First things first: happy birthday to me! I didn't realize it when I started this back up that my birthday would've fallen on a Wednesday, but oh well! Another funny thing to realize about today: seven years ago, Grand Theft Auto IV came out on the XBox 360 and Playstation 3. I did not know this until earlier yesterday. But that's not what I'm going to talk about today. Instead, it'll be about the 2009 release of Tales of Monkey Island, Episode 1.
Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 1 (Launch of the Screaming Narwhal)
Released: July 2009
Spoiler lie ahead, arr. You be warned!
For those who may not know Monkey Island is a point-and-click adventure game made by LucasArts for the PC during the Age of Adventure that came out around 1990. It is the misadventures of a lovable pirate wannabe by the name of Guybrush Threepwood and his rise to fame, or infamy as his friends and enemies would both consider. He meets his future wife Elaine Marley and his future rival LeChuck through the trials of becoming a pirate, and from there his future is set to always be intertwined around the two of them (sounds like a triad scheme similar to Nintendo, huh?).
Tales of Monkey Island was not actually made by LucasArts, though, or at least solely developed by them. Instead, this was another of the early titles that Telltale Games had their hand in, and I would have to say that it ended up helping them refine their tool for future games. You still follow Guybrush on his adventures across the oceans, but this time, it is an adventure so grand that it spans over five episodic content games (sound familiar to what Telltale is always doing?).
The brand of humor for this game series is still very much the backbone of the interactions between Guybrush and practically anything else in the environment, and being a point-and-click environment, there is often some seemingly inconspicuous items that can give you much humor in interacting with. This episode alone is quite amusing as it takes place on one sole location, the island of Flotsam. In trying to stop the pirate LeChuck from his recent voodoo plot, Guybrush ends up turning him human and exploding the boat that him, LeChuck, and Elaine were on. Washed up on the shore of Flotsam Island, the adventure lies in trying to get off the island and return to his beloved, or to deal with his arch nemesis, potentially both.
Dominic Armato is THE voice of Guybrush Threepwood. Since the third title took a leap towards a different graphic style and included voice acting, he has been at the front lending his unique voice to the series. There is something about his snappy quips towards everyone else that shows Guybrush's "Don't Care" attitude that I've grown to love, and I'm sure many others have found solace in that too. The way the game proceeds, the only way for him to leave the island leads him through a typical checklist of tasks. Sooner or later, he discovers that in turning LeChuck human, he has unleashed an evil voodoo pox on all pirates, and his hand is the most potent form of this infection. Not only does he still have to worry about leaving the island, but he has to focus on curing the ailments of his fellow pirates that he ended up causing.
I wasn't able to play it when it first started coming out, nor was I aware it was actually coming out around the same time (or a few weeks later) on the Wii. I know they ended up releasing it on the Playstation 3 later, but that's about it as far as my knowledge of it. In fact, I didn't even know about this game itself until last year, when I started watching some of it on YouTube through a longplay channel. It's so cinematic that I ended up watching most of it (skipping large chunks sometimes so I didn't ruin the entire game). I can safely say that, playing now, I am enjoying every twist and turn that I ended up skipping over, making the game all the more surprising. C'mon now. Tell me you wouldn't find it amusing that Guybrush attempts to call the Treasure Hunter D'Oro "D'Oro the Explorer"? Or that he plays around with an ill-gotten Porcelain Power Pirate by sacrificing it on an altar?
To be continued... arr...
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