Tales of Monkey Island: Complete Season

I've played all previous games, some of them twice, but to be honest, I'm not the most patient player when it comes to adventure games (it's also more fun to play them together with another person, but that wasn't an option now), and I usually give up too soon and look in a guide (which I usually regret because I think I could have gotten it on my own). But the puzzles in ToMI are in between just right and too easy for me, so a seasoned adventure veteran will probably find it mostly too easy. Still, some of the solutions I found quite creative and solving them on my own was quite satisfying. I only needed a guide two times, and the first time I clicked just a bit too far right, otherwise I would have gotten it on my own. But apart from the puzzles, the rest was also pretty good. I enjoyed the story, the graphics are still holding up even after all these years (which cannot be said for Escape from Monkey Island, the fourth game), and of course the music is great as always. There are some new elements I really liked, and nothing felt out of place in a way that would not fit the series, at least in my opinion. Not too big a fan of the episodic nature, but it's not that different from just having several chapters in a longer game. I really liked how some puzzles used the 3D graphics engine in ways that would not really have been possible in the older, 2D games, for example the pirate face-off, which may be my favorite part of the entire game (including various later recurrences). Some events in the game (one quite early, the other quite late) affect Guybrush in gameplay-altering ways, and especially the last chapter is really different and fresh (or rather, the opposite). It's not perfect, sure, the controls for example can be a bit clunky, but not nearly as much as in Escape. Still, it can make navigating the environment a bit of a hassle, especially with the constantly changing camera. And sometimes the running back and forth gets a bit much. Still, a lot of fun!

Excellent monkey island. J'enleve une etoile a cause des bugs. Ces derniers sont moins problematiques que ceux MI4 mais restent bloquant: pour le 1er bug du Chapitre 4: env_flotsamJungleNight.dlg.old (vous devez ajouter le .old) pour le 2em bug du chapitre 4 effacez/deplacez ou renommez : env_flotsamjunglenight_cs_deSingeRunsOff_e1_8.chore flotsamJungleNight_guybrush_desinge.dlg env_flotsamclub41interior_cs_deSingeTriesToHireMorgan_e1_9.chore pour le chapitre 5: env_flotsamJungleNightClearing.dlg.OLD (vous devez ajouter le ".old")

...the GOG version has some issues. There are various problems with music throughout the five episodes and sometimes certain cutscenes don't play at all! E.g. Episode 3 skips one of the cutscenes from the intro sequence (the first one inside the giant manatee). I hope this can be patched somehow. On the plus side, this version includes LeChuck's re-recorded dialogue in Episode 1 which means we can enjoy more of that Earl Boen goodness. Currently the best way to play this game is using the GOG ver. for the Episode 1 prologue and then switching to the Steam ver. for the rest of the game. Bummer.

Can't fault the game loved all of the Monkey Island series. As always high quality humor and puzzle solving. However, the price when the offer period ends is very high $34.99 (approx £23.00). I realise it's DRM free which is always preferable, but when you can buy the game from other sites for as little as £5.50/$8.35 approx it's hard to justify the extra amount for a DRM copy.

In the interest of full disclosure, I dove into this game ready to love it, as I grew up with the series and had waited a decade for a follow-up to the largely disappointing last title. However, what I got out of it was more than the scratching of a ten-year itch. Much, much more. As I played through all five chapters of Tales of Monkey Island, I was relieved to see that the series' humour was as wacky as ever, that all characters worth revisiting had either important roles or satisfying cameos, that the dialogue retained its characteristic snappiness, that the all-important voice cast was largely intact (delivering a terrific performance) and that the saga's continuity had been not only been respected but also built upon. That alone would have made me content with my purchase, but that was not all, because upon finishing the final chapter, I realized that the series had... well, grown. While still essentially a humurous, swashbuckling adventure, there was now drama, an edge, and, shiver me timbers, honest-to-goodness pathos added to the mix. All with due moderation and hitting the right notes at the right times without overstaying their welcome, but they were there. And, jarring as the first "holy snap!" moment was for me, the game became all the better for it. The addition of a couple of new memorable characters was just the icing on top of the cake, and the twist on the series' mythology paved the road for a bold new direction which at least this particular fan will be waiting for with great anticipation. The point & click genre has seen far better days and could be considered on life support nowadays, but it's still a perfectly valid method of interactive storytelling, as this game proves with the very innovative puzzles it peppers its narrative with. It's not a hard game by any means, but the days of gamers willing to spend hours upon hours of lateral thinking and pixel hunting just to make the story move forward are gone, and most of the game's puzzles are balanced just right to keep the story flowing. Come to think of it, the most 'puzzling' aspect of the game is its control scheme, which tried to be the best of both worlds but succeeds at neither. Telltale Games - the developer that licensed the game - may not have the deep pockets of an AAA studio, and that shows in the overall graphic presentation, the rather bland UI and a somewhat rushed final scene, the final cliffhanger nonwithstanding, but through graft and creativity they managed to make the most with what they had. All in all, Tales of Monkey Island is an excellent adventure game and that rarest of beasts among the electronic entertainment industry: The one that genuinely has the ability to make you smile. Naturally, those familiar with the series will derive the most from it, as the myriad of references will be lost on those who aren't, but with the multi-platform availability of the first two titles (which have recently been remastered, no less), there's no excuse not to hop on board for the ride.