Tales of Monkey Island: Complete Season

Un court et bon jeux point and click dans l'univers de Monkey island.

It's good. Not as good as COMI or the originals though

It was a double surprise in 2009: not just a remaster of the original [b]Monkey Island[/b] but a new game too. It wasn't the best preview: even if made by a team with some ex-LucasArts people who were trying to give new life to the adventure genre - it was before [b]The Walking Dead[/b] shifted them towards a different direction - it just exposed the harsh reality that times had changed, now an episodic low-budget affair further limited by imposed space constraints (it came out even on Wii), with 3D graphics looking like not much time had passed since [b]Escape[/b]. In motion, luckily, it's much better than in screenshots because, for all its limits, it is really well animated and the characters are very expressive. Guybrush of course looks the best, with a design that mixes elements of the second and third game, and rocks that goatee. The game takes advantage of being full 3D, with camera movements within locations and some well-directed cutscenes. Make no mistake, though: the limitations of budget and space are still clear at every turn. Minor characters that are the same few models with different textures, a low number of polygons (painfully evident in close-ups), a generally plastic look, and really low-quality textures. It unfortunately reduces the impact some scenes could have had (especially during the ending). The occasional 2D art that appears is fantastic, and a sad reminder that what we see here is not for lack of talent. The first impact with the interface is also not great, as unless you are a masochist who'd enjoy using that dreadful mouse movement system—clearly a bad implementation on PC of something conceived for gamepads—you have to navigate with the keyboard. Thankfully, the mouse is still used for interactions, now simplified to the max (not even distinctions between looking and interacting, just one left click for everything). The ability to run is a blessing, and works even if you hold the Shift key and click on something to reach it. I got used to it quickly, but I'm not a big fan of the inventory forcing you to first put two objects to combine in slots, which makes experimenting with combinations tedious. Each of the episodes is basically what a chapter was in the older games, although due to all the aforementioned limitations, their scope is much smaller than any old chapter: you have to do a lot of back-and-forth between a few locations, which can easily turn things tedious after a while, especially if you end up stuck with some of the most annoying puzzles; their design is an overall mixed bag throughout the whole miniseries. One personal highlight is the treasure hunt based on sound cues. I found Episode 3 the worst due to the least variety of locations, very annoying puzzles, and insufferable characters, a shame because it's also the one where Murray appears. Where [b]Tales[/b] excels, to a point that made me forgive quite a few of its many weaknesses, is in the writing, also helped by consistently excellent voice acting that sees, among others, the voice actress of Elaine from [b]Curse[/b] reprise her role. While humour and absurdities always abound, there is a clear attempt at returning to the style, characterizations and atmospheres of the earliest games, and the stakes are bigger than in the past. It's not always spot-on, as Episode 3 shows, but the last two episodes take some turns into the darkest [b]Monkey Island[/b] has ever been, yet still managing to keep its light-hearted core. Beside the historical trio of Guybrush, Elaine and LeChuck, the biggest addition to [b]Tales[/b] is Morgan LeFlay, a really well-rounded character whose dynamic and interactions with Guybrush may cause some to share Ron Gilbert's doubts on whether making Guybrush and Elaine marry each other was a good idea, even if they managed to build some good bits of characterization around that too. She's also easy on the eyes, as far as such simple 3D model allows—because when her head is shown in profile... meh. It lives on steep highs and lows but, after finishing all five episodes, I can see a flawed attempt at breathing new life into [b]Monkey Island[/b], yet admirable for managing that with so many limitations. Its importance at the time can't be understated: if it was the end of the franchise, the legacy wouldn't be [b]Escape[/b]. In a final and, in retrospect, unfortunate choice, the game is not content with being a self-contained adventure of Guybrush but ends leaving some plot threads unresolved, with a big post-credits cliffhanger that clearly points to further Tales that have never come to fruition.

I like Telltale , but this one should have stayed in the dust pile.

It's awesome!

The entire serries is great... challenging.. but great. if you play them in order and know the story line.. it's 100 times better.. highly recommend

Dejo una reseña global para todos los capítulos del juego. En líneas generales, el juego me gustó mucho. Me pareció disfrutable y divertido, con chistes absurdos como corresponde a un Monkey Island y una historia entretenida. Los puzzles tienen el estilo de una aventura gráfica de vieja escuela, como debería un Monkey Island, pero mucho más fáciles que los juegos viejos, por lo cual es más difícil trabarse por mucho tiempo. Lamentablemente los controles son bastante incómodos, en mi opinión, además de que no te dan muchas posibilidades de interacción, casi siempre hay una sola manera de interactuar con cada objeto, ni siquiera distingue "usar" de "mirar", cosa que me parece central en una aventura gráfica. Mi principal problema con el juego fue siempre que pretendía ser una secuela del Monkey Island y me parecía muy diferente en cuanto a tono. De entrada, los gráficos no me terminan de gustar, la forma en que están animados los personajes tampoco (sobre todo Elaine, que siempre fue castaña de ojos violetas y de repente se inventaron que es pelirroja de ojos verdes, vaya uno a saber por qué). Las actuaciones de voz siguen siendo excelentes, de todos modos. Pero también me molestaba que no quedaba claro cómo encajaba con los juegos anteriores, ni era del todo coherente, y además que el tipo de narrativa era muy diferente a los otros juegos, lo cual me daba a pensar que "era un juego que no se entendía a sí mismo". Con el tiempo cambié moderadamente de opinión, y entendí que más que una secuela, el juego es una especie de spin off, que aunque retoma el Monkey Island, al final no es un juego de LucasArts sino un juego de Telltale, y está hecho como un juego de Telltale, con mucho más énfasis en el plot y con una narrativa más compleja y un poco más seria de lo que nunca fue el Monkey Island. Y como tal debe ser juzgado. En los primeros tres capítulos, la historia me enganchó pero tampoco tanto, tenía elementos interesantes pero tampoco me terminaba de encantar. Sobre todo me molestaban ciertos clichés en la forma de guionar ciertos personajes, sobre todo a las mujeres (me parece que el juego cae en muchos lugares comunes un poco machistas y eso me molesta bastante). Insistiendo demasiado en generar tensiones o triángulos amorosos que no tenían mucho sentido y no se sentían muy creíbles. Pero he de decir que desde el capítulo 4 en adelante me enganché mucho más, introdujeron dinámicas de jugabilidad que me parecieron mucho más divertidas y originales, y también la historia se fue complejizando y me enganchó mucho más. El final honestamente me conmovió mucho. No deja de tener ciertas incoherencias, y algunos personajes secundarios están guionados de forma totalmente distinta e incongruente con los juegos anteriores, pero así y todo, la experiencia fue disfrutable y la pasé muy bien. No sé si lo considero un Monkey Island 5. Tanto el Monkey 3 como el 4 me parecen mucho más secuelas del Monkey Island que este. Este me parece que es una cosa aparte y que debe ser entendido como tal. Pero así y todo, lo disfruté mucho, sobre todo al final.

Official Monkey Island Ranking List: 1. MI3 2. MI4 3. MI2 4. MI1 5. Tales of MI 6. MI5

Peguei o jogo junto de um bundle que vinha Batman e TWAU, então decidi testar. Os diálogos são bem engraçados e a interpretação dos personagens é muito boa, mas a não ser que você seja da época do jogo e queira reviver a nostalgia, é provável que não irá se acostumar muito bem à jogabilidade e gráficos do jogo, e acabar cansando depois de um tempo.