wouldn't let down their fans. Boy was I wrong. Not that I'm saying Grim Fandango was a bad game, I actually loved it, even though it did get boring at times. I just didn't like the graphics, and Monkey Island 4's graphics are even worse. Added to this, the whole perspective which we view Guybrush from seems really distorted and at a weird angle, which really annoyed me. But the most important aspect had to be the gameplay. Man this game bored me so bad I had to use a walkthrough for most of it. It was so...repititive. Considering that the creators were the guys who made Sam & Max and Maniac Mansion, I hoped for a lot more. Oh well.

The Bottom Line
Don't bother. Play Monkey Island 1-3, and forget they even made this one. With news of a Monkey Island 5 in production, I really hope Lucasarts puts their act together and brings back Ron Gilbert...although I doubt it. At least bring back the guys who made part 3 and revert the graphics back to either the style of 1 & 2 or the comic look of 3. Please.

The Good
Dominic Armato is perfect as Guybrush. The story was original, and some new characters (Ignatius Cheese and Ozzie Mandrill in particular) were welcome additions. The music was... well, Monkey Island music.

The Bad
Firstly, the graphics. When I first heard they were going to be 3-D, I was skeptical, but still kept my hopes up because LucasArts hadn't disappointed me yet. But not only is the new look awkward and blocky, it's very hard to move around and get the hang of. Now, the voices are always good, as are the characters, but it's unbelieveable that with the LucasArts' discovery of Murray (the demonic skull) in The Curse of Monkey Island, and the immense popularity of the character, he was only in one scene.

The Bottom Line
This is not a great adventure game. It's good, but if you haven't played an adventure game, or especially if you haven't played a Monkey Island game, don't play this just yet. Wait until you've played The Curse of Monkey Island, Full Throttle, and Day of the Tentacle (and maybe even a few more) before you try this, because this is not what a great adventure game should be. And a note to LucasArts if they happen to read this: please go back to the cartoon-style of The Curse of Monkey Island. I understand that 3-D is the way of the future, but just as movies like Shrek haven't gotten rid of the animation style movies like of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, there is always room for 2-D animation, if it's better than 3-D, which you've proven in Escape from Monkey Island.

The Good
I love the hilarity of this game - as with all other MI games, the jokes are common and well executed, meaning that the player always has a smile on his/her face.

The storyline is pretty good, although perhaps not as strong as the previous games, and it lets the player truly become a part of the experience.

The Bad
Unfortunately, there was a lot more to dislike in this addition to the series.

Firstly, the graphics are horrible. When 3D was advertised for it, we all thought "great, it'll look awesome" - but how wrong we were; since it runs in extremely low resolution, it can look pretty jagged on the big monitors. The facial expressions are not clear enough due to the image distortion, and this takes a huge chunk out of the game, as a lot of the game is based around reaction and timing (which TV comedies also rely upon).

Secondly, I don't like the new control method - I prefer the classic point and click interface, rather than having to use the keyboard to control Guybrush. Often, while running, I will end up going to the wrong place because of the difficulty I have in controlling the character: Point and click was far more efficient. Also, various parts of the game were extremely difficult to master, like Monkey Kombat - this is an adventure game and should not have something that is so hard to beat present in an action game form. With the insult sword fighting of Monkey Island 1 and 3, and the insult arm wrestling of this game, at least it wasn't too difficult and was incredibly amusing - but Monkey Kombat simply doesn't have the enjoyment, and is more of a 'chore' than anything else - this is something I really disliked.

The Bottom Line
Probably worth buying, but ONLY if you have played the other games in the series first; otherwise, avoid it as it will make little sense to you and you will probably find the poor graphics and control difficult to master and not worth the hassle.