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Game Overview:

Escape From Monkey Island (“Escape”) is the fourth installment of the highly acclaimed Monkey Island series. In this adventure-comedy game (with a definite emphasis on “comedy”), you play Guybrush Threepwood, a somewhat naïve but well-meaning pirate. The game starts during your honeymoon (a lead-in from the third Monkey Island game) with you helping your wife Elaine fight off an enemy ship. Soon after your victory in this encounter, you return home to Melee Island (where Elaine is the governor), to find that an Australian developer has bought up the island and Elaine has been pronounced legally dead. From there, the game proceeds at breakneck pace from one crisis to another.

In a Nutshell:

Escape is about—humor. You start with a basic problem (Elaine’s house has been scheduled for demolition), which leads you into another problem (the reason her house is scheduled for demolition is because she is legally dead) which leads you to another problem (her family lawyers are on a different island) which leads you to…

Escape is lots of fun to play—an enjoyable adventure game. Like all good adventure games, Escape makes sure you’re involved in the game, care about the characters, and kept engaged with interesting and involving problems as soon as the game begins. Heck, even the flashback sequence at the beginning of the game gets you into the mood. The game is a lighthearted romp through the Caribbean, and as much fun to watch as to play.

Story, Plot & Pacing:

You can tell that a lot of effort was put into writing Escape’s story. Guybrush goes from one interesting, humorous, and engaging encounter to another. Even dead ends that don’t really move the story along are fun. Since you spend a lot of time running back and forth, and sailing from island to island, this is a very important aspect of the game. Like all adventure games, there will be times where you (the player) make a wrong decision and go on a side trip that does not move the plot along. Because Escape is filled with interesting things to do and see, you won’t mind when you make a mistake and get sidetracked.

Although Escape is the fourth Monkey Island game, someone who has never played the first three (such as myself) can still easily slip into the universe. Simultaneously, people familiar with the first three games will find that information designed to help new players learn about the story is intermixed with new information (and lots of jokes). Guybrush accomplishes normally this by asking people what happened since the last time he saw them (which, in most cases, was from a previous game). This gives the universe good continuity while simultaneously making sure new players are not left out in the cold.

For instance, at one point Guybrush starts “catching up on old times” with two people who were your crew, in a previous game. While they talk about how Guybrush abandoned them on Monkey Island, and how angry they are at his betrayal, they start whining about the fact that they currently have no jobs. New players learn background, old players find out that they are currently looking for work…

Escape is liberally loaded with jokes, puns, and satire. While you can play it the way you would a more serious adventure game, solving puzzles, finding items, and so on, the game is much more enjoyable if you sit back and go through it at a leisurely pace. A traditional rule for players of adventure games is to “talk with everybody!”—some might have valuable clues to help you through the game.

In Escape, you should talk with everybody so you don’t miss out on the fun.

Play Modes:

Escape, like most adventure games, only supports a one-player mode. You lead Guybrush through his romp through the Tri-Island area. Although the game is good for a long time (there were times I had to stop for breaks because I was too busy laughing), and some of the puzzle solutions are slightly randomized, the game itself has low replayability. The plot goes in one direction, and the game is basically linear, so eventually, you’ll get tired of it. While some puzzles have solutions that change from game to game, the same basic puzzles occur every time you play.

Controls & Interface:

Escape is very easy to get into. You use the arrow keys to move Guybrush around, and press various keys to make him pick up or use items, talk to people, and so on. To further help you into the game, a menu pops up at the bottom of the screen showing you a list of actions that Guybrush can perform at a given time. Once you get used to the offbeat style of thinking necessary to solve puzzles, the interface is very intuitive.