After finishing of these huge games, losing our family cat that was with us for over 15 years and spent the last two weeks (as of writing) working with the stressful environment at work with several sick in Covid, people quiting left and right and so on (and getting a positive Covid result on my own, thanks for that) I needed something more fun to lighten the mood. What better than a return trip to the Caribbean with the mighty pirate Guybrush Threepwood? Made by most of the creators behind Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2? Sign me up!
It starts right where they left of, back in Monkey Island 2 where little Guybrush and Chuckie steps out of behind the scenes of the pirate theme park as they look for their parents... turns out it's just Guybrush Jr and Chuckie reenacting the end for Monkey Island 2 as Guybrush is the father and is about to the tell the story of how he really found the secret of Monkey Island. Apparently LeChuck has gathered a crew at Melee Island and is about to set sail for the treasure and Guybrush arrives to stop him. Several things have happened since the last time... I guess since Ossie Mandrill was about to turn the whole Caribbean into a theme park and drove off the pirates at the first place, since the pirate leaders of Secret have been deposed by Captain Madison and her co-captains and they ain't that impressed with the old pirate life. So Guybrush is on his own.
He has to infiltrate LeChuck's ship so that he can beat him to Monkey Island and while there complete a magic ritual to decrypt the map to the secret... that turns us back to Melee Island and the International House of Mojo where it have been hidden away in this safe which needs 5 keys you need to search the Caribbean for. Leaving a trail of destruction in your wake to new and old friends that Elaine have to clear up after you. And it's nice with her just being nice, no animosity that usually goes into romancing in game series to keep that element being a part of the story. You meet Herman Toothrot in a cave and fight him for one key, you ensure that Stan goes from a month in prison to ten years so that you can break him out and use it to scam pirates to accept limes against scurvy to get a flag that is a piece of a map to a sunken ship where one of the keys are found. A bit of a roundabout way to get the key, but it's an adventure game.
LeChuck grabs the secret before Guybrush so it's of to Monkey Island and the catacombs below the Giant Monkey Head and a series of interesting puzzles which leads to a door with two rotating wheels of pirates... is that a reference to the original games code wheel as copy protection? At least the game is solvable inside the game, haven't forgotten Thimbleweed Park. LeChuck is already inside fighting one of Madisons co-captains so you hurry and... you turn up in the alleyway in Melee Island and it looks that everything is back to being a theme park. You find the chest with the secret, grabs a key in the display and unlocks it, getting a t-shirt for you trouble. Didn't know what else to expect really. Back in the present Guybrush jr. says the same as I was thinking, Guybrush is bad with endings. And yet it was satisfactory enough. Looking it up it was actually one of several endings, but most are just a small after-credit scene change.
It was a fun time, made me laugh out loud several times so it was my brand of humour. They had a hint system built in that I used before getting frustrated on some of the puzzles, but I got through most without using it. A replay bonus is getting every trivia card and answering right on all of them. Many is about the games story, but some are 4th-wall breaking about the creation of the games. Many returning voices so that was fun, missing Ottis, Stan (which I believe have changed voice most of all) and LeChuck, since Earl Boen is retired (update: and now even dead, real sadness). Which is sad since Earl Boen could really sound sinister, and I miss that bit of punch with the new voice actor. He have been in Monkey Island before as the shopkeeper from the first game and maybe it's that that is the problem. And there was one side-character I actually thought sounded more like LeChuck so that could have affected me as well. Apparently people had a problem with the art-style before release, but I love it. It looks like the high detailed pictures they used in the first two games and applied on the whole game. I got what everything represented and it looked like I remember it, although, that is 7 years ago since last time. A bit miffed by the ending, but can overlook it. Took one day to play through, maybe another if you gonna complete it.
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