Return to Monkey Island

It's not as bad as some say. The game is enjoyable. A lot of jokes on the modern times. Bluehaired women who are the villains in this story, has chased the pirate leaders out of the scummbar(taking over).LeChuck is also around. I was reluctant to buy this because of the artstyle, but it grew on me. Much better than Escape from monkey Island.

It's what you would aspect from Monkey Island, although I'm not really a fan on how the story is framed, Good challenge for some puzzles, al nd even using the hint system is better if you are stucked instead of looking it online, as it just points you in the right direction instead of telling the solution. It's great, for those time consuming or really subtle puzzles. It seems the real game is hidden under the "writer's cut" option, I thought it included some extra talks as a sort of "behind the scenes" but I realised only after that is a wordplay on "director's cut" edition with movies, with extra dialogue and characters that improve the story. Enable it for the first run.

I enjoyed the game quite a lot. It's basically a big trip down memory lane, full of references to the old games, and with a beautiful ending that made me well up. Although I imagine the game will mean little if you haven't played the rest. The music and voices are great, as well as the dialogue, although I feel not as funny as in the older games. The art style is not great, but it's not that bad. Not like the MI1 remake. The colors are nice and there are some funny animations. But man, imagine they did something like Double Fine did with Broken Age? The puzzles were a little too easy. There is an easy story mode, and a hard mode with extra puzzles. I went with hard, but there was barely a challenge. I went through the puzzles very quickly and never got stuck, except on some illogical ones. Don't expect to get stuck for days like with the old games. Most of the time I already knew what item I had to go get the moment I ran into a puzzle. But I guess it's just fun to progress through the story and follow the dialogue. All in all I can recommend this to fans of the series. For closure.

I remember hearing about this title well before it was due out. At first, I was disappointed to learn the creative team went more cartoon and/or simple like with the graphics and gave the game an old school feel in its gameplay. I hear this was a common sentiment. I returned to it again well after launch and I really enjoyed it! It practically feels refreshing to play something that feels like this kind of old school game anymore as so many franchies copy popular mechanics these days (crafting, open world). It is also done in a way where the riddles feel less convuluted than in older entries in the serires. Even the art style grew on me after Igot over that it wasn't my expectation in a new title. If you like old Monkey Island or similar adventure games and want ligt hearted, freshened up, nostalga goodness, this is for you.

If you haven't played the other Monkey Island games, then stop. The bad news is, this game isn't for you. The good news is, you get to play some classic adventure games. Yes, even the much-maligned fourth game is worth playing (though the controls sometimes make it painful to do so). The game is peppered with mini spoilers, including the game launching from Monkey Island 2's famous (or perhaps infamous) ending. Plus, many of the background gags that make Monkey Island games so rich rely on prior knowledge. How does Return compare to the other Monkey Islands? Well, its puzzle chains are generally shorter and less twisty than the revered Monkey Island 2. This isn't necessarily a good or a bad thing; it just means the game is easier and a bit shorter than MI2. You still get the old flashes of the mad genius "puzzle logic", where you eschew sensible tools and methods for ridiculous substitutions based on whatever is lying about. The puzzles aren't unfair though. All of them are obvious with a little lateral thinking. Primarily, the game is always funny and entertaining. It's not hard enough to be taxing or frustrating, nor is it easy enough that you get bored. Gilbert and Grossman have not lost their zany humour. I laughed out loud on multiple occasions. There are a couple of sources of controversy worth mentioning: the art style, and the ending. The former is mostly a storm in a teacup; the art style is fine (though I found the animation style did bother me from time to time). The ending is less easy to excuse. I see it as an attempt to do something similar as in MI2. Like in MI2, there's a mysterious maguffin that Guybrush is fixated on, since the beginning of the game, and there's really no one object or experience that could adequately meet Guybrush's (or the audience's) expectations. Unlike MI2's ending, Return's ending lacks nuance, and rather than a kind of existential headf***, we more get a limp shrug. Anyway, it's about the journey, not the destination!