Escape from Monkey Island™

bad story, worst gameplay, awfull graphics, terrible control, boring dialoges. Sad really sad

Yup. Nostalgia makes people forget just how disappointing this game really is. Yeah, it's colorful, some jokes are pretty funny, the music is nice and some people might have a soft spot for this game. Back in the day, Escape from Monkey Island almost managed to destroy the whole Monkey Island universe singlehandedly. It turned what was essentially a humorous swashbuckling pirate game series into something that felt like being trapped in a contemporary holiday tourist trap filled with pop culture references, references to franchises (such as Starbucks) and so on. Yeah, that's an integral part of the plot, I get that, but nothing in this game feels like it has anything to do with Monkey Island anymore. You get "adventurous", "dashing" tasks such as talking to lawyers, getting paperwork in order to prevent somebody from tearing down a mansion, going to school, acquiring office job contracts, ... should I continue? Here's what my first 15 minutes with the game were like, when I tried to play it again recently. Enjoy: [00:00] Great. The Monkey Island logo and the song that's taken directly from Curse of Monkey Island. And we get a really embarassingly bad slideshow of closeups of the rendered ship, just like it's a bad PowerPoint presentation. The credits in some standard Windows font all over that slideshow look as if the devs weren't even trying. [00:01] Okay, NOW we're getting the intro. It's okay. Why Elaine uppercuts Guybrush four times, I'll never know though. That clearly never happened. [00:03] Damn, those are some REALLY bad character models... Did the devs try to copy the original 1992 Alone in the Dark? [00:04] The controls are messed up. Cycling through the commands with PageUp/PageDown, using stuff with the U key, picking stuff up with P and so on. Takes a lot of getting used to. [00:07] Guybrush says "Hey, it's Timmy the monkey! How are you, boy?" – Who the hell is Timmy the monkey supposed to be? Could he be the one from Monkey Island 1 from the jungle? Or one of the countless monkeys from Monkey Island 3? Whatever... [00:09] Greeeeat... in this PIRATE adventure, your first task is to search for some lawyers and start debating with them. Already don't feel like it. [00:11] WHAAAAT??! The chapter splash screens are so pathetically BAD! They can't be serious! [00:12] Those walking/running controls are ridiculous. Guybrush runs into obstacles all the time, turns around and runs the other way. [00:14] How could they design Mêlée Island SO WRONG?? The whole street with the jailhouse, the church and the merchant are GONE! That was one of the places in Monkey Island 1 players visited most frequently! Where is it? No. This is not Mêlée Island. I'm sorry. [00:15] Yeah great. Thanks. EACH and every last person on the island is absolutely mean and obnoxious towards Guybrush (and as such towards you as the player). You just don't feel home on good old Mêlée Island at all! Instead, you feel like a hated stranger being treated like garbage. What on Earth was the point of that? Just imagine, people... Imagine some developer (Ron Gilbert would be perfect, of course) would get permission to make a new Monkey Island game, in which the player would re-visit Mêlée Island. How incredibly beautiful it would be to once again walk across that island which we spent so much time in our childhood exploring. It would be a wonderful, amazing, SPECIAL experience. Everything would be authentic and just as we recall it, so we would be deeply moved – and all that in wonderful, hand-drawn 2D (or really beautiful and detailled 3D) graphics. Seriously... the world would be crazy about something like that. Imagining this made me realize that Escape from Monkey Island COULD HAVE BEEN this special experience even back then! How could the developers choose to change these iconic locations, so that the fans struggle to recognize or even IMAGINE that it's THE Mêlée Island? How is THAT a better idea than to really put some blood, sweat and tears in it to let Mêlée Island shine in new splendor? I will never grasp what the developers were thinking back when they made this game.

The backgrounds are nice, but... I might plod through this game, but I must say that the new control scheme pretty much ruins it for me. The action selections are fidgety. like... turn G conterintuitively, then walk or run towards an area of interest... btw G turns lazily when running, and gets virtually nowhere walking.... and again turn to find a sweet spot where your desired action is highlighted... not too little,,, not too much... because even if you have multiple choices of action, you can't just pick one from the list! Oh I miss the good old point and click.

I do love Monkey Island, fell in love with it since the first one and that appreciation never went away. I remember when this one came out we were pretty disheartened that it followed the new trend of making every game in 3D. Even back then the graphics were kinda disappointing and controls sure took some time to get used to. However, once you give this game a chance you will find what you are looking for buried under the clumsy controls and blocky 3D models. The cartoony atmosphere actually works but what really shines, in my opinion, is the soundtrack by Michael Z.Land - very strong themes and some of the best tracks in all of the series. The magic of the Monkey Island world is here, a bit stiffer than usual, but it's there with the usual charm and witty humour. I doubt any of you who have never played a Monkey Island game will start with this one. It doesn't make any sense anyway. But if you enjoyed the other games and somehow missed this one - get it! You will not regret spending time on Guybrush Threepwood and co. !

I played this the first time when it came out in 2000. Being a Monkey Island fan I was very excited to play this but I ended up being very dissapointed. The 3d graphics are quite bad and make playability very difficult and annoying at times. Some of the puzzles make no sense and the humour and dialogues are not as good as in the previous editions. I will buy it for the nostalgia when it goes on sale but unless you are a hardcore Monkey Island fan I would avoid this one.