Escape From Monkey Island

Review

by J.C. Barnes

Escape from Monkey Island, the first traditional adventure game on the PlayStation 2, is part four of a series that originated on the computer in 1992. As with other titles in the series, this game's biggest strength is its humor. Every scene fits into place, and players will laugh time and time again at the misadventures of Guybrush Threepwood in his search for The Ultimate Insult. The presentation is first rate, dropping players in a cartoon-like environment with beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds. Town inhabitants are predictably made up of polygons and animate smoothly.

Considering that this game relies on comedy (an area most developers are afraid to touch), the quality of the voice acting is vital. The audio in a game like this can make or break the entire experience, but fortunately LucasArts has hired professional voice actors who deliver the lines with perfect comic timing.

Those concerned with the porting of a PC adventure game to a console system can rest assured; the new adventure control system works flawlessly on the PlayStation 2 controller. Walking is done using the left analog stick; dialogue choices are made with the right stick; picking up, looking at, and using items are all bound to the main buttons; and the inventory is selectable with a simple tap of the shoulder button.

Veterans of the old-school adventure games such as Sierra's Space Quest, King's Quest, and the Leisure Suit Larry series as well as the now-classic LucasArts adventure games like Grim Fandango, Sam and Max Hit the Road, and Full Throttle will thoroughly enjoy this title. The game offers hundreds of puzzles to solve and will keep you interested until the end (which is roughly 30 hours of gameplay).

Gamers should be warned, however -- just as in the three previous installments of Monkey Island, many of the puzzles in this game are challenging and will require a warped, comedic view in order to figure out how the world of Monkey Island works. Since not all of the puzzles are logical, most will resort to finding an online FAQ at least once or twice when trying to trek through the game.

Another thing potential buyers may want to consider is that many of the jokes assume you are already a fan of the previous installments (available for PC and Macintosh). As a result, many of the jokes will not make sense to those new to the series. Some may want to look into purchasing the earlier installments on their computer before delving into this title.

While these types of games do not traditionally offer a high replay value, you might find yourself drawn to it again as if you were re-reading a favorite book. Hopefully Escape from Monkey Island will revive a genre that is on the verge of extinction, as it is a great example of how to make an entertaining comic adventure.