Escape from Monkey Island

The Good
The laughs are always there, no matter where you go in the game, which is a welcome relief from all those serious RPG's from the past few years. 3D environments are a welcome addition to the saga, with a great amount of detail put into the characters as well as the backgrounds. The more free flowing gameplay (less use of the mouse) is an interesting move, but in the end, it's a good one. But it's the laughs that make the game, no doubts there.

The Bad
Some areas of gameplay are a little tricky, but rare, which is a good thing. The only other problem I had was when the game ended. I just didn't want to stop!

The Bottom Line
Well worth the CD it's burned onto. If you are yet to purchase a Monkey title, then start at the beginning, just to get a hold on the storyline. Otherwise, a must have title in your collection.

The Good
Unlike some of the other reviewers, I didn't have a problem with the 3D graphics. The animation in particular, was done with aplomb eg Guybrush moonwalking after winning 'monkey kombat'. The Monkey Island world was still there, with a lot of the old characters as well as some new ones. Marco de Pollo, the diver, was funny as were the judges for the diving competition. The puzzles and the humour were also there but.....

The Bad
....none of them were quite strong enough to carry me effortlessly through the game as they did in the other MI games. The problem was that the plot was rambling and unfocused, and there were no enough dramatic highs and lows. The formula seemed tired and a bit overworked, and the game was overlong. My guess is that MI4 suffered from being the brainchild of a massive team of programmers and designers. We have a saying in England: too many cooks spoil the broth...

The Bottom Line
I'd like to think this is not the last of the Monkey Island games, but there were signs to suggest that the series has run out of steam. This is definitely the weakest of the four. Having said that I thought MI3 was better than 1 and 2. If they exercise some tighter editorial control for the next outing (if there is one), perhaps LucasArts can get the series back on track.

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.