Armchair Diplomat

LeChuck looks like he dropped a triple word score

Waking up after being buried alive in a coffin is certainly one of those iconic nightmares that can make even capsule hotel guests shiver with claustrophobic disgust.  The very idea is enough to trigger a one-inch punch training montage in most people.

Spare a thought then for poor Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate, because this is exactly where you’ll begin Rise of the Pirate God, the final episode in Telltale Games’ Tales of Monkey Island.  It’s a little unsettling for long-term Guybrush fans, as up until his betrayal at the hands of LeChuck (again), he’s always had something of an unkillable complex.  And sure enough, true to form, you’ll soon discover that just because he’s been stabbed through the heart is no reason he can’t make his way back to the land of the living.

Pirate afterlife isn’t so bad.  There’s a treasure under every X, and you’re free to fight and steal to your heart’s content.  Guybrush, however, can only concentrate of Elaine.  So after a little exploration, meeting up with some old friends and making some new ones, you’ll discover that making your way back from the land of the dead isn’t as hard as it might sound.  After all, LeChuck treats the place a revolving door.  So after a little voodoo that you do (that you do do so well), Guybrush manages to tear a hole in the Crossroads that allows his ghost passage back into the land of the living.

Unfortunately, the newly ripped portal delivers LeChuck everything he’s ever wanted on a silver platter, as he can now use Esponge Grande to draw voodoo straight out of the afterlife.  Sponge thoroughly wedged, LeChuck gains almost infinite power, and so begins his rule as the Pirate God.  And an undead Guybrush is the last obstacle between LeChuck and world domination.

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Yes, Guybrush DOES get executed this episode

Colour me suitably impressed (which I believe is somewhere around a lush olive green). Avid readers may have noticed that for all the previous episodes of Telltale’s Tales of Monkey Island, I’ve been slightly thrown off by the erratic puzzles vs. plot scale. Previous episodes in the series have had a difficult time managing to hit the sweet spot that allows puzzles to be both plot driven and challenging at the same time. Make something too plot driven and it becomes too easy, as a puzzle’s possible outcomes dwindle and characters start bludgeoning you with obvious verbal “signposts” for the solution. Make a puzzle too random, and you’ll have your audience tearing out their hair and flocking to a walkthrough.

Which is why, to my great delight, I’m impressed to find out that The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood consistently delivers just the right level of difficulty to puzzles that actively move the storyline along.

After being knocked out and returned to Flotsam Island by Morgan LeFlay, Guybrush is summarily arrested by the Pirate Court before he is able to be handed over for disection by the Marquis DeSinge. His elation at escaping certain death is short lived, however, when he discovers that failing to defend himself against a series of nautical accusations will also result in certain death.

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Pirates with the Pox of LeChuck just love to do Bishop impressions

Just a quick update (I’m damagingly hungover) to remind everyone that Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood is out today, ready for download.  The execution part obviously can’t end up being too permanent, given Guybrush’s unkillable nature and the fact that there’s still another episode to go after this one.

A few more classic characters have obviously been re-introduced, including boat/coffin/life-insurance salesman Stan who’s been featured in one of the game’s teaser screenshots.

We’ll have a full write-up some time in the coming week (there’s quite a backlog around here all of a sudden).

Head on over to the Telltale Games website to get your copy, and if you haven’t yet taken a look, be sure to check out Magnus’ “I Wonder What Happens In…” animation for the most recent episode.  Always pure gold!

I suppose there are worse ways to travel

It’s a new month, and a new installment of Tales Of Monkey Island! The last episode, The Siege of Spinner Cay, ended with Guybrush being swallowed whole by a giant manatee. So it won’t surprise you to find out that you’ll be spending most of the new episode, Lair of the Leviathan, attempting to find your way out.

The hunt for Esponge Grande is not without it’s twists and turns, it would seem.  Conveniently swallowed by the manatee is adventurer and explorer Coronado De Cava, who is also hunting the voodoo soaking sponge, even if only to offer it as a surprise present for the Voodoo Lady.  After Guybrush gives De Cava the locket the Voodoo Lady entrusted to him, De Cava automatically assumes he has romantic competition.  Realising he needs De Cava’s help, Guybrush is forced to pretend Morgan LeFlay is his wife to allay suspicion.  After a little familiarisation session (held while dangling in cages over the cavernous entrance to the manatee’s stomach) De Cava accepts Guybrush isn’t interested in the Voodoo Lady and agrees to help him.  The sponge itself is hidden at the Sacred Manatee Breeding Grounds, where the manatee Guybrush has been swallowed by is headed.  However the manatee has lost it’s way after having it’s cochlea stolen, so not only does Guybrush have to find a way out of the manatee, he also has to fix it first.

Sounds logical, doesn’t it?

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Ahh for simpler days...

Today’s the big day, folks, time to get your next dose of Tales of Monkey Island.  The new chapter, Lair of the Leviathan, is now available to download through the Telltale Games website.

I’m looking forward to catching up and seeing what Murray’s been up to, and we’ll have a review up and ready to go within the week!

If you’d like to check out what we thought of the previous chapters, you can chould out our Launch of the Screaming Narwhal review here, and Siege of Spinner Cay review here.  Here’s hoping they’ve bumped up the length and difficulty a smidge this installment.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve a manatee’s stomach to escape!

I know what most of you are thinking: “Well duh, pirates get lots of free games”.  But we’re actually talking legitimate games here, folks, and behaving like a salty sea dog while you’re doing it.

To celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day (this Saturday, mateys!), Telltale Games will be giving away the first episode of their brand spanking new Tales of Monkey Island series: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal.  All you’ll need to do is download the demo and then visit Telltale’s Play Like A Pirate site to collect a code to unlock the entire episode.

At the same time, anyone wanting to pick up the whole season will be given the discounted rate of US$29.95.  Gamers who already have the whole season ordered will apparently also be getting a special present, but we’ll just have to wait to find out what it is.

And while you’re all having fun acting like a pirate this Saturday, don’t forget that it’s also a Pastafarian holy day.  If you’re of the atheist persuation, reach out and get touched by His Noodly Appendage!  The more people willing to adopt the ways of the pirate, the less of these natural disasters we’ll have about the place.

In the meantime, camp out the Telltale site, if you’re waiting on your free copy.  You may want to download the demo first, so you’re ready to go when the countdown ticks over!

OH, THE HUGE-MANATEE

With less than a fortnight until the next Tales of Monkey Island episode, Lair of the Leviathan, Telltale Games has posted up three screenshots to tease the title.

At the end of the last episode, Guybrush had managed to get himself eaten by a gigantic sea cow while on the search for Esponge Grande. Lair of the Leviathan would appear to place Guybrush, at least temporarily, trapped inside the creature.

I suppose it’s not the first time he’s found himself trapped in a giant animal.

We’ve all got our fingers crossed for the next ToMI episode, as the last one ended up a little short and unchallenging. Head on over and take a look at teaser screens. They’ve also posted up some concept art to ogle. Why aren’t you ogling yet?

And of course, as the new tradition dictates, you can also check out Flash artist Majus’ thoughts on what’s going to happen in the upcoming episode.

Apparently you'll be getting your wife back

A couple of new screens of the upcoming Tales of Monkey Island episode, The Siege of Spinner Cay, have been uploaded on Telltale Games’ community blog.

As one might have predicted, the preview shots seem to suggest that Guybrush doesn’t get his head chopped off by the climax at the end of Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. It makes sense, since on top of being a family-friendly series, it’d be a bit difficult to pull off a full collection of episodes with a dead protaganist (although if anyone would be to try it, it’d be these guys).

Head over the blog to take a look. The Siege of Spinner Cay is set to be released August 20th.

Guybrush's hand (you can tell from the fine leather jacket!)

Well Telltale Games has spent a productive morning dropping teaser photos (at varying level of blur) via their Twitter feed.  People have been trying to guess exactly what they pertained to.  Many people hoped (myself included) that it was a tie-in with LucasArts upcoming super secret news for Monday.  They aren’t.

The photos, as it turns out, are of the box art for the completed Tales Of Monkey Island hard copy.  You can’t exactly see too much from the photos on offer, other than the fact that they’ve made sure everyone knows it’s a Steve Purcell original.

And that there’s a monkey smoking a pipe on it.

Oh those outlandish primates and their tobacco habits!

Take a look at this morning’s series of tease shots.  I wonder when we’ll get to see the whole enchilada?