Games

Tales of Monkey Island
Chapter 1 Launch of the Screaming Narwhal [2nd play]
Up to about an hour-and-a-quarter of playtime now. (I’m going to have to keep track of that here, because the game doesn’t do it; and it auto-saves, so no save-game names to write it in; and I’m curious how long it takes me to complete this, to compare it to the other games.)

Games

Tales of Monkey Island
Chapter 1 Launch of the Screaming Narwhal [2nd play]

Alright, here we go: Monkey Island 5. Released monthly at the end of 2009, I finally played this first chapter in August 2010... and then never got round to the rest. 12 years later, I'm gonna finish it this time! Though today I only played for about 20 minutes; enough to get through the opening cutscenes and tutorial. The latter was particularly necessary, as the control method is different again to any previous Monkey game. It feels more intuitive than Escape's, though. Weirdly, I don't remember it at all... but then, I only used it for 4 hours on one afternoon/evening 12 years ago, so maybe it's not "weird" at all.

Also noticeably better than Escape were the graphics. It's still not the slickest 3D game ever made — it's not designed to be, and wouldn't have been 13 years ago either — but it still looks pretty nice today, whereas Escape looks horrendously dated. It's also remarkable how cinematic it feels. Even interactive dialogue trees feel like they launches into a mini-cutscene with every option selected, using a variety of camera angles and whatnot, rather than the static "gameplay" perspective of... well, every other adventure game I've ever played. It's rather nice.

Films

Scream (1996)
[2nd watch]
[#37 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

this week on 100Films.co.uk

Just 1 new post on 100Films.co.uk this week...


The 100 Films Guide to Top Gun

Does it hold up? Well, that depends what you want from a movie. It certainly comes with a more-than-healthy does of ’80s cheese and rampant-but-unacknowledged homoeroticism. For some, that makes it either unwatchable or two hours of laughing at the film. But if you’re onboard with its particular style, it’s still good fun

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Taskmaster
2x02 Pork is a Sausage
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

Films

Top Gun 3D (1986)
[3rd or so watch]
[#36 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]

I remember loving this as a kid — though, as is so often the case with movies from my childhood, I don't actually know how many times I saw it. We weren't great rewatchers in my household, so I don't imagine I've seen it more than two, maybe three, times, max. Whatever the number, this is the first time I've seen it for about 25–30 years. I've been meaning to get round to revisiting it for years too: I've owned it since DVD, then bought the 3D Blu-ray five years ago too. Obviously, the sequel has finally provoked my rewatch. I think it holds up as good fun, so long as you're on board with its cheesy '80s-ness.

Audio Drama / Podcasts

Doctor Who: Redacted
1x06 Recruits
1x07 Requiem
I do wonder how much the main character in this is an author stand-in, because she's frequently annoying and selfish, but the drama seems to think she's always in the right, and is doing that thing of making her "special", with abilities and insights and whatnot that no one else has. Anyway, Recruits might be the best instalment so far, but that's not saying a whole deal. Only three more to go. I hope the explanation of what's going on, whenever it finally comes, is worth it.
[Listen to Recruits and Requiem (again) on BBC Sounds.]

Games

Escape from Monkey Island
And I'm done. Just over 10½ hours in the end, which is longer than expected. I blame the controls. I did also try to be exhaustive with the dialogue trees — that's part of the point after all, right? And I got stuck for a bit on a part that's notoriously buggy, but I managed to make it work eventually.

So, four down, just one to go... or five, depending how you count it...

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Seven new titles this week, and pretty straightforward too — only one's an upgrade, and only one has anything more than "1 film" to add to the below stats (it's an additional cut).

Number of titles in collection: 2,857 [up 6]
Of which DVDs: 1,055 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,802 [up 6]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 174 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 7,092 [up 7]
Number of films: 3,407 [up 6]
Number of additional cuts: 264 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 9,281 [no change]
Number of short films: 962 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Mystery Science Theater 3000
13x04 Munchie
This episode premiered a couple of weeks back, but I wasn't free to watch it live (as I had the first three). Catching up now, before episode five's premiere tonight... which does mean I don't really feel like watching that later. Oh well. I'm glad they're keeping the full live premiere events available to stream afterwards, because I enjoy the post-screening Q&As (I still need to go back and watch episode two's, which had a 'double premiere' a la episode one).

Games

Escape from Monkey Island
Despite what I said yesterday, after a couple more hours play I do feel like (a) I'm a significantly far through the game, and (b) getting close to the finale. (I guess my comment yesterday was more how I felt at a point during yesterday's playtime, rather than by the end of it.) Also, I'm now hours past how long it took me to complete any of the first three, and yet I maintain that Escape simply doesn't feel significanlty longer/bigger than them.

Games

Escape from Monkey Island
Another few hours today. I'm already pushing towards how long each of the previous games lasted in total, but I feel like it's only just underway. Well, "only just" might be a bit harsh, but it doesn't even feel halfway through, let alone "almost done". I'm sure it's a longer game overall, but I'm also certain my perception of shortness is partly due to the awkward controls making things take longer.

The Room Two
Hadn't forgotten that I was logging this too, I just hadn't played it for a bit.

Games

Escape from Monkey Island
I don't disagree with the consensus view that this is the worst game of the series, but "worst" is a relative term. Put it this way: this evening, I intended to play this for a little bit before having the time to watch some TV, maybe even a film. Two-and-a-half hours later, I had to make myself stop playing because it was getting late.

Games

Escape from Monkey Island

On to the fourth Monkey Island game; the last one I played in full, back when it came out, 22 years ago. 22 years! Jesus. Also, as I mentioned when I started Curse, I can't remember for sure if this is the second or third time I'm playing it — I feel like I did re-play it sometime, but I can't remember when. So, no re-play count for now.

First impressions? The then-current 3D graphics have aged much more poorly than the pixel art and cartoon styles of the first three games. It's not just the low poly counts and basic textures — the pre-rendered backgrounds feel much more sparse than the detail-packed drawn ones; and it changes camera angle far too often, which can be confusing. That's compounded by the keyboard-based controls (presumably designed to be controller-friendly for console ports), which are clunky. If you choose character-based navigation, it can be oddly confusing about which direction Guybrush will go in; but if it's camera based, that changes every time it switches angle, leading to you sometimes accidentally running in and out of a location repeatedly. Shame they didn't also include mouse support for PCs — it would be much nicer with good ol' point-and-click. Hopefully I'll get used to it as the game goes on...

TV

Around the World with Willy Fog
1x01 The Wager
Is this classic / cult animated adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days a worthy substitute for the other series I just enjoyed? Um...
[Watch it (again) on YouTube.]

Not Going Out
12x04 Front Window
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Around the World in 80 Days
1x08 Episode 8 [season finale]
Not sure how exactly they intend to bring this back for a second series (there's a hint at the end, but will they really go there?), but I'm glad they are — it's been a lot of fun.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x139 Week 24: Thursday
5x140 Week 24: Friday [season finale]
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100Films.co.uk

A new month means new monthly columns at 100Films.co.uk this week. First, the review of May...





Then, all the (many, many) films I failed to watch last month...





No new film reviews this week. Hopefully there'll be more next Sunday.

TVt

Around the World in 80 Days
1x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Leverage
4x11 The Experimental Job

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x137 Week 24: Tuesday
5x138 Week 24: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Another week, another large pile of new additons — ten in total this week, including three upgrades (though in one case I'm keeping the previous version (at least for now) due to a single unique special feature (it's a commentary track, so at least it's a chunky extra)). So, the actual titles increase doesn't quite reach double figures; which is for the best really, because clearly I'm buying too much stuff recently!

Anyway, more new additions to come next week.

Number of titles in collection: 2,851 [up 8]
Of which DVDs: 1,055 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,796 [up 9]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 172 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 7,085 [up 16]
Number of films: 3,401 [up 7]
Number of additional cuts: 263 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,281 [up 13]
Number of short films: 962 [up 1]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Around the World in 80 Days
1x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Richard Osman's House of Games
5x136 Week 24: Monday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]