Escape from Monkey Island
by LucasArts Entertainment
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Video Game Reviews of Escape from Monkey Island
Customer Review: An excellent continuation of the series
Summary: 5 Stars
I had my doubts buying this when I discovered that Guybrush and co. were converting to 3D. Would the game keep it's cartoonish humour and action? The answer is yes, it did. The new game is just as funny and colourful as the others. I won't reveal too much of the plot but basic storyline is that Guybrush and Elaine return from their honeymoon to find that Elaine has been proclaimed dead and so elections for a new governor are being held. As usual, you're Guybrush and your job is to set everything right again. And for every problem you solve, a new one presents itself. As mentioned before, everything's up to standard. The graphics and dialogue are fantastic, and the animated scenes are too. The voice actors give it their all, and once again Dominic Armato does a stellar job of voicing the nerdish Guybrush. If you like this series, go out and buy it now. For those who haven't played the other games, I would recommend you play them before this.Customer Review: The best game ever
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are tired of all those "humane" adventure games buy this! I mean who couldn't like talking monkeys and drunken parrots?Customer Review: It's Gr-rrr-rrr-eat!
Summary: 4 Stars
This game is great, mind you I've only made it to the second island. It's especially good for all you people who have trouble figuring out the more time consuming problems because it comes with a "starter" clue book that can help you through the first couple secrets. I think that people who purchased and loved the other Lucas Arts great Grim fandango would also fancy Escape from Monkey Island 4. It features the same killer graphics, cool problems, hilarious jokes, and best of all ... an accompanying clue book. Now bare in mind that the clue book only takes you so far, I am wondering where to find the complete clues (Yes, I do want to cheat...), and am hoping that Amazon will pick it up soon. None the less I hope that you buy the game because it is loads of fun. Enough said I think I'll go play it now...Customer Review: What have they done?
Summary: 3 Stars
Do you remember that funny Guybrush Threepwood who would make us laugh for hours in the trhee previous MIs?He is not himself any more. Remember those beautiful backgrounds and cartoonish graphics which made Curse of Monkey Island my favorite game? Not here anymore. Instead they have been replaced by monotonous 3D which, in my opinion, does not even match Grim Fandangos quality. Remember those puzzles which would keep us up all night long trying to figure them out? All gone. It took me only 5 days to complete Esacpe from Monkey Island taking in account that I dedicated only part my an afternoons to the game. As you might have noticed, I was pretty dissapointed with this game. The game is full of bugs and errors, in fact, the game even congratulates you when you have found a bug, since a message appears telling you an error has occured in the game and its title is "Congratulations! You have found a bug!" This type of errors were the ones that stopped me from enyoing the end of the game since they caused the game to run EXTREMELLY slow at the final monkey kombat and caused the end cinematics to run really slowly. By the way, what was that!! Monkey Kombat? I prefer the funny insult sword fighting in MI3 where the insults and their answers rhymed adding humour to the game. The control was confusing at first but then you get used to it, even though I miss the point and click interface, which, in my opinion, is one of the most important elements of graphic adventures, perhaps the one which distinguishes them from other genres. Most of the dialogue is not even funny anymore. As I write this review I start to appreciate the previous Monkey Islands much more. Curse of Monkey island is still my favorite. To conclude, I want you to know, in case someone ever reads this, that I do not hate this game, but I was deeply dissapointed. As soon as i ordered this game, I couldn't wait for it to arrive.When the day when it was in my hands came, I immediately went to my computer and started playing. Six days later I found myself writing this review. I hope there is a Monkey Island 5, but I wish they make it similar to the first three.Customer Review: No really, when's the fourth Monkey Island coming out?
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm sure I was like every other fan of the Monkey Island series ..., ready to immerse myself in its latest chapter. What I got ...was a fantastic letdown.First of all, I have to say I'm a little jaded; Curse (number 3 in the series) is a beautiful, funny, well-written game and arguably the best of the bunch. And in my opinion, the translation to the third dimension fails in every respect. Where is the sense of romance and atmosphere that was so wonderfully conjured in the previous game? The rich, lucious (if computer-dealt) painstrokes, the deep colors, and the caricatrued backgraounds and cast-members? It's all been replaced with low-poly, poorly animated, poorly designed 3D blandness that shapes up to be a major disapointment.
In fact, it's completely devoid of anything that would make it feel like a Monkey Island game. Here again, I think the translation to 3D is entirely to blame. ....With the implementation of the movement arrows, the challenge is no longer in the logic or puzzles area, it's now getting from points A to B. Remember clicking on a guy across the screen to go talk to him? A thing of the past! Make way for a pointless, ugly 3D engine which requires the player to navigate obstacles (most of which actually turn Guybrush in the opposite direction upon contact), make sure the character is looking in the right direction, and then talk to the guy, only to hear five minutes of uninspired dialogue.
Perhaps this would not have been such a monumental disappointment if the maps were laid out well. The whole game seems like it is restricted by the engine: rooms are no longer filled with interesting articles; now simple tables and chairs line the walls in completely monotonous fashion because that's the way it's done in a 3D space. Characters are no longer cartoons; they're horribly disfigured lumps of spheres and cylinders. The entire style of the series is altogether absent, save a few swirly clouds and skewed walls, poor atempts at recreation of once beautiful design. It is the epitome of 3D for the sake of 3D.
The voice acting is all similarly disapointing, but I believe this stems from another huge weekness: the screenplay. Not once did I find myself caring about a character or wondering what was next in store for him or her, not once did I feel like sitting through dialogue (which is your only option, as it is impossible to skip it), and most offensive of all, not once did I find myself laughing. This is the most serious blow to the game; it's not funny.
Throw in some ... logicless puzzles and a few far-reatching references to the previous games (which are the only jokes that are remotely humorous, perhaps sheerly for nostalgia) and you have yourself Escape from Monkey Island, whose only redeeming value is a guy named Guybrush Threepwood that I vaguely remember once being funny. Would that there were a 1.5 star ranking.