Video Games : Escape from Monkey Island (Jewel Case)

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from: LucasArts Entertainment

: Escape from Monkey Island (Jewel Case)

List Price: $49.95
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Amazon Maximum Age: 20 years
Amazon Minimum Age: 144 months
Binding: CD-ROM
Brand: Lucas Arts
EAN: 0023272110819
ESRB Age Rating: Teen
Format: CD-ROM
Label: LucasArts Entertainment
Manufacturer: LucasArts Entertainment
Publisher: LucasArts Entertainment
Release Date: April 15, 2002
Sales Rank: 11107
Studio: LucasArts Entertainment



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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Escape from Monkey Island finds series hero, perennial pirate-wannabe Guybrush Threepwood, returning to face sociopathic parrots, freakishly deformed buccaneers, and an insult flinging original villain with a sinister agenda. Escape from Monkey Island continues in the hilarious tradition of its critically hailed and award-winning predecessors.

Amazon.com Review:
LucasArts' Monkey Island adventure game series has been missed of late. It has been too long since we've visited the anachronistic Tri-Island area in a Monkey game stuffed with vivid characters, zany plot twists, and liberal use of awful and awfully funny puns. Thank goodness that the clumsy, bumbling, and utterly charming pirate hero Guybrush Threepwood returns in Escape from Monkey Island. Luckily for him so does his bride, Elaine Marley Threepwood; unluckily, it looks like the stubborn ghost pirate LeChuck may be back as well. Or is he? We'd tell you but that would give away too much of the vibrant and hilarious story line.

This is adventure gaming at its very best: sharp graphics, excellent voice acting and writing, and solid puzzles throughout. LucasArts even included a walk-through that'll get any new players into the right mindset to solve the bizarre, convoluted, and convulsively funny pun-ridden puzzles in the game. But players who rely on it are missing out. Sometimes it's much funnier to do things the wrong way, because the sharp-minded developers probably already thought of it and are ready to reward you with a humorous comment or action. Completely hilarious, drop-dead gorgeous, and always innovative LucasArts proves once and for all there is ample life left in the adventure genre. --Andrew S. Bub

Pros: Cons:

Amazon.com Product Description:
Escape from Monkey Island continues in the hilarious tradition of its critically hailed and award-winning predecessors, The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: Le Chuck's Revenge, and The Curse of Monkey Island. Developed by the team who created LucasArts's irreverent classic Sam and Max Hit the Road, Escape features an original cinematic story full of drama, intrigue, and of course, sidesplitting humor. The game is highlighted by hundreds of challenging puzzles, set amidst dozens of rich and brilliantly rendered backgrounds.

The day fast approaches when Guybrush Threepwood, Elaine Marley-Threepwood, Stan of Stan's Previously Owned Vessels, and the other bizarre characters from the beloved, anachronistic Monkey series come back to PC shores.



Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - A great Monkey Island game, but not the best
I am a huge fan of the Monkey Island (MI) series. While Escape from Monkey Island does have the great signature qualities of a Monkey Island game (challenging puzzles, great acting, hillarious dialogue), this was not my favorite in the series.

I don't like that you cannot control the game using the mouse. The keyboard makes for clumsy controls.

Also, other people might disagree, but I don't like the game in 3D. To me, the MI series looks best as a cartoon. Seeing the characters in 3D just makes the game look awkward.

Also, this game is missing the signature insult swordfighting, one of the best features of the previous games.

I'd still reccommend this game, but it's not the best of the MI series. The Curse of Monkey Island is.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Goofy Games
I loved the Monkey Island games. When I bought Escape from Monkey Island years ago, I loved it so much I tracked down the older games and tried to force my new computer to play them. It did not play the first one, because it was just not compatible. Too bad. This is one of the silliest games I've ever played and I mean that in the best possible way. The goofy humor, the silly characters, and the fun puzzle type action make this one of my favorite video games ever. Now if they'd just make another one...


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - such a great procrastination tool
Oh Monkey Island, how I do love thee. You keep me firmly enmeshed in your silken monkey net though the evil forces of clinical cardiology are calling my name. 'Tis the sweetest thing to grab a cup from StarBuccaneers and while away hours picking bananas and placing them in strategic places...
Only complaint, couldn't they make Guybrush walk just a little freakin' faster? Geez, you can finish medical school before Guybrush gets across the dadgum pirate ship, ARRRRRRR!!!!


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - Fun, but much worse than the other 3
All I have to say is "Monkey Kombat" what a horrible, horrible way to end a game. Since when is copious note taking any fun? Lucas Arts tried to replace the amusing insult fighting with this drivel and it failed miserably. The overall game itself also pales in comparision to the stellar 3 games leading up to this one. Quite average, even for a monkey island fan. Monkey Island fans, pick this one up and suffer through the bad parts, but everyone else stay the hell away.


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - A noble attempt, but my least favorite MI game
Escape From Monkey Island is the 4th entry in a series of adventure games starring our favorite wannabe pirate, Guybrush Threepwood. I grew up on these games, developed by the LucasArts gaming company and consider myself a pretty good adventure gamer. However, being well versed in all things Monkey Island, I can confidently say that this is the weakest game in the series thus far. I'm not implying that it's unplayable by any means, but it just didn't quite have the spirit of the previous 3.

So once again, Guybrush finds himself on Melee Island, the first island you visit from the original MI. The game picks up pretty much where the last one left off, with Guybrush and Governor Elaine Marley newly wed and returning from their honey moon. Elaine has been pronounced dead and must run for re-election against Charles L. Charles, a mysterious newcomer. There's also a new villain introduced, the pirate hating Ozzie Mandrill from Australia, and what MI game would be complete without the ghost pirate Captain LeChuck. Or the demon from heck pirate as he's now referred to. Just like previous games, you're after one goal. In EFMI, that goal is to discover The Ultimate Insult before Ozzie Mandrill can.

Just like any MI game, there are familiar characters from previous games to interact with. The only problem is the project leaders on this one are new to the world of Monkey Island and instead of really creating anything new or original, they spend most of the story rehashing old jokes. In fact there are so many inside jokes for fans of the old games, it starts to become a little tedious after a while. I found myself rolling my eyes more often than laughing. It feels like they tried so hard to please former fans that they ignored the fact that most of these jokes would go right over the heads of newcomers, but I guess they figured the target audience would only be fans of the previous games.

So once you leave Melee Island you explore a couple other islands before ending up on Monkey Island. If I'm not mistaken, this installment features the fewest islands to explore out of any other game, which is a shame because it makes it feel a lot shorter. When sailing around on your ship, you can see Phatt Island and Booty Island, previous islands from Monkey Island 2, but to my disappointment, you never get to revisit them. Insult sword fighting is replaced by Monkey Kombat, which I found to be quite challenging. I believe it took me a whole night to solve this part of the game. Overall the puzzles were pretty challenging and sometimes I don't know how an average gamer could solve them without the help of a walkthrough. Unlike previous MI games, there isn't an option for easy or difficult puzzles.

Escape From Monkey Island runs on the GrimE engine that was developed for the superior Grim Fandango. That makes it the second LucasArts adventure game not to run on the SCUMM engine, and the first MI game to feature 3D graphics and atmospheres. That's not necessarily a problem, it is necessary for games to take advantage of advancing technology, but unfortunately the 3D graphics in this game just don't look that great. The only time they look acceptable is when the game pauses for a cut scene to further the plot. Other than that, they look rather primitive by today's standards and even by the standard set by Grim Fandango which was released only a year prior. I prefer the look of Curse of Monkey Island which featured beautiful 2D graphics and backgrounds.

I was delighted that Dominic Armato and Earl Boen reprised their roles as Guybrush and LeChuck from Curse of Monkey Island, the first "talkie" MI. They do a great job voicing those characters and hopefully will continue to do so should a 5th MI go into production. The rest of the voice actors however were average to bad. Every time Otis opened his mouth I usually found myself hitting the button to skip his dialogue. I know this is only a computer game but I expect a little better voice acting. The music was decent but not as good as the music in Curse. It usually got a little repetitive in some areas and there weren't any new character themes or motifs introduced that stuck in my head.

Overall, it's a decent adventure game if you look at it from a stand-alone point of view, but in comparison to the rest of the MI series, it doesn't stand up to its predecessors. If you're a fan of MI, I would recommend playing it just for nostalgia's sake, but don't expect it to blow you away. For newcomers to the series who still enjoy adventure games, I would recommend playing the other games first or any of the other adventure games developed by LucasArts.


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