Telltale Games have released the first chapter of the Tales of Monkey Island series entitled ‘Launch of the Screaming Narwhal’. Before I get into this review, I have to ensure you, the reader, understands that I am a largely avid fan of the Monkey Island franchise so if there is nit-picking in this review and comparisons to the old, I apologize – As always, these are personal reviews.

Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal (ToMI1) is the first chapter in a series of five developed by Telltale Games. It is a graphic adventure game based on the Monkey Island franchise (1990-2000). How does this game compare to it’s predecessors? Can it be officially added to the Monkey Island (MI) series or is it such a let-down that it cannot be called a true Monkey Island game (evident in the new Leisure Suit Larry games)?

Story

You predictably begin the game as the MI protagonist Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™ on your ship looking for ways to save your wife, Elaine Marley who has been captured by the evil LeChuck once again. This sequence is basically an introduction and you learn that this game is set in the near future after Monkey Island 4. As Guybrush almost completes the recipe for the Cursed Cutlass Kaflu (that can possibly destroy LeChuck for good), he drops the last ingredient and has to find an alternative. Thumbs up atleast to the character development here: less than 5 minutes into the game and we see Guybrush’s clumsiness affect the storyline (as usual). With a new final ingredient used, Guybrush stabs LeChuck with the ‘improvised’ voodoo cutlass. This results in LeChuck turning into a human and Guybrush’s hand being infected with the ‘Pox of LeChuck’. An explosion on the ship sends our hero flailing into the ocean.

Guybrush awakes on the beach of Flotsam Island and learns that the unusual winds disallow anyone to leave the island. This first chapter looks at Guybrush’s adventures at Flotsam Island as he finds a way to get off the Island and save Elaine.

As far as the story goes, it is only the first chapter and it does not really tell much of the story. It successfully creates the introduction of the five-part series with a clever idea of making Guybrush’s hand uncontrollable and morphing LeChuck into a human – Something fresh from the older games.

The character development in this game is done well. Newcomers to the game will immediately notice the protagonist’s claims to the title, Mighty Pirate™ and yet also realize his lack of pirate-esque characteristics. This is the cheeky Guybrush Threepwood that the fans will remember and any newcomer will definitely fall in love with the character’s charm. LeChuck and Elaine are not thoroughly mentioned but they serve their purposes in the story telling. It is good that Telltale Games have come up with a fresh story portraying the same objective as the other MI games: Save Elaine from the clutches of LeChuck.

Rating:
(4/5)

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Graphics

This is where this game plummets. The birth of the MI series was in 2D and it continued this trend until the 4th installment (Escape from Monkey Island) where we saw the franchise gobbled up by the 3D monster. This new 3D take of the world of MI resulted in bad controls and a much less memorable experience. The artwork behind Monkey Island 3 (The Curse of Monkey Island) was magnificent and possibly one of the best things about the game.

Unfortunately, ToMI1 follows suit with it’s predecessor and is in 3D. Similar to previous games by Telltale Games, we see poor graphics that could easily have been improved. Textures are poor and usually lacking detail; the polygons on the models are easily noticable; animations remind me of the crappy new Leisure Suit Larry games; and there are a number of graphical anomalies showing slack graphical development. As much as it can be said that these soft textures were made to suit the cartoon-ish feel of the game, has the Lego Batman and Lego Star Wars games on the PS3 (and even in HD) not shown that this can be done without plain textures?

Within this 3D world, you will also be infuriated by the poor camera angles. In a game where you have to be able to look at the surroundings, changing camera angles will NOT help. For example, in the first scene, combining the different camera angles as you look around the ship with the rocking caused by the sea currents, it can be difficult to even find what is ‘clickable’. Very cumbersome and a feature not needed.

Rating:
(2/5)

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Sound

The music in ToMI1 gives me goosebumps as I remember the MI series. The musical scores are beautiful and will always suit the theme of Monkey Island. The voice acting is stunningly excellent in comparison to games nowadays. Just hearing Dominic Armato voice our hero is enough to make any MI fan buy this game.

Rating:
(4/5)

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Gameplay

ToMI1 almost follows it’s predecessors’ style of gameplay (ignoring the bad controls in MI4). There are two methods of controlling Guybrush – with the Mouse, the player can hold and drag the mouse to move Guybrush in the desired direction and with the Keyboard (WASD or directional buttons). This new method of movement with the mouse was annoying, unresponsive and inaccurate. It is so frustrating it can make you want to throw the game in the trash. However, I discovered the keyboard method later on (one-third into the game) and it seemed really stupid that Telltale Games had showcased the mouse-movement controls by including it in the tutorial but not mentioning the keyboard. I could be wrong as I normally just skimmed through the tutorial tips but needless to say, why remove the point-and-click from this famous point-and-click adventure game? Monkey Island has been categorized in the point-and-click adventure genre countless times so why did they have to remove such a simple feature that allowed the player to move around?

Apart from that, everything else follows suit. It would be good if players were allowed to both look and touch/interact with items instead of just clicking items. Basically, the coin in Monkey Island 3 to the left.

Also, the new inventory system is a bit tedious and requires a bit of getting used to if you are a fan of the previous games. Everything is done in single clicks and not in a holding of a mouse button or even the right mouse button (which is used to skip character speechlines).

The comedy within the game may not keep you laughing like other MI games did, but they are sometimes just as witty ensuring atleast a hint of a grin from the player.

Rating:
(4.5/5)

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Difficulty

I finished this game in 2½ hours with hints set to the minimum. Why would you want hints in this game? It defeats the purpose of thinking out of the box especially for games featuring the outrageous antics of protagonists (Guybrush Threepwood, Larry Laffer, etc.) that have to find every possible way to pass obstacles because of their character’s lack of ability. The game was not hard at all, in fact it is much easier compared to it’s predecessors. There is hardly any thinking out of the box and although people have complained that there are very ‘random’ things you have to do, I never felt this at all. Joystiq (2009) reviews this game and mentions that “triggering the actual puzzle and forcing the game to pay attention to what you’re doing requires a bizarre act which never really makes sense” in regards to the puzzle involving the traversal of a jungle maze. This is ridiculous and it is obvious from the map that is given to you that you have to ‘use the map on that well’ to start the puzzle. To the right you will see this map and in the top left corner (obviously the start as the other side depicts the X) you will notice a well (which is very similar to the 3D one in the game) with a human hand above it holding a parchment of some sort. At this point in the game, this is the only map you have and the well is in the center of the maze.

The game is downright easy and unless you have never played an adventure game before, you will fly through it unlike adventure games like Broken Sword or heck, even Leisure Suit Larry (by Sierra). If you are not into exploring the world and listening to the witty remarks Guybrush has about just about all the objects in the game, then switch on the hints – But if you want the real MI feel, then switch them off and figure things out as you go because as mentioned earlier, the game really does not have much lateral thinking. There is even a scene where the camera zooms in on an object you must pick up. Still, it can be assumed that this game was made for today’s gamers and the difficulty level is set just right with that in mind

Rating:
(3.5/5)

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Replayability

This game is episodic-based and it’s replayability cannot be rated until all the chapters come out. But I predict an adventure game does not receive much replayability because of its linearity – which is fine, because I always go back to these games much later for nostalgic value.

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Overall

Tales of Monkey Island is a much awaited sequel to the Monkey Island series and this first chapter does it’s job in introducing the characters to both newcomers and fans. The story is introduced and after playing the first chapter you will definitely want to know what happens next (as it predictably ends with a cliffhanger). Looking at the Leisure Suit Larry franchise resurrection, this game is perfect for avid fans. ToMI1 keeps to majority of the things that made the Monkey Island franchise so memorable and is pretty much just a new story with the old gameplay. The bad camera angles, poor graphics and new features get in the way of this adventure game and may make this experience less memorable (like MI4) but these flaws are tolerable. Besides, surrounded by the comedy and nostalgia (for fans), you will still want to play through the game. It fares well in comparison with the MI franchise and I hope to see more, but with a few things fixed up – And possibly a 2D sequel.

Overall Rating:

(7.2/10)

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Newcomers to the franchise, I hope you see why Monkey Island is so awesome and check out the older ones. For me, The Curse of Monkey Island (3) was the best so do take a look at that one. The new enhanced remake of  The Secret of Monkey Island looks very promising (and more user-friendly) so go buy that too!

Prototype is a single-player, sandbox game similar to that of Spiderman II or The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. You control (what I assume is) the protagonist, Alex Mercer who has been infected with a virus that gives him super-human powers. The virus has also spread across the city of Manhattan hence undead zombies roam parts of the city too. After the tutorial, the game begins with the 18th day of infection showing Alex Mercer atop a building discussing his past experiences – This is basically how the storytelling works: Explain what happened on day XX (with a bit of mystery to keep the player interested) then complete that mission in a ‘flashback’. As you progress, you eventually reach the 18th day.

Story

You begin the game as a very confused Alex who has lost his memory while also realizing he can do things that nobody else can. What happens next? Exactly. Your aim is to find out your past, what happened to you and who did it to you. As the plot unravels you are treated to a more indepth explanation on how the virus outbreak has occurred and get to know the players in this plot. The ‘Web of Intrigue’ (databank of memories) feature involves collecting memories from NPCs – apart from acting as collectibles in the game, these memories further define the history of the outbreak. There are no twists or surprises in the story that I could not predict and you may sometimes get a little confused because of the number of names being thrown around (since you may not even care for the characters it will be difficult to remember their names).

The character development of the game was extremely poor in this game. You get teased with a little bit of history between Alex and his sister but that’s it. It ends up with mainly her telling you what to do in your next mission or what’s going on. Prototype really does not give you any reason to care for the characters. Why I use the term ‘extremely poor’ is because of the potential there was in this game to develop its characters more effectively. The ‘Web of Intrigue’ could have aided in telling character backgrounds or impressions based on the different perspectives of various NPCs. Instead, most of these (131) ‘Web of Intrigue’ nodes discuss the outbreak.

The story is one that is not particularly memorable and seems like an overly used “get revenge on whoever did this to me” plot.

Rating:
(2.5/5)

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Graphics

The graphics are not that close to today’s standards. The building models are very undetailed in their texturing looking like something from the old Half-life engine. There are some other goods and bads, for example: the trees especially, look horrible without anti-aliasing activated while the blood looks good and seems pretty well animated. To endure the graphics I maxed out the anti-aliasing setting (4x) and that was when it looked a tad better. The animations when using devastator attacks (kind of like ultimate moves) are done superbly and actually make you feel like you are watching it in the movies. Apart from that, there is nothing spectacular in Prototype in terms of the graphics. However, I must also stress that there is a LOT of chaos that can occur on your screen at one time and because of the level of graphics, there is hardly any effects on the FPS so it is possible that this is the reason the graphics are not of such great detail.

Rating:
(3/5)

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Sound

The music falls short for me due to the repetitive “hostile/agro” theme that plays when your disguise has been compromised or you are discovered and everyone goes hostile against you. Maybe because I lacked the patience to go stealth for every mission, I heard this theme so often. There also was a bug with the PC version that made it so the cinematic sounds got (unberably) fuzzy as you played the game which kind of annoyed me as the fix causes problems later in the game. The sound effects are satisfactory and give you the appropriate feel of depth when playing the game i.e. you can hear the wind whistle as you fall 90 storeys as a human bullet.

Rating:
(2.5/5)

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Gameplay

Your main power is the ability to consume living creatures and by consuming them, they become ‘a part’ of you. This both enables you to gain their physical appearance, their memories (if they are relevant to the history of the virus outbreak) and regenerates your health.

We first look at the powers you are given: Offensive, defensive, sensory and disguise powers.

The offensive abilities allow Alex to morph into different weapons and will definitely be the first thing you find cool in the game. Each weapon having differing efficiencies against each unit type. You can smash, slash, dice and more. Defensive abilities can be used in different combinations with the offensive abilities giving a sense of variety in how you choose to take on different enemies. With the ability to disguise yourself as anybody in the game, you will be having fun with this power for at least half an hour because ’anyone’ ranges from policemen to old ladies walking down the street.

Another aspect of Prototype is the ability to pick up and use weapons. Although there are very limited weapon types in the game (RPG, automated rifle, machine gun, grenade launcher), access to this was a well thought out feature. These weapons can sometimes be tremendously helpful in missions especially since your powers lack range and homing capabilities (do not ask me how a grenade launcher is homing, it just is). For those of you that disagree about my statement on powers lacking range, I can definnitely say that it’s way harder to hit the helicopter with ‘that’ power than with an RPG.

You can also hi-jack vehicles in prototype. No, this does not mean a cab or some motorbike like in GTA. You are limited to hi-jacking tanks and helicopters only. Although it is faster to travel through the city (will touch on this next) without using vehicles, the advantages of taking a tank or a helicopter is the firepower that you are armed with. Take out swarms of enemy tanks and helicopters with a single tank – because I guess the other tank drivers don’t know how to spam-click while strafing.

Super-human parkour and freerunning is a large aspect of both the travelling and combat system of Prototype. Using combinations of different techniques you will be able to both dodge bullets and (literally) glide across town. The fact that I have mentioned before, it is faster to travel by foot than take a helicopter across the city lets you have an idea of how fast (it feels) you are travelling. This is what kept the game exciting for me and my ‘WASD’ fingers in constant action.

The final major feature of this game would have to be the Evolution Points (EPs). You obviously do not start with all of the above abilities or do with some limitations. You earn EPs and use these to buy upgrades or new abilities for Alex. There are a couple of ways to collect EPs, one of which is just by playing the game’s missions. Throughout the city there are Blackwatch HQs (humans) set up and Hives (zerg?). You do not really get to choose good or evil but you do get to destroy either (or both) these landmarks for extra EPs. You may also attempt challenges or gather up collectibles all over the city (Spiderman II or Hulk, anyone?) to get EPs.

Rating:
(4.5/5)

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Difficulty

Easy, easy, easy! Way too easy for a serious gamer.

Whenever you are discovered in the middle of a HQ, if you have memorized the parkour combinations you will be out of there in a second. Once you are somewhere unseen by them coppers (lol), you just switch disguises and you are fine. What kills me is that the authorities KNOW they are looking for Alex Mercer (a.k.a. Zeus – unharmful spoiler) and believe me, I scouted the entire city and found not a single person wearing such a catchy RED and black jacket let alone anyone with a hood up. Yet, somehow you can walk the streets and even right up to the authorities without them bothering (too much GTA influence).

Boss battles are not hard at all. Nothing requires much skill except just mashing buttons. If your life gets low there just always will be people running around for you to consume them for life which can be done over and over again. After getting the ability to grab someone while you are running, regenerating your life without getting hit is a breeze. So bosses are just normal enemies with crazy attacks and lots of life (also defined as TEDIOUS and not difficult).

The only thing that seems difficutl towards the end of the game is stealth. Oh wait, no it isn’t! You can trick the AI easily – But to avoid spoilers I will leave it at that.

Rating:
(2/5)

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Replayability

I finished the game in 10 hours which taking into consideration that I was not even rushing the game. Throughout the game I had nothing persuading me to do the challenges. I never felt the need for more EPs and all of the challenges were repetitive (especially the killing ones).

Well, when you finish the game and if you aren’t a stat-whore you would not have completed all these achievements, so this would be the last thing to do. Once you start doing some of the challenges or tried looking for the collectibles you realize “the missions have already given me enough DPs to purchase the skills I want and I have been given this ‘New Game+’ mode [start game with all powers unlocked] cause I completed the game!” so there really is no point of finishing up the challenges or hunting down the collectibles (again, unless you are a stat-whore).

The story-line is also not something that can’t be summarised in a single paragraph so I had no urge at all to start again.

Rating:
(2.5/5)

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Overall

Prototype aims to follow successful games like GTA and Spiderman II by being a sandbox game. This is cleverly done in the theme of this game with an ongoing war between humans and zombies showing the progressive destruction of  Manhattan. However, what made these games memorable were the storylines that grasped us into the worlds. Prototype does not effectively immerse players within its world and hardly persuades the player to explore the city at all. Anything outside of the linear missions are repetitive thus are not attractive to players. There are however, several gameplay mechanisms that make the game exciting and packed with action. For an average gamer, the main challenge will be learning and perfecting the freerunning skills which can (and usually must) be used in every situation of the game.

Overall Rating:

(5.67/10)

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Say, isn’t the theme of this game familiar? It seems to be the new take on becoming a superhero. Get revenge on whoever gave you super-powers? What happened to getting a costume to fight crime as a town vigilante?