The voice acting is terrible. The puzzles are unmemorable. The humour is sophomoric. The characters are unfunny caricatures. The plot is flimsy, and its resolution is cringeworthy. Even if one were to play this with the mindset of indulging in an old, lighthearted game, it's still no excuse for such low effort. All in all, an eminently forgetful piece of software.
Very good story, well-rounded characters and a couple of nice twists. Nice to see that the good memories I had of this game held up quite well.
A wonderful, all-ages, fun and challenging game, and old gem that is good to be replayed every few years, with a whimsical identity all of its own. It can be rather hard, but never unfair and you're sure to work out the solutions on your own eventually; if not, there's always a limited amount of jokers to give you a hand. But do yourself a favor and play the floppy version that the installer provides, because the acted out dialogues are atrocious. The first two iterations also stand on their own as good adventure games, but the third chapter is the superior by far. All in all, a worthwhile pack to get for the adventure fan, to play on their own or with their children.
This is one of those titles whose sheer charm and heart can easily make you overlook its flaws. And does it ever have flaws, from the persistent audio glitches accompanying you throughout the game (text unaccompanied by sound, missing lines and the odd weird echo effect), to the awkward way the characters position themselves before some objects to interact with them, or the fact that a couple image files for inventory items appear to be missing. I also had the game go into an unending loop due to a character's animation once, and there's an annoying bug that can easily make you lose a bunch of hours while you try to solve a puzzle that has become insoluble due to simple mixing and matching of items in your inventory. So how does a game with such amateurish flaws still get four stars? Well, being one of the prettiest point & click adventures around certainly helps, as does its great score and humor, which isn't of the laugh-out-loud variety, but is certainly funny, even if it does come out somewhat forced at times. It is not a difficult game by any means, but still pretty long and easily a good 20 hours worth of playing time or so. Its strong suit is its charm, likable characters and solid fantasy narrative, and you can't help but appreciate the effort of people who clearly love the genre, but acknowledge that the point & click adventure game cannot possibly thrive in today's market without some tweaks and changes. So good on KINGart games and congratulations on a job well done. Looking forward to the third chapter.
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.
Over a decade old, still one of the best games I've ever played, *and* one of the top 3 stories I've ever read. That's right: read. The game's vivid, engrossing writing draws you in the way games with full voice acting often fail to do, and leaves an enduring impression on you. I really can't add much more to what's already been said, other than one might ask oneself how an old and admittedly graphically dated game is still getting 5-star reviews, in this community and (especially) outside of it, where the notion of "good old" games is largely foreign. I take it it's the formula of a superbly fleshed-out world, memorable characters, engaging voice acting, a deep, layered, twisting and turning plot, and rich, unique visuals. With enough style to fill a fashion show's catalogue and more substance than you can shake an Entropic Blade at, Planescape: Torment is a classic that transcends the borders of gameplay and becomes a masterclass in storytelling.
