Thursday, July 8, 2010

Tales of Monkey Island: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood



After a couple of decent but less than stellar episodes, this was a nice little turnaround. It does reuse a previously explored location, but presents it in a different way that makes it seem fresh, and there's enough stuff that wasn't there before that it doesn't quite feel like a retread. And more importantly, the puzzles are quite good. There are two main phases, the trial and completing a voodoo recipe, both of which go beyond the standard "do three things" formula and require you to actually think a bit instead of just clicking on objects haphazardly. They even give you a map that can be refolded to magically alter the jungle's layout. It's pretty fun. Plus the plot finally really gets into gear, and the climax is one of the better ones Telltale's done in a while. They tend to work out best when they just put you in a precarious position with everything you need and just have you work it out, and it's done to great effect here. It's really just more setup for the finale, but they did a good job of righting the ship beforehand. Also, it was fun to see Stan again, and at least his voice actor was better than the one from that special edition remake.

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