Escape from Monkey Island

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.