Return to Monkey Island: First Impressions — Fears that once were are no more. It’s like settling back into a very warm memory.
Disclaimer: I haven’t completed the game yet, but I’m into the middle of Part 2. I will write a follow-up article upon game completion.
I cannot tell you how happy I am to be writing this article. When it comes to the Monkey Island Games, you’re either a fan, or you haven’t heard of them. The first game, The Secret of Monkey Island, is one of the most important games in adventure gaming history. Created by Ron Gilbert, the game on paper sounds like it shouldn’t work – it’s an adventure game focusing on pirates that is also a parody of the genre with fourth-wall breaking humor, modern anachronisms, and a subversive ending that refuses to reaveal (or even discuss!) the Secret of the title.
The sequel, LeChuck’s Revenge should technically be even more divisive – if the first ending was subversive, the second was an outright self-contradiction that questioned the events and veracity of both games, ending on a giant cliffhanger. Ron left Lucasarts after LeChucks Revenge, and did not complete his intended third game to finish out the trilogy. But The Curse of Monkey Island debuted in 1997, led by a new creative team – the first game in the series to feature voice acting, a much different art style, and yet another crack and explaining the events of the first two games.
Then Escape from Monkey Island came in 2000 – this game from yet another creative team, who jumped on the ill-advised 3d bandwagon. This game was tonally quite different from what had come before, but at least was getting away from trying to explain the endings of the first two games. The game introduced serious retcons to the continuity, many of which were panned by fans of the franchise. The series lay dormant until it was revived in 2009, licensed by Telltale Games for 5 Episodes – in Tales of Monkey Island.
While generally well-received, it ALSO ended on a cliffhanger – and the series became moribund once more. With the death of Lucasarts and the purchase of all of Lucasfilms assets by Disney, the odds of seeing another Monkey Island game EVER were slim-to-none. The original series creator, Ron Gilbert, had stated as much in a famous blog post. He did a marvelous job of stirring up the community when he described what HIS fabled version of a Monkey Island 3a would be, though.
If I Made Another Monkey Island
Then, micraculously, an announcement was made on April 1st of this year. Ron Gilbert had finally created his sequel to the first two Monkey Island Games with one of his former partners, Dave Grossman. The announcement passed without comment, because it was put out on April Fools Day. In a sense, it was Rons greatest joke ever – he spends every year expounding upon his hate for the holiday, and how he would never engage in the shenanigans that most get up to on that holiday. In true Ron Gilbert fashion, he had both participated in an April Fools gag and NOT participated in an April fools gag at the same time. I suppose we could call it “Gilberts Gag”, in the style of Schroedingers Cat. A few days later, he revealed that it was not a joke at all, and a teaser trailer was released.
Since that day, I’d been sweating bullets. I’d longed for a Monkey Island followup forever – that it was back in the hands of the original creator seemed too good to be true. But what of the sequels that he hadn’t been involved with or authorized? Some fans only recognize the first two Monkey Island games as “official”. While I think LeChucks Revenge is the best installment, I think The Curse of Monkey Island makes me laugh more, and I would hate to lose it. The only entry I truly don’t like is Escape from Monkey Island. This is a franchise that EVERY fan has very personal feelings about. I couldn’t see a way that Ron could make a game that wouldn’t end up angering large swaths of the fandom.
As time wore on, Ron revealed that this wouldn’t be his originally conceived Monkey 3 concept. While still promising to pick up where LeChucks Revenge ended, he somehow planned to still incorporate elements from the sequels he was not involved with. How this would be accomplished was not made clear, but he did indicate that there were elements from later games which he did enjoy and that he didn’t wish to rain on anybodys parade and invalidate something that others may have loved. In the months leading up to the release of Return to Monkey Island, a deal of contoversy was made about the change in art style. Each of the Monkey Island games has had different art styles, but the first two were very closely related. Fan expectations were that Return would fall in line with those two games, but it was not to be. The new art is in a storybook style, sort of like The Very Hungry Caterpillar. To say this was divisive would be an understatement, and I found myself not being a fan of what I had seen.
As the release date drew closer, my worries grew. My love of Star Wars has taught me that maybe sometimes it’s better to let classics lie – could a creator return to the franchise he created 30 years later and crank out a masterpiece against these odds? I haven’t finished the game yet, so I can’t say for sure if it’s a masterpiece.
What I can say is that my worries were unfounded.
The art style took a little bit to acclimate to, but once I did I found myself smiling. at each new scene. The animation accounts for a lot of this – sometimes the quality of art isn’t captured as well in a still image. More importantly, the writing and dialogue feel PERFECT. I feel like I’ve been transported back to the first time I played the original game. There is something unique about the way Ron and Dave write dialogue, and more than once I’ve found myself unexpectedly snorting with laughter. The puzzles feel perhaps a tad easier than they did back in the day, but I don’t mind. The original composers have returned as well, and the soundtrack is excellent.
At $25.00 to purchase, there isn’t anybody I WOULDN’T recommend this game to. It’s a steal. If you’ve never played a Monkey Island game before, there is a scrapbook feature that will catch you up on all the important events. If you are a fan from the old days, pick this up right now. There’s still a possibility the game could let me down – but somehow, I don’t think it will. If I know Ron, he’ll devise another way to frustrate the player in the end – creating more questions than giving answers, and leaving us wanting more. I played this game and felt like I had reconnected with old, old friends. I was so happy, I couldn’t sleep that night.
Thanks Ron and Dave, and all of the crew at Terrible Toybox, Devolver, and Disney who made this happen. I can give no higher praise.
