allgeektout

Let me start off this review by saying that I have never played a Monkey Island game, which I’m sure is blasphemous in some circles, and have had to do considerable Wikipedia research for this review. I do, however, have a great love of pirates, which I think equally qualifies me for this review (which, coincidentally, is after the jump).

In Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, Guybrush Threepwood accidentally transforms LeChuck into one of his strangest forms of all time; not a ghost, not a zombie, and not undead demon zombie ghost, but a regular human. In doing so, he also unleashes a terrible voodoo curse, and has to set things right. But first, he gets shipwrecked on Flotsam Island, where it’s impossible to leave because the winds are constantly pushing inland. All of this is explained in the first five to ten minutes (depending on how long it takes you to solve the first puzzle).

I really liked Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. The story, as always, was very fun, the puzzles were challenging, and from what I understand (again, thanks to my intensive Wikipedia research), many of the staples from previous Monkey Island games were included, although you don’t need to understand them to enjoy the game, since I didn’t and I still liked it. I even enjoyed the voice acting, which for me is something I usually ignore unless it’s really terrible.

One warning – if you were expecting this to be as episodic as previous Telltale games, you would be wrong. It has a story that connects the episodes, which could be interpreted as a good thing or a bad thing; in my opinion, it’s the former. While there’s nothing wrong with the episodic format, I think this is an interesting way to tell stories as well.

Also, they have a new mouse control scheme that’s supposed to compliment the new keyboard controls they introduced in Wallace and Gromit and I’m not gonna lie – I don’t like it. It doesn’t capture the point-and-click feel, and although that might not have been what they were going for, it’s what I was expecting.

I was playing an unfinished copy of the game, so some of these glitches may be gone by the time you get to play it, but none of these were on the official list of glitches, so I’m putting them up anyway:

• Occasionally, the inventory would stop popping up, and I would have to restart the game.
• Once, after restarting the game, it forgot that I had registered it and I had to re-enter the activation code.

Despite these glitches, Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is a good start to what I think will be an awesome addition to the Telltale lineup. I can’t wait until the next episode launches.

Hits: Strong start to the series, good voice acting, not as episodic as earlier series (can be good or bad)
Misses: A few glitches here and there, new control scheme needs a little work

The Bottom Line: Eight out of Ten. Fun for Monkey Island fans and newcomers alike. Assuming the glitches have been fixed, than this is one of Telltale’s best efforts yet.

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