Monkey Island returns

[Uzi]

I've just jumped forward 4 pages, is angel still posting how much he dislikes this game without playing it?

I realise it's PC/Wii(?) at the moment but do we think it might come out on XBLA at some point? - I don't play games on my laptop

Telltale have said they'd like to bring it on XBLA soon. Considering their other games are there and the Secret of Monkey Island is debuting on XBLA/PC, I'd expect it won't be far off at all.

That shot makes it look like the Wind Waker artstyle.

Curse of Monkey Island had that art style!

[Mortis]

It's very cartoon like - imagine Curse but done in 3D - the characters are slightly more 3D than the flat look of windwaker. I like it though it's not as jarring as Escape that's for sure - also Guybrush looks more like he did in Curse - and that's not a bad thing.

The best thing to see in motion though is the facial expressions on Guybrush when in conversation.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

As good as the backgrounds are I'd really love another 2D one like this:

Pipe dream though.

[Mortis]

In an ideal world we would get that - however the market isn't there for point click adventures as far as the big companies are concerned. I'm hoping Lucasarts are realising though that they can't keep milking starwars much more and are looking at sales of this and the remastered MI to see if it's worth brining back the point and click.

[Guest]

Hey, those are nice clouds.

[Uzi]

Personally I feel pretty lucky. It's so weird to load up a game and feel really fortunate for playing it. Just going "fuck me, I'm playing a new Monkey Island, and it's not shit, and it's part of a genre I thought was dead. I can't believe it".

When I was growing up and the first 386 PC I had access to had DOTT, Fate of Atlantis, monkey islands and some of the sierra games. Then Broken Sword I and II gave me a few more years of point ad click joy with the odd few PC only ones coming out after that. I never thought an age would come again where they would begin to come out properly again. Now you got them on xbox and Wii and all via digital delivery.

Telltale may not be lucasarts in their prime, but they're so important to the revival of the genre right now.

[Mortis]

The thing is Telltale are improving every episode they make and this one has been the best by far. If the series improves the way the others did over the run it should be great. Also it shouldn't suffer the issue that Sam and Max S1 had of the same locations endlessly re used.

[layten]

I hope this is 1200 points when it appears on XBL, just so Angel explodes and leaves this thread the fuck alone from then on.

Oh and swirly clouds thieving bloody Nintendo.

[Billy Brown]

Argh, I don't know what to do. I really, really want to play this, but I think I'd prefer to play it on XBLA from the comfort of the sofa if it makes it on there. As much as I'd like to support Telltale with buying it twice, I really can't afford to do that at the moment. I'm *this* close to buying the full season on PC, but I just know they'll announce it on XBLA tomorrow if I do that. You fuckers aren't helping with all the positive feedback.

[Mortis]

Well I'd say buy it on PC - if it's coming out on XBLA then it's either a bit away (if it was soon they'd have announced it) or it's gonna be like sam and max and be released in one big chunk in 5another 4 months or so.

[JoeK]

Personally I feel pretty lucky. It's so weird to load up a game and feel really fortunate for playing it. Just going "fuck me, I'm playing a new Monkey Island, and it's not shit, and it's part of a genre I thought was dead. I can't believe it".

When I was growing up and the first 386 PC I had access to had DOTT, Fate of Atlantis, monkey islands and some of the sierra games. Then Broken Sword I and II gave me a few more years of point ad click joy with the odd few PC only ones coming out after that. I never thought an age would come again where they would begin to come out properly again. Now you got them on xbox and Wii and all via digital delivery.

Telltale may not be lucasarts in their prime, but they're so important to the revival of the genre right now.

Yup, agree completely. There was something about a Lucasarts release at that time which was absolutely wonderful at that time. The artwork, the boxes, the cool copyright protection things they bunged into the games. The only other company who made me feel that same way was when I had my old SPectrum and the new Ultimate Play the Game release came out.

In their pomp, Lucasarts were completely untoucheable as far as I was concerned. Whilst I don't think I get the same level of excitement, there's something I find rather re-assuring about Telltale games. I really like episodic content myself, and I really like the fact that with each game they do they're getting better and better. The game's delivering for me, just like the Sam and Mac games did, so that's great.

Incidently (and I know Scumm's there for it too), but I decided to pick up the Dig via Steam (for £3, it's really nice to just have it really). Still a great game - very slow paced, and the graphics have dated more than any of the other Lucasarts games, but the music score is still one of the best ever. -sigh-, I love a good adventure!

[Garwoofoo]

I don't think Telltale get the credit they deserve. This is, what, the sixth series of point and click adventure games they've done? (Bone, Sam&Max 1 and 2, Strong Bad, Wallace & Gromit, and now Monkey Island). Everything they do is of a consistent quality, always comes out on time and does justice to the source material. They're getting better and better with each new release and the production values in Monkey Island are superb. They've pretty much single-handedly revived the point 'n' click adventure genre when everyone had pronounced it dead, and they're about the only people able to really grasp the concept of episodic content and make it work. (Valve, take note). Bravo to them.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Their Strong Bad games were great. Shame the content was so niche.

[Mortis]

For what is basically a small dev co to have managed to drag the P+C genre back to some kind of credible level - especially taking on some big licences is nothing short of amazing. They have a decent digital distribution system setup and they also seem to listen to the fans and take the criticism on board for the games to improve them.

To be honest they deserve support from anyone who wants the point click to return as they are the only folk making a decent effort.

[scottcr]

man - I'm going to download Strongbad on the Wii to tide me over.

[Kryptonian]

I'm hoping for 1201 pts on XBLA

[Simmy]

As good as the backgrounds are I'd really love another 2D one like this:

Pipe dream though.

MI3 is still a beautiful game.

My favorite area I think, was Blood Island. The place and the music. Beautiful.

[therealjohnpeat]

Whilst I've been tempted by their output upto now, I've never actually gone and bought any of the Sam and Max/Strongbad etc. titles - yet (ditto the Penny Arcade games which I also liked the demo of!)

I notice they're trying a different tack with this one - pay once up-front, get the extra episodes as they land. I wonder if this is due to tailing-off sales on later episodes before or just something they're trying out to see if it makes a difference (logically, they'll make more this way ofc.)

[Blu3Flame]

I imagine it's more to do with the fact these episodes are less self-contained than their previous output and the story continues over the entire series.

[giant_frying_pan]

Whilst I've been tempted by their output upto now, I've never actually gone and bought any of the Sam and Max/Strongbad etc. titles - yet (ditto the Penny Arcade games which I also liked the demo of!)

Episode 4 of the first series is permanently free: http://www.telltalegames.com/store/lincolnmustdie

It's also the first where they really started to hit their stride.

The season pass thing has always been been the main way and most pushed way to buy the games. Naturally when they started to delay the availability of single-episode purchasing with Wallace and Gromit, the five people who bought them all this way weren't too pleased.

[Miner Willy]

if it were available for the Mac, I'd have it for that on the big telly... but it's not... so Wii it is. I want it bad.

I'm exactly the same. Is it not out on Wii yet? I couldn't get on to check last night.

[Guest]

Is the demo available for Steam / XBL at any point? I couldn't see it at Steam.

[giant_frying_pan]

No. Just try the standalone demo then buy/no buy on Steam.

[makkuwata]

"That's unnecessary. Those monkeys have surprisingly good breath!"

The tone feels so right. It's like the series never left.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Just finished it. Really, really good.

Some very satisfying and clever puzzles (and a couple of mildly fiendish ones), lovely art and a great script. Lot of good one-liners in there.

[Sir DangerM]

Played the demo this morning and loved it so bought the full game straight away.

It's pretty great, just got up to the giant doorway in the jungle. Don't know how much more there is to do.

I thought the art style was shit in the screenshots, and while i still dont love it too much it does kind of work, and theres definitely something charming about it.

My only real complaint is the random characters you meet as they all seem to be based on generic thin pirate or generic fat pirate, with just a few model/texture changes. They're so obviously based off the same model that it feels a bit cheap.

The puzzles have all been good so far and i've laughed a few times. It definitely feels like monkey island, probably more than Escape from Monkey Island did.

[Fugu]

This is alright, innit?

First game I've bought in years I think, first proper game I've played in years to be fair.

Puzzles seem easier than in first two games, then again I'm not six anymore sooo...

Not as funny, but it's okay.

Just a bit of fun adventuring.

[thesnwmn]

Bought and played a few hours of this last night and it's a joy. For me it recaptures the spirit of the first three MI games. It makes me laugh and it look lovely (from a style perspective). The puzzlers are pitched brilliantly so far... I've stared a screen for 10 minutes with the feleing I have everything I need but can't quite find the right way to use them, only to be proved right as my mind suddenly clicks to the solution. That's what point and clicks are all about.

The only problem I've had is it's performance. It manifests itself as input lag, the animation seems okay, which is a little odd from my (admittedly not recenb) PC gaming experience. I don't have a massively powerful rig (>2GHz, GeForce 9400) but pushing this to some of the reasonable resolutions when leaving the graphics detail at anything above 4 it's a complete dog. At first I thought it was because I didn't have nVidia drivers installed by they didn't help. Maybe it's that I'm running on Win7 but I'm not convinced. Worst of all, the performance is worse in the menus than it is in the game. Why menus need dynamic lighting from flickering candles I will never, ever, understand.

I didn't meant to be so negative. It's still a good looking game (settled on higher res with lower detail) and I feel the art style reflects the MI universe perfectly.

[hoot]

Also picked this up yesterday on a whim, you can see Telltale have come a long way since the first Sam and Max episode they made the other year. The graphics, animation and the different camera angles used look really quite classy. Some of the characters are a bit of a mixed bag that's a minor criticism.

[thesnwmn]

Just finished this and now I'm desperate for more. I think I'm glad that's it's episodic so I can't just rush through it in one day. Being spread over a few months could be lovely.

Might have to go and try some of their other series now. Recommendations?