A game review ~ dedicated to Bow
Jan. 21st, 2010 01:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pauraque_bkThe new year has been failing so far; first I was sick, then I got better for like five seconds, then I got sick again. I blame all the frolicking in the snow.
Anyway,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bowdlerized reminded me I was going to post my thoughts on (yaoi?) no, a game I played recently.
Tales of Monkey Island is the extremely long-awaited continuation of the classic adventure game series from the 90s. They were my favorites when I was a kid, so I was very excited to learn another sequel was coming.
The original four games were made by LucasArts, but the new one is made by Telltale Games, who have been singlehandedly reviving the adventure game genre for a few years now. Their thing is to produce five "episodes" of a game and release them over the course of five months. In the past they've done games where the episodes were more stand-alone, like an anthology, but in Tales of Monkey Island it's all one story. If you started in the middle you'd be lost as to the plot.
The episodes are all released now and I've finished them. As a longtime fan of the series, I was very pleased with the game. Telltale really grokked the feel of the old games, the pun-filled anachronistic pirate world and the deadpan humor of it. The returning characters seem like themselves (it helps that most of the voice actors returned, yay!) and are developed in ways that feel true to the series. If anything Telltale focuses more on characterization and story than LucasArts did, but not in a way that is distracting.
It's not a very long or difficult game (each episode took me a couple of evenings to finish). The puzzles are a bit easier than in the original games (though some are impressively clever), and as usual it's impossible to die or arrive at a point where you can't finish. There's an opt-in hint system within the game -- if you turn it on, the player character will make a suggestion if you seem stuck for too long. Not something I would use (I checked it out after I'd finished), but nice to have the option if anyone found the puzzles too hard.
My one significant complaint is the movement system, which I found awkward. The game wants you to move by sort of dragging yourself forward with the mouse rather than just clicking where you want to go. I understand this was done to make it easy to port the game to the Wii, so maybe this feels natural using Wii peripherals, but on the PC it's bothersome.
I also agree with those who thought the ending seemed a little abrupt and insufficiently explained, but it may well be that Telltale is hoping to do a second season and the loose ends are intentional.
I'd say anyone who played and liked adventure games back in the day would like this one; aside from the modern graphics it falls squarely within the genre and the gameplay is the same: explore, talk to people, pick up stuff, use stuff with stuff, sit and think about what stuff you can use with stuff... If that bores you, give it a miss! But personally I love it and I'm thrilled this type of game can still be made and be successful.
Anyway,
bowdlerized reminded me I was going to post my thoughts on (yaoi?) no, a game I played recently.Tales of Monkey Island is the extremely long-awaited continuation of the classic adventure game series from the 90s. They were my favorites when I was a kid, so I was very excited to learn another sequel was coming.
The original four games were made by LucasArts, but the new one is made by Telltale Games, who have been singlehandedly reviving the adventure game genre for a few years now. Their thing is to produce five "episodes" of a game and release them over the course of five months. In the past they've done games where the episodes were more stand-alone, like an anthology, but in Tales of Monkey Island it's all one story. If you started in the middle you'd be lost as to the plot.
The episodes are all released now and I've finished them. As a longtime fan of the series, I was very pleased with the game. Telltale really grokked the feel of the old games, the pun-filled anachronistic pirate world and the deadpan humor of it. The returning characters seem like themselves (it helps that most of the voice actors returned, yay!) and are developed in ways that feel true to the series. If anything Telltale focuses more on characterization and story than LucasArts did, but not in a way that is distracting.
It's not a very long or difficult game (each episode took me a couple of evenings to finish). The puzzles are a bit easier than in the original games (though some are impressively clever), and as usual it's impossible to die or arrive at a point where you can't finish. There's an opt-in hint system within the game -- if you turn it on, the player character will make a suggestion if you seem stuck for too long. Not something I would use (I checked it out after I'd finished), but nice to have the option if anyone found the puzzles too hard.
My one significant complaint is the movement system, which I found awkward. The game wants you to move by sort of dragging yourself forward with the mouse rather than just clicking where you want to go. I understand this was done to make it easy to port the game to the Wii, so maybe this feels natural using Wii peripherals, but on the PC it's bothersome.
I also agree with those who thought the ending seemed a little abrupt and insufficiently explained, but it may well be that Telltale is hoping to do a second season and the loose ends are intentional.
I'd say anyone who played and liked adventure games back in the day would like this one; aside from the modern graphics it falls squarely within the genre and the gameplay is the same: explore, talk to people, pick up stuff, use stuff with stuff, sit and think about what stuff you can use with stuff... If that bores you, give it a miss! But personally I love it and I'm thrilled this type of game can still be made and be successful.
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Date: 2010-01-21 07:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 08:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 09:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-22 02:02 am (UTC)Feel better! Have some nourishing soup!