Retrospective: Escape From Monkey Island

"I've got hands to kiss, and babies to shake."

I absolutely, categorically do not understand what everyone has against Escape From Monkey Island. While I admit I had been horribly wrong about The Curse Of Monkey Island, everyone else is entirely wrong about the fourth game in the series, and it's time for this mad prejudice to come to an end.

And there's no better time to do this than now, because this 11-year-old game is in fact currently incredibly topical. I know of no other game thats central motif is openly mocking Rupert Murdoch and his attempts to buy everything in the world. Well, I guess we can't say that for sure. Perhaps they were spoofing some other rich Australian grump who tries to take over everything he encounters.

It is unjust - simply awful - that this game is so weirdly dismissed, even hated, by fans of Monkey Island. Because despite (and even with) the 3D this is an absolutely stunning adventure game. It's one of the funniest, most involved, and downright strange in all of LucasArts' collection, and you - yes YOU - are a fool for the way you've been pretending you don't like it for all these years.

There's a reason why it's so funny. Escape is written, designed and project-led by Sean Clark and Mike Stemmle. Not the most famous names in game design, until someone points out to you that it was the same double-act that wrote and created Sam & Max: Hit The Road. Indeed - those behind an adventure game that you celebrate beyond reason also made the game you've claimed was an insult to the Monkey Island name, and now you're looking a bit silly, eh?

'Retrospective: Escape From Monkey Island' Screenshot 1

See, it's way better looking than you remembered.

Everything is here. A story involving Guybrush travelling around the increasingly poorly titled Tri-Island district, solving elaborate chains of puzzles in order to move on to the next enormous location. Elaine needs your help, Le Chuck is causing trouble, there's Otis, Carla, Murray, the Voodoo Lady, insult fights, Stan (who even in 3D wears a shirt whose pattern doesn't move as he does), and the second highest number of monkeys I've ever seen. Yes, Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer had nothing to do with it, but you know what - it doesn't suffer for that at all.

The humour is just wonderful. It's certainly a damn sight funnier than the first and third games in the series, making me laugh out loud a remarkable number of times. It's a game that understands the basics, such as: ducks are funny animals. And the complicated, like... okay - there's nothing complicated. But there's a lot that's clever.

We may be a little far on from the O.J. trial over a decade since the game came out, but "If the nose fits, you must acquit," still gets a laugh out of me. And no one in the world could have written a better line in response to trying to pick up a skull from an underground chamber: "I've already got a skull."

Some of the references have dated, or perhaps more frequently been done too often by others since. So while Starbuccaneers is a funny name for a pirate coffee shop, a decade of Starbucks spoofs have tainted it slightly. (Although I'll defend "Cap'n-ccino" to the death. And I can't help but enjoy "Starbuccaneer's iced groggaccino".)

'Retrospective: Escape From Monkey Island' Screenshot 2

Watch out! He's trying to buy BSkyB!

But the overall story entirely holds up. This mysterious rich Australian, by the name of Ozzy Mandrill, is buying up all the establishments on Melee and the surrounding islands, and converting them into tourist-friendly, pirate-themed but pirate-free modern monstrosities. Pirates are being rehabilitated, grog-selling venues are vanishing, and novelty gift shops are appearing everywhere. The very pirate way of life is being threatened in the face of capitalism and corporations.

Meanwhile, a new man in town by the name of Charles L. Charles is threatening to defeat Elaine as Governor of Melee Island. And this is handled brilliantly. The lack of an attempt to disguise that this will obviously turn out to be Le Chuck is so pleasingly delivered, without resorting to his pulling back his beard and winking at the camera. Instead his pitifully obvious name, along with Guybrush's remark that he smells like a rotting corpse when first meeting him, makes the eventual reveal a fantastically sarcastic moment. Supporting characters look pityingly at Guybrush and mention how heavy-handed the foreshadowing had been.

The puzzles range from interesting to ridiculously obscure, and I'm not ashamed to admit I resorted to a walkthrough here and there - I was eleven years younger the last time I played it, fitter of mind, and with fewer memories to try to store.

But the 3D, you cry. Well, I don't hear you endlessly whinging about it when you pretend Grim Fandango was a flawless masterpiece. You go back and try to play that one now. Heck, just try to walk through a doorway. While Monkey 4 has the most unforgivably awful camera nonsense, where running out of one scene sends you running right back into it from the next, at least it's possible to move at all. Funnily enough, it turns out it's much better to play on a 360 controller than anything else - they just accidentally made it a few too many years early.

The backgrounds remain gorgeous, the design in keeping with the series and only prettier. The character models don't hold up so well, but really aren't bad at all. Really, the only things that suck are that awful camera-flippery, and Guybrush's insane awkwardness about facing certain objects.

Oh, and Monkey Kombat. Yes. Fair enough. Monkey Kombat - the awful alternative to insult sword fighting, was a disastrous decision, and remains a tedious affair today. Having to learn not only which stances beat others, but also which combination of four monkey-sounds in which order changes from one stance to another, through repeated trial and error, is a mistake that defies explanation. And for me, just as I was making my way through its early stages, the game crashed and the thought of doing it all again was enough to have me download a save position and skip the lot.

'Retrospective: Escape From Monkey Island' Screenshot 3

Of course there's a swamp maze to navigate through! It's a Monkey Island game.

LucasArts adventures were famous for running out of money and time toward the end, and while I've no evidence, I do wonder if the same happened here. The closing cinematic is absolutely fantastic, but the battle before it was not, and the lack of closure is frustrating. Is the SCUMM Bar rescued from becoming the hideous Caribbean-themed tourist trap? Are the pirates released from their subjugation on Lucre Island? And what happens to the rest of Murd... Mandrill's empire? I kind of wanted to find out.

But this does not deserve to end on a negative note. This is the first Monkey game that finally stopped Elaine from being a one-dimensional nagging harpie, and gave her not only a wonderful new voice by Charity James, but a softness for her husband Guybrush, and independent power.

And talking of the voice actors, I'm not sure LucasArts ever did a better job of it than here. Earl Boen is - as always - incredible as Le Chuck, and this is Dominic Armato's all-time best turn at Guybrush. Plus there's an extraordinary additional cast of talent, including the brilliant Tom "Spongebob" Kenny in a collection of roles.

'Retrospective: Escape From Monkey Island' Screenshot 4

At last Elaine is smart AND friendly.

Other notables include the hilarious Maria Bamford, veteran actor (and star of Space 1999!) Nick Tate as Mandrill, the incredible Pamela Adlon (currently stunning in Louie), and the legendary Rob Paulsen, as in Pinky of Pinky & The Brain as well as just about every other cartoon ever. Oh, and so many others! It's a vast cast and a genuine who's who of voice over work.

The music is wonderful, the sheer volume of jokes incredible (the game has over 10,000 recorded lines, to give you an idea of quite how much there is to look at or talk about), and it's funny until the last with a laugh-out-loud dig at George Lucas as the credits close.

Good grief, I find myself wanting to scream from mountaintops about how stupidly messed up it is that this game has been given such a bad name. It's a fantastic comedy adventure, and it deserves to be remembered among LucasArts' best.

Comments (50) Latest comment 6 months ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • SteelPriest #1 7 months ago

    It was the first one i played (i KNOW, i'm sorry!) and i fucking loved it.
    Edited by 2 at 07/08/11 @ 09:29
  • RodHull #2 7 months ago

    Agreed, it is unjustly vilified, largely it seems for Monkey Kombat. I particularly enjoyed the art design at the time as well as the impeccable voice acting. I also can vouch for the improvements in controls and camera simply by using a 360 controller, having tried that a couple of years ago and loving it.
  • dewington #3 7 months ago

    Have to say I agree - never understood why it's considered such a travesty (except for Monkey Kombat). Creating the abomination out of prosthetic body parts always cracks me up. "It's aliiiiiive! (Pause) That was exciting."
  • tmsmyth4 #4 7 months ago

    I think many MI fans will turn to the plot when they cirticise this game, specifically the stuff with Herman Toothrot. Personally the controls never bothered me and yes, the humour is much more slapstick and guybrush is far more goofy than earlier games but I still found it hilarious at times and there were some decent puzzles (the clock/raft section comes to mind) I certainly reemember this game fondly as a good game, but perhaps not a good Monkey Island game
  • erictheking #5 7 months ago

    Apart from the MONKEY KOMBAT I loved this game - was as funny and innovative as the other MI games and I think the better 3D graphics improved the experience. Tottaly agree that it is unfarely unloved.
  • Stranded87 #6 7 months ago

    Yeah top game. Glad people are finally standing up for it.
  • WinterSnowblind #7 7 months ago

    I enjoyed parts of the game, most of the puzzles were good (except for Monkey Combat) but it's mainly the style and theme of this one that put me off, it feels less like a pirate adventure and more like a parody of the earlier games.

    Things like the Starbucks cafe were just a step too far and many of the story points were just dumb (the revelation about Hermen Toothrot ensures we'll never see him in any more games, because it totally destroyed his character).

    Perhaps it gets too much hate, but it's definitely the weak link in the franchise.
  • paavopaavo #8 7 months ago

    I got this as a Christmas present the year it came out. Don't remember much about it (apart from that Monkey Kombat was of course stupid and all, but with pen and paper not really that long or annoying affair). The one thing I DO remember is that is by far the shortest/easiest of Lucas Arts' adventures, with maybe only The Dig and Full Throttle giving it a run for its money. I was 15 at the time and completed this in maybe two or three days (although I used a walkthrough once or twice). I never really hated the game, but have enormous difficulties believing it was or is anywhere near as brilliant as say, Grim Fandango (which I think is by far the best adventure game ever created, from the script and setting view point...). Still, have to give Monkey 4 another go now because of this praise. So a job well done, Mr. Walker!
  • OnlyMe #9 7 months ago

    It's an ok game, but it kinda doesn't work as a Monkey Island game. Too much pop-culture reference for my tastes. Also, I think Sam and Max is slightly overrated, and the (LucaArts) game is among the least favourite LucasArts games of mine.

    Also, most fans attack the game for screwing up the plot to a degree that it's hard to fix without pretending EMI doesn't exist. No more Herman Toothrot, no more Giant Monkey Head, and the entire plotline is gaping with plotholes that makes it look like the writers haven't even played the first two games.

    No, the game was actually very good, if not great, halfway through the game. Until I reached Jambalaya. That's when the whole game took a nosedive into mediocrity and later when the story crossed the line from silly to downright horrible, it plunged deeper and became outright bad.
    Edited by 1 at 07/08/11 @ 09:56
  • OrgasmicMutton #10 7 months ago

    It was also the first one I played (I don't need an excuse, I'm a youngster!) wherupon I set about playing all the MI games in reverse order. Which I would never have done if I hadn't loved this one.

    Monkey Kombat is, as everyone rightly says, absolutely terrible. But the good up to that point outweighs the bad. I think the moment in the game where I started to realise just how much I was enjoying myself is when you click on a tortue device in the prison and guybrush quips "Iron Maiden . . . excellent. I have no idea why I just said that." Got to love the pop culture references.

    Oh and Grim Fandango is flawless. What's that you say about accidentally running away from where you want to go because the controls are not quite right? LALALA I'm not listening! I actually reinstalled it the other night, but it's not playing nice the sound keeps cutting out and not coming back. Definitely a game that needs either a GoG version or a remake. Even just playing the first few minutes before the sound cut out contained so many hilarious lines, particularly your conversations with the boss' secretary.

    But i'm getting sidetracked here. Escape From Monkey Island was a great game with a disappointing turgid slog tagged on to the end (but much less turgid than the fucking maze in Secret of Monkey Island, in my opinion) and deserves to be remembered for the good bits.
  • Cappy #11 7 months ago

    I'm perfectly happy to let people wallow in their wrongness, but sometimes a line is crossed and something needs to be done. No. Escape from Monkey Island is still a fetid piece of Monkey Island 'product' no matter how much noise the addled and misinformed make.

    Why is the art direction so lousy? It seems somebody thought that cheesy mid 90s CGI was the height of graphic sophistication, all the subtle touches and texture were consigned to Davey Jones locker leaving a bland and visually uninteresting game. Sorry guys, the lacquered plasticine aesthetic isn't coming back. Ever.

    Why is the user interface so much worse? They had a scheme that worked for three games and they replaced it with something far less efficient and teeth grindingly awful due to inferior navigation. Why should the user care how far away Guybrush is from an object? The previous games would simply walk Guybrush up to the object we want to interact with if he was out of 'range', it was the intention that counted. Escape from Monkey Island takes Ron Gilbert's graphic adventure bible (well it was more of an insert) and flushes it down the toilet.

    Why is this game riddled with bugs? I couldn't even finish the game after getting caught by one which made it impossible to continue.

    This is not a Monkey Island game, it's pastiche, it's product, it's cynical Lucasarts filth that the World simply didn't need.
    Edited by 2 at 07/08/11 @ 16:40
  • siro #12 7 months ago

    I wrote a comment on the MI3 retrospective, asking you to replay this and make sure for all of us if we are right to dislike it. So, thanks for doing just that... but I still can't believe that it's one of the best out there, to be honest.
    Edited by 2 at 07/08/11 @ 19:48
  • DrStrangelove #13 7 months ago

    Dear EG, I request a retrospective of Carmageddon. You know it needs to be done.
  • dominalien #14 7 months ago

    I played this back in 2003 and I don't remember making much of an impression either way. This being the only MI game I didn't own, I bought this for the PS2 after the previous retrospective. Yet to play it, but I'm glad I have so much goodness to look forward to :-)
  • randompanda #15 7 months ago

    "a damn site"

    "over 10,000 record lines"

    Aside from that, a good defence of a good game. C+
  • GAmbrose #16 7 months ago

    I had the MS Sidewinder gamepad which mad both this and Grim Fandango very much playable.

    I'm really not surpised that those playing with a mouse and keyboard hated them, though this definately got more stick. Grim Fandango is a masterpiece though. Stunning noir storytelling in a very unique setting.
  • MdaG #17 7 months ago

    I loved the game, but hated using a keyboard to control Guybrush.
    Edited by 1 at 07/08/11 @ 11:55
  • Pandy #18 7 months ago

    "Dirty little sky-rats"
  • kupocake #19 7 months ago

    Interesting subject for a retrospective. I think the shock of Monkey Island following everything else into 3D has long since left the community. I'd still have rather seen the series push 2D art further than even Monkey 3, but then, I say that about 2D games in general (someone has to make a game with cinematic quality 2D art sooner or later).

    Actually, I haven't played #4 (and it's the only one I haven't played). Rather frustrating that there aren't downloadable versions of this and #3.
  • Antaios #20 7 months ago

    Worst Monkey Island of the lot as far as I'm concerned, and OnlyMe described it best in his/her last paragraph. There is a lot to like about EMI, but there's also a lot to dislike and outright hate, like the ending and Monkey Kombat. It's not a bad game per se, it's just very much not up to Monkey Island standards.
  • taurus82 #21 7 months ago

    I've still got the PS2 version in my collection, awaiting the day Sony brings back full BC to the PS3.
  • RazedInWhite #22 7 months ago

    This is the second best Escape From Monkey Island retrospective I've ever seen!
  • Sunjammer #23 7 months ago

    Saying X is good because it was made by Y and Z is a silly, silly thing to say, you silly man.

    I wanted to like Monkey 4 so much. Monkey 1 (the least funny one) was the first game i bought with my own money, while Monkey 2 (the most adventurest one) remains the most timeless and unforgettable. Monkey 3 is my favorite, simply because it's like snuggling up with a blanket the night before christmas. It's just so warm and fuzzy and gentle. It's a hug of a game.

    Monkey 4, as much as you beg to differ, still looks like the time in which it was made in a way that lacks any charm whatsoever. The character models look poo. They even looked poo at the time. That engine worked for papercraft skeleton men, but anything human just collapsed. The areas look like something a fan would have made while he was learning 3D Studio. There is practically none of the fuzzy warmth from any of the previous games. For better or worse, in my mind, the other games "happened", while this game was "made".

    To me, it lacks the charm, and it lacks any sort of story that i could ever make myself care about. "Oh lord, someone wants to commercialize pirates", says the commercial pirate game, and expects us somehow to empathise? I don't know. Not a single hook in that game got me going.

    For various undefinable entirely subjective reasons, it's wildly inferior to the other games, including the episodes. It didn't "get it". Perhaps if i could somehow separate it from the rest of the series i'd look at it more fondly, but as a monkey island game it left me practically heartbroken.
    Edited by 2 at 07/08/11 @ 13:15
  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #24 7 months ago

    I'll echo what Sunjammer and Cappy says.

    The MI games are my favorite series and MI2 is still my personal best game of all time. There's a reason that a lot of MI fans don't like 4 and that's because it's shit (or at least nowhere near as good as the others).

    The controls were worse (removing Point & Click from a Point & Click adventure series)

    The graphics were worse. Swaping beautiful 2D images for awful 3D. The previous games were like playing lovely warm interactive cartoons with lots of character. MI4 was sterile, dated looking at launch and completely against the earlier games.

    Some of the puzzles where beyond surreal as you even said yourself.

    The general story had moved far beyond what was considered reasonable for the MI universe. It just didn't seem like an MI game even with recuring characters - not helped by the basic 3D representations of them.

    Of course Monkey Kombat almost stops the game from being completeable by people with less patience. Terrible design choice.


    In closing, the fact that the options in MI3 joke about turning on DirectX3D in an MI game, and then actually fucking doing it in MI4 speaks volumes.

    You're wrong on this I'm afraid (IMHOOC)
    Edited by 3 at 07/08/11 @ 13:55
  • Shinetop #25 7 months ago

    There's a reason why it's so funny. Escape is written, designed and project-led by Sean Clark and Mike Stemmle. Not the most famous names in game design, until someone points out to you that it was the same double-act that wrote and created Sam & Max: Hit The Road. Indeed - those behind an adventure game that you celebrate beyond reason also made the game you've claimed was an insult to the Monkey Island name, and now you're looking a bit silly, eh?

    Yeah thanks, I've known that since I played it because it's, you know, on the box, and in the opening credits. Also Sam & Max Hit the Road was incredibly weak for a LucasArts adventure storywise. The humor was fantastic, but how much of that is due to Stemmle and Clark and how much due to Steve Purcell's insane writing?

    I don't know. I don't think Escape deserves all the hate it gets, but it is definitely poor, if not awful, for a Monkey Island game. And the humor being funnier than the first and third games? Yeah, the abomination and the duck were funny, as was hyper-guybrush, and there were great oneliners but really? That whole Marco Pollo stuff? Ignatius Cheese? The Church of LeChuck? Ridiculous. Some of the Starbuccaneer's stuff was funny, but there was too much of it and it was too played out. Planet Threepwood took the same played out joke and ran it into the ground even further.

    The fact that it was 3D never bothered me (like you rightly pointed out, Grim Fandango is in 3D and it's a masterpiece) but the lame art design did. In Grim Fandngo they found a great art style that worked with the 3D. Hell, according to Schafer one of the reasons they went with 3D was because it'd make the characters look like cardboard dolls with painted-on skeletons - like actual calaveras. They took the 3D and knew how to make it work, whereas with Escape, they just took the 3D and then tried to recreate the established MI style in spite of it, failing horribly. Guybrush looked lame, there was a poor attempt to replicate Bill Tiller's amazing bendy artwork from Curse, and the animations just killed any sense of comic timing the earlier games had. The lifeless design in almost every scene completely lacks the charm and atmosphere that the earlier games had. And they still haven't managed to fix this in Tales.

    The plot is glossed over in this retrospective, but it too is terrible. Toothrot's character was effectively ruined, the SCUMM Bar makeover was lame (Yes, I get the whole SCUMM/Lua joke, but it was still lame) and the giant monkey head lost all the occult mystery the first game gave it and got turned into a stupid science fiction plot device. They took the "pirates and occult voodoo nonsense" theme from the earlier games and effectively replaced them with "pirate themed pop culture references and crazy machines". Unforgivable.

    There were definitely good points about the game though. It still excels in oneliners, the voices are fantastic, the Mist o' Tyme puzzle in which you meet yourself was incredible, and despite the fact that there was too much pop culture stuff, they totally nailed the over the top Mortal Kombat style spinning camera/burning logo cinematic when the final Monkey Kombat battle begins. The good bits are good, really good, but there's just too much bad stuff overshadowing the good, and that's a travesty for any LucasArts adventure. It's not as terrible as the internet echo chamber makes it's out to be, but it also doesn't deserve to be "remembered among LucasArts best".

    "I've got hands to kiss and babies to shake" remains one of the funniest lines in the series, though.
    Edited by 6 at 07/08/11 @ 14:03
  • Moribundman #26 7 months ago

    Sunjammer has summed it up perfectly. This game AND all the good three.

    It was utterly unforgivable the way they ruined Herman Toothrot, the Monkey Head and many other sacred MI icons. You could almost overlook Monkey Kombat and look to the alright first half of the game to remember it as a lesser but still good episode in the series. They should have just said Murray was Guybrush's own timetravelling skull from when he's dead in the future, or Stan was really a woman.

    John, these Lucasarts retrospectives of yours all make great copy and fascinating reads and I really love the fact EG had you write them, but as you yourself admit, you never really gave a shit about about Indiana Jones (movies), you liked this game and hated Curse of Monkey Island and I think you're coming at what amounts to a treasured part of many peoples childhoods/adolescences from a very different perspective.

    Some of the people on here have written "pretty good game, just not Monkey Island" and I vehemently agree. You can review the game without taking into account the mythos and the memories for people that surround it. You, Mr Walker, are an apologist who did not enter this particular building on the ground floor. Its just such a shame that what started with Lucasarts games has latterly spread to Lucasfilm movies...
  • Irvyne #27 7 months ago

    There's not much else I can add, but I agree wholeheartedly with Sunjammer. I loved, loved, LOVED the first three Monkey Island games. The third one was my favourite. Never before have I laughed out loud so much at a game's humour, much of which came out of the brilliant 2D animation. It also had great comic timing.

    I can't comment much on the gameplay of MI4, because I honestly can't remember much of it. I only played it the once and I left feeling disappointed. I thought the controls were horrendous (honestly... there was nothing BROKEN to FIX!!) but the main disappointment was the lack of humour. I counted. I only chuckled three times in MI4. Three measly little times. And since I played it, the only laugh that I actually remember is the crazy old teacher running out of the school when Guybrush makes the bell ring. Over and over again.

    I look forward to playing it again sometime soon. Your article has inspired me. I hope I see it with new eyes. But from my first playthrough of the series, this was BY FAR the weakest episode for me.
  • ToAks #28 7 months ago

    seriously this game was rubbish, hated the crappy controls and the story really went sour towards the middle or so... i quit the game in the middle and played it from scratch 5 years later and completed it and i still think its rubbish.

    COMI is the best one to me although 1 and 2 are just as good and its really hard for me to pick the best one of the 5 games but the 4th (escape)one is easily the worst.

    ps:yes i count the telltale one as a monkey island game and that one is much better than escape ;)

    glad someone liked EFMI as not even the developers liked it...
  • NunianVonFuch #29 7 months ago

    "I'm Guybrush Threepwood! G...U...I..."
  • Shinetop #30 7 months ago

    "There's a reason why Lady In The Water and The Last Airbender are so great. They are written and directed by M. Knight Shyamalan. Not the most famous name in movies, until someone points out to you that it was the same guy that wrote and directed The Sixth Sense. Indeed - the man behind a movie that you celebrate beyond reason also made the movies you've claimed were an insult to the medium of film as a whole, and now you're looking a bit silly, eh?"
    Edited by 2 at 07/08/11 @ 17:05
  • curryking3 #31 7 months ago

    One of my first PS2 games, and my first Monkey Island game too, loved it.
  • Indy #32 7 months ago

  • Rosswell #33 7 months ago

    Monkey Kombat, the main reason why I am not a big fan of this one. That part of the game is annoying and very frustrating and didn't need to be in there. I hear they made it easier on the PS2 version.
  • zisssou #34 7 months ago

    I recall the game crashing on Monkey Kombat and then I decided to skip it!
  • WJF #35 7 months ago

    Ergh, this game was terrible. I think I laughed once during my time with it. All these parodies and lack of character, it was like playing a (broken) point and click version of Scary Movie, and about as fun, too

  • Rack #36 7 months ago

    Sorry but I couldn't stand it, I had to end up watching a lets play to see how it ends because the controls just drove me to distraction. Overall it is just a game that is incredibly easy to hate, way uglier than its predecessors, hopelessly unironic in its portrayal of the commercialisation of pirates, breaking sacred cows left and right and with a control system from the darkest pits of hell. While Grim Fandango gets away with the latter its only in virtue of a way stronger plot, way more originality and a much funnier game filled with love. There are a few people that say the control system works but mostly its a game liked in spite of it. Of course being a game that experimented and failed with something new is easier to appreciate than something that knowingly included something totally broken.
  • Janet_Xin #37 7 months ago

    "I know of no other game that's central motif is..."

    Room full of monkeys write this?



  • deanimate #38 7 months ago

    It looks horrific. When I look at Curse and then this I wonder what on earth were they thinking. 2D with all that character to some bargain basement 3D attempt. Such a shame.
  • M_of_the_sys #39 7 months ago

    "Hey, a lucky penny..."
  • jampar #40 7 months ago

    As a lover of all MI games, the Monkey Kombat is dreadful, but i quite liked the pop culture references, and just the pure sillyness.

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  • mooseti #41 7 months ago

    I fondly remember buying this in '02 on PS2.

    I was 17 at the time and I vividly remember handing this over at W.H Smiths and being refused sale by some fat student who couldn't have been more than a year older than me (it was ELSPA rated 15).

    After buying it eventually I loved it! Really can't seem to get into the earlier MI's though...
  • TheTingler #42 7 months ago

    THANK YOU John, totally agree. I vastly prefer this to Secret of Monkey Island, and the other writers at mixnmojo.com (shameless plug) mock me endlessly for it. It's interesting, it's imaginative, it's funny, and it's got a character called Ignatius Cheese in it.
  • Andeus #43 7 months ago

    First we get the Metroid Prime weird retrospective and now this. What are you, Minister of Bad Taste in Games? :p

    Escape is hands down the worst Monkey Island of the bunch. Never felt like one and, as someone else said, it felt like it was "made" and not "happened".

    I never finished it, since after going for quite a few hours I realized it was the first MI I wasn't enjoying. It wasn't funny up to that point and the control scheme was abysmal. Even Guybrush didn't feel the same.

    Might give it another go just for the sake of it, but something tells me it won't get better
  • InsoFox #44 7 months ago

    People don't forget Grim Fandango when they criticize EMI's art. The difference is that Grim Fandango had absolutely superb art direction. So many of EMI's backgrounds lacked attention to detail, the 3D models didn't even look good at the time (while the stylised ones of GF still suit it.)

    As for the humour, I'll just have to disagree that it is funnier than CMI. Perhaps it beats out the first game, in hindsight. But I remember going into EMI's demo and wondering why I wasn't finding it as funny as it thought it was being. I even tried various combinations of subtitles/voice to see whether it read funnier than it sounded and so on. It was tolerable, but not a high point for the series' humour I think. I think even Tales of Monkey Island is funnier - and I didn't think that was particularly funny most of the time.

    Anyway, I'll echo what a few other people have said here: it was a decent adventure game (a few terrible puzzles aside) but is not a particularly good Monkey Island game - it gets the mood wrong in several ways. Anachronistic references were always a part of the series not least of which the stuff that goes on at the end of the second and third games, but turning an entire major island into a modern resort missed the point. Anachronism always worked so much better when they were the exceptions rather than the rule - they added to a sort of mysterious atmosphere where you weren't quite sure who you were in this world... or something.
  • Ignatius_Cheese #45 7 months ago

    @ TheTingler - Your love of EMI is a secret love that should never be revealed.

    This game brought only one good thing: my name :o)

    As a follow-up to CMI, this was such a letdown. Just think what Lucasarts could have done if they released Full Throttle 2 and Sam & Max: Freelance Police! *shudders*

    Very glad that Tales managed to rid the long-lasting bad taste that this game left.
  • Porcupine_I #46 7 months ago

    i hated it with a passion, but this article makes me want to give it another chance! :-)
  • arremelle #47 7 months ago

    I have to disagree with this retrospective. Its a matter of taste I guess.

    I have played through the first games over and over many times, always in sequence. They are excellent games and true classics.

    For a while I was including number 4 in these play through but the last time I played it I had had enough of it. The controls are frustrating, the graphics and the overall feel of the game is just too different to the other 3.

    There is a genuine sense of progression in quality throughout the first 3 games. Its strange playing the first one where there is very little sound, the second is a bit more lively with more music and the third is just perfect. Excellent animation and painted backdrops.

    the remakes of the 1&2 are excellent. I wish they would redo 3, using exactly the same graphics but rescanned in 1080p (if that were possible).
  • Garfy #48 7 months ago

  • apoc_reg #49 7 months ago

    I love ME1
    I love ME2
    I love ME3
    I love ME4

    I also dont get why some dont like them all!
  • Janet_Xin #50 6 months ago

    "I know of no other game that's central motif is..." And then it got changed to "thats". Actually, the word is "whose".