Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 5 Review Page 2

16 Dec 2009 at 16:53:14 by Tim McDonald
Systems used to review this title: (PC)

What makes this worse is that there are two or three “puzzle hubs” - completing one, while still giving you access to the same areas, tends to give you a new set of objectives. It also moves things around a bit, meaning that you're going to have to wander around and explore the old locations again to see where characters have moved to and what's new. It adds a bit of variety, sure, but not necessarily in a good way.

Fortunately, it takes awhile before seeing the areas gets old. This is a Monkey Island game and there's humour aplenty, but with the focus on death and impending doom, it's also a lot darker than most of the previous chapters, which is reflected in the design. You're wandering the land of the dead, after all, which is a perfect opportunity for the art designers to revel in their creativity. Expect a towering structure composed of ruined ships, or a field full of X's to dig up, with an art style reminiscent of The Nightmare Before Christmas. It helps that the puzzles themselves are interesting, both thematically and in terms of their solutions.

There are plenty of returning characters from earlier in the series that have changed a little since their deaths, but the real stars here are the new characters. There's a brief appearance by a cleanliness-obsessed grim reaper, as well as the mysterious Galeb, a man who serves much the same purpose as the Voodoo Lady has in past instalments – to give you a rough idea of what you're doing while quite clearly not telling you the entire truth (and, in fact, lying blatantly. A lot.) He's an interesting character, and one we'd like to see return should another series follow in the future.

And that, really, is the point that needs to be made about the game: this is the end of the series, and you can rest assured that it's a fitting one. Again, while there's plenty of humour, the darker themes that arose towards the end of chapter four continue here, and there are a number of genuinely touching moments involving Morgan and Elaine. While I wouldn't normally draw attention to something like this, the final puzzle in the game is one of the best moments in the series. It's simultaneously melancholy, touching, clever, and the nature of it – when you work out how to solve it – suddenly adds a lot of meaning to several characters, as well as actions that occurred in earlier chapters. It's an utterly sublime moment and an absolutely perfect closing puzzle. It's just a shame that the puzzle before it is both time-sensitive and abstract, although if you're determined to look favourably upon that, it works as a throwback to earlier Monkey Island games.

While this has too many irritations to be named the best Tales chapter, with that either going to chapter three for the superb pacing and puzzles or chapter four for the wonderful shift in tone and numerous plot revelations, Rise of the Pirate God is very, very good. The problems it has annoy, certainly, but in the grand scheme of the episode they're fairly minor and there's plenty to enjoy. As such, this is perfect closer to what I believe is the best series Telltale has ever done, and any fans of Monkey Island - or point-and-click adventures in general - shouldn't hesitate to buy the series in its entirety.

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