Oh Guybrush, what have you got yourself into this time? The Belly of a giant manatee it appears. When you begin this episode you should really take a look around and enjoy the effort that has gone into producing what the designers would think a post modernistic manatee interior would look like.
Things start to get a little odd with this episode to be honest, but not in a bad way. I mean, in what other game are you going to find a men’s club situated just above a bile pit in a manatee gut? And in what other game are you going to find a bunch of explorers/pirates who have become addicted to drinking Ichor in varying colours? None I would suspect, but as per usual Monkey Island is a game filled with oddities and wonderful little scenes that make the usual gamers go….err what? Oh and there is a welcome return from a fan favourite…Murray yaaaaaaayy!
The puzzles are a little more difficult this time around and consist of a lot of fetching and carrying. Coupled with a quiz and a make the scariest pirate face contest which you just know is going to involve a lot of running back and forth in order to collect the right amount of facial expressions with which to beat your opponent. In saying that though once you get the hang of things you’ll sail through this game in around 2 to 3 hours if you ignore the conversations and take the easier routes, it has however the potential to last a bit longer if you want it to. As with all Monkey Island games there is a lot of dialogue and things to see (Including the return of the rather tasty Morgan LeFlay) and the sheer amount of things you have to remember will make this challenging for even the most experienced of puzzle solvers amongst you.
Luckily TellTale’s official website offers a walkthrough for the impatient amongst you, but if like me you prefer to discover things on your own then I would only use this as a last resort. It’s not really necessary to use a walkthrough as Guybrush will give you an occasional cryptic clue if you set the hint settings on the main screen to high, this is particularly handy for the section where you have to join the brotherhood (again not too much detail here, I don’t want to spoil the game for you).
Another triumph by TellTale Games, let’s hope it keeps up through the next two episodes. I honestly couldn’t be happier with the way these games have been developed. The only thing keeping them from a grand old 10/10 is a few little discrepancies which while very trivial make a nitpicker like myself complain a little.
VideogameUK verdict: 8/10
