Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal Review

[Spawndemon]

Adventure games are making a comeback in today's gaming industry. Further proof of this is the return of one of the most beloved adventure series of all time: Monkey Island. Our latest review here on Total Gaming Network has staff writer Manzi playing through the first episode of Telltale Games' series Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. Here's the intro to the article:

It has been a long nine years since we have explored the Caribbean with our favorite pirate, the mighty Guybrush Threepwood. Guybrush is back in the fifth game of the series now developed by Telltale Games. Many of the former LucasArts developers that worked on the original Monkey Island now develop games at Telltale. In 2002, LucasArts declared that we would not see another adventure game out of Lucas until 2015. It looks like the year 2015 came a little bit early for adventure gaming fans. Telltale Games releases all of their new games in a series of “episodes” over time and releases a final box copy when all the episodes have launched; the Tales of Monkey Island are no exception. The first in the series that we are looking at is Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. Read more...

<a href="http://images.totalgamingnetwork.com/images/talesofmi101_idol_lowres.1246927747.jpg"><img src="http://images.totalgamingnetwork.com/images/thumb_talesofmi101_idol_lowres.1246927747.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>
When You Manage To Solve This Puzzle You Will Need A Mental Break

To read the rest of this new review be sure to visit this page. Please feel free to leave any feedback you have on either the review or game itself. Stay tuned for more reviews on the future episodes released for Tales of Monkey Island.

[MrKLM]

Re: Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal Review

I swear that if Murray The Demonic Skull does not show up in one of the future episodes I will be devastated. Enjoyed the first episode cannot wait for the others.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9xLoTXC5fk[/media]

What does everyone else think of the game and the review?

[Kradath]

Re: Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal Review

I can't wait to get my hands on it, especially after this great review. Telltales site goes up and down because of everyone refreshing the site all the time.

[MrKLM]

Re: Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal Review

I can't wait to get my hands on it, especially after this great review. Telltales site goes up and down because of everyone refreshing the site all the time.

There is an IRC going for all the people waiting on the game to launch. irc://efnet/talesofmi

[Dairuka]

Re: Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal Review

I swear that if Murray The Demonic Skull does not show up in one of the future episodes I will be devastated. Enjoyed the first episode cannot wait for the others.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9xLoTXC5fk[/media]

What does everyone else think of the game and the review?

No kidding. He was one of the major aspects of the original games, merely by being the funniest character.

"Somewhere there's a fish nibbling on my foot, and it really tickles"

[MrKLM]

Re: Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal Review

No kidding. He was one of the major aspects of the original games, merely by being the funniest character.

"Somewhere there's a fish nibbling on my foot, and it really tickles"

Second to Murray The Demonic Skull is Stan because he can sell any damn thing. http://stansellseverything.ytmnd.com/

[hansschmucker]

Re: Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal Review

Hi Manzi.

I promised to give feedback on your review after I've finished the game, so here I am.

My problem with giving feedback is that I actually agree with pretty much anything you say.

Controls don't feel like they're improving anything and one has to wonder why TTG would back away from the established point-and-click walking system for this.
Jake offered an explanation at the forums and I can see the problem, but I don't think this is an adequate solution:
When the camera is too close to the actor, you can't really see the floor and a special control scheme would have to be implemented for these cases. Also, you'd have to click pretty often even if the floor was visible.

I can see the problem, but I think we could have found a better solution with RTS-like scrolling or another method. Even if we hadn't, I would have gladly switched from the normal point-and-click interface to the current one in those "problematic" scenes.

About the graphics. Well... some characters have, well... not enough character. I'm very happy how Guybrush, LeChuck, the Marquis and the Voodoo Lady turned out, but the pirates don't have enough detail and as a result look very artificial.

Lastly, you may want to talk about the system specs as this is an area where a lot of people are having problems (strangely not me with my old 7950 GS Mobile). Personally, I feel like Telltale did the right thing: The first scene on the ship is the most complex one in the game, so you can adjust your settings there and if it renders at reasonable speed, you can expect the rest of the game to do so as well.

P.S. I hope you took a look at the skull candle in the spooky house, because there's a nice little homage to Murray.

[MrKLM]

Re: Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal Review

P.S. I hope you took a look at the skull candle in the spooky house, because there's a nice little homage to Murray.

Yes I did see that! Thanks for the feedback.