Escape from Monkey Island

The Good
This comes with the typical Lucasarts quality. The soundtrack is ok (if worse than Grim Fandango's), the graphics are ok (if worse than Grim Fandango's), the cutscenes are adequate (if worse than Grim Fandango's), and the characters and their personalities are typically well brought across (if not as good as Gri...well you get the point). Some of the locations are enjoyable, I particularly liked the diving game. The voice acting is generally good (even though Guybrush is too significant a personality, and should never have been given a voice no matter how good the actor). Some of the voices were brilliant however, the hippie diving judge for example.

The Bad
Look lets get one thing straight: just because it's a game that's trying to be funny, it doesn't mean it IS funny. Monkey Island 1 was slightly amusing at times, so was Monkey 2. Monkey Island 3 was NOT. And neither is this, only even less so. This is not funny AT ALL! It has less wit than most children's cartoons. Watch some if you don't believe me. This is told like a story for 5yr olds. It is NOT funny. Got it? Some of the ideas are drained to the last drop, like Monkey Kombat, which wasn't very interesting to begin with. Monkeys are cool, but it's not a selling point so don't fill the game with them. The cut-scenes look worse than Grim Fandango's and that was made 2 years before; the camera doesn't swoop gracefully and artistically like the aforementioned Lucasarts title. It's too static, and they're never very interesting anyway. The plot is dull. Ideas are rehashed mercilessly. The series should have stopped when it still was respectable. Now it's a cash in, and even the critics still applaud it.

The Bottom Line
About as worthwhile as Rocky 5. Seems even Lucasarts aren't daring to be original anymore. This is typically well presented but lacking any substance or worth. Great adventure games look at this, laugh and call it names behind it's back. The series, once great, is now a cash-horse. Just try and remember the days when Lucasarts created Loom. Remember all the talent they once had. Someday people will look at this and say it's bad the way they say no3 was bad. They thought it was brilliant when it was released yet look at it now. Lets hope they pull it off for the next one, otherwise they'll take the Bullfrog route.