We are trying something new at insightbits this time around and for a franchise that is dear to many people including me. Telltale Games recently launched the much awaited Tales of Monkey Island. The game is split into 5 episodes releasing monthly that will be intrinsically linked unlike the recent Sam & Max Series. Therefore, we at insightbits will be giving ‘perceptions’ of the 5 episodes and post a review when all five episodes are released.

When I heard Lucas Arts would do good on their promise to give us rabid fans a new Monkey Island game I nearly wet my pants. Of late, adventure games have been far and few with recent memorable ones only being Sam & Max and Runaway. After Lucas Arts ditched this format with classic games such as Full Throttle and Grim Fandango. It seemed as if this format would go the way of the dodo. In come Telltale Games made up of people who actually worked on the previous Monkey Island titles so I was pretty confident that my beloved franchise was in good hands. And they didn’t disappoint.

For a game size of less than 200MB it has pretty decent longevity. The graphics aren’t anything to write home about but the charm and colorful backgrounds of the Monkey Island franchise are all there. All the old voice actors are back adding more to the nostalgia.  The amazing score of the theme of Monkey Island is there and should be used by everyone as a ringtone. Nods to the original creators of the franchise can be found throughout this episode oddly titled (as are other future episodes) Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. The game also still has its witty banter and famous insults intact. It may not be as funny as the old games, but some lines really are laugh out loud worthy. The premise of the story is the same as every Monkey Island game. Elaine (who fans know is now Guybrush Threepwoods wife) is captured by the evil voodoo cursed pirate LeChuck to make her his own bride and it is up to our Mighty Pirate™ to use his pirate-y skills to free his beautiful wife.

When I first started up the game it asked me the ‘hint’ level I would like. This put me aback a little thinking that it would make the game easy. In fact it didn’t and is merely there for people new to this genre to guide and prod them in the right direction. The puzzles aren’t extremely difficult that you would want to quit the game in frustration but they aren’t overly easy either. As a matter of fact there were quite a few times that I was really perplexed on what to do!

What a few people may have gripes with is the new way to control the ever loving Guybrush Threepwood – Mighty Pirate™. You can now control Guybrush with arrow keys unlike the before where point and click was the only option. A modified version of the point and click is available also the difference though being that after pressing the left mouse button you drag Guybrush around with mouse movement and not just click on a place on the screen and wait for Guybrush to reach there. I personally liked it as it did away with Guybrush getting stuck in awkward places and having to restart from a saved point. For old fans of the genre it will take a bit of getting used to but newbies will jump right in. For the newbies, Telltale also has the walkthrough up on their website just incase you’re really THAT stuck. (http://www.telltalegames.com/monkeyisland/launchofthescreamingnarwhal/walkthrough)

All in all it is not one of the best in the series, but has the charms of the original and any chance to relive the old days with a new story was great fun.