Tales Of Monkey Island: Rise Of The Pirate God PC review
Can Guybrush put an end to LeChuck once and for all? Aaron plunders an answer in the final tale.
Please be warned, there are spoilers on the horizon.
Well, it’s been a fun few months of Monkey Island action, but now the final instalment of the Tales Of Monkey Island is upon us. While the end comes with a few tears of sadness, Telltale Games has managed to create a great conclusion to this Monkey Island story; a conclusion that sums up not only the Tales Of Monkey Island mini series, but the Monkey Island series as a whole.
At the end of the previous chapter the world of Monkey Island was in shock as Guybrush was – shock, horror – killed by the dread pirate LeChuck. However, being Monkey Island, death isn’t the expected end for our dashing hero, and whilst this chapter sees you taking on the role of Guybrush, sans body, there’s plenty of life to this adventure to be squeezed out.
This final chapter is a worthy end to the tale, and it features a Grim Fandango-esque twist in the form of the crossroads of the dead, a place where Guybrush will need every little bit of wit and logic if he’s going to get back to Elaine and finally rid the world of LeChuck.
I’m not going to spoil the story for those yet to play this outing, but with this episode you can expect to see plenty of familiar faces from the previous chapters, and you’ll explore quite a few locations, both old and new. This time things are very puzzle heavy, with a lot of item management, not to mention the return of Pirate insult sword fighting – hurrah!
As for length, this is one of the longest of the series, mainly due to some tricky little puzzles that require a good deal of observation, as weel as a good memory of previous instalments. Cryptic clues abound here, and you’ll need to not only search the environments carefully for required items, you also have to contend with sneaky characters in equally sneaky ways to progress.
It’s all funny stuff, too, as ever, although humour has certainly taken a back seat this time to make room for puzzles and the epic climax, which is a definite highlight of the series.
The locations you’ll explore and characters are as interesting as previous outings, and whilst the crossroads of the dead is a little on the drab side, and could have been so much more, it’s still a well-designed and enjoyable romp oozing with the usual Monkey Island feel and charm.
Of course, the main focus here is rounding off the story, and with the tale taking a few twists and turns in this one instalment alone, this is one of the strengths of this finale.
The Rise Of The Pirate God isn’t the best overall chapter of the series, but it’s still a fine conclusion to the immediate story arc, and a very enjoyable nugget of Monkey Island adventuring.
Here’s hoping that more tales, or, with some luck, a full new game are on the way, but will we be seeing Guybrush again, or will another high seas hero take the wheel?
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