Games

Tales of Monkey Island
Chapter 1 Launch of the Screaming Narwhal

The fifth Monkey Island game has been out for a long while now (over a year -- crikey, really?!), and I've even had the DVD version for a few weeks, so I'm not quite sure why it's taken me so long to get round to playing it. Expectation, I suppose -- I've loved the Monkey Island games for as long as I've been using computers; they're a part of my childhood, and my adolescence, and they're excellent -- who knew if this could live up to it?

I shouldn't have worried though, because it's brilliant. Not all of it -- the control method is frequently awkward (though as this isn't a fast-paced pixel-specific kind of game that's an irritant rather than major flaw), and there's a pair of sections that rival the Doctor Who Adventure Games for mind-numbing easily-failed repetitive boredom.

But by far the majority is entertaining, brain-taxing (in a very good way), and funny too. Hurrah! In fact, it was so good I played it all in one sitting -- which lasted about four hours (I'm sure it could be completed much faster, but I enjoy exploring everything and working through every dialogue tree that I can manage).

And there's four more episodes to go -- even better! Not to mention that it seems to have been a huge success. Dare we hope for a Monkey Island 6? I hope we don't have to wait as long (nine years!) next time.