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For Tales of Monkey Island on the PlayStation 3, Walkthrough by The-Apostle. Objective: Encountered a shipload of references to the previous Monkey Island games. The Sounds of Science Objective: Heard DeSinge treating four different patients. Bats Right, Throws Lame Objective: Repeatedly Threw Things. Is That a Pox On Your Face, Or Are You Just Angry To See Me?
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By BeckyRise of the Pirate God is thefifth installment in the Tales of Monkey Island series, and it's ahumdinger. By now the story is impossible to describe without spoilers forthose who haven't played the first four episodes. (To read the GameBoomersreviews of the earlier episodes.) So unless you've finishedthe fourth episode - The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood- all the way through to the shocking end, skip to the spoiler freesections of this review.As the game opens, voices from Trial and Execution echo as thecamera pans over tarot cards with Monkey Island characters. Thetarot cards manage to be sinister while making Guybrush look ridiculous -a win-win situation.The camera then pans across a lonely grave at the Gateway to theUnderworld. Epitaphs for various pirates appear on surrounding tombstones.Apparently this is the pirate underworld. (They get their own?)Clicking around elicits a familiar voice and then a hand breaks throughthe grave - Guybrush's ghost will resume his quest to defeat all whooppose him. That would mean taking on LeChuck, the pirates who blameGuybrush for the pox, Death and (possibly) the Voodoo Lady.
And that isthe short list.Spoiler Free DescriptionIn Pirate God, Guybrush moves literally all over the map,returning to some familiar places, but mostly visiting a series of newenvironments. The stylized 3D locations are atmospheric despite theircartoon-like portrayal. The series has veered into increasing darkness;from bright daylight in the first episode, to sunset in the second,nighttime in the fourth and now a darkened cavern above a dead lake. Thisnew environment contains rotating blue lanterns, torches emitting a blueflame, plus towers and gothic windows erupting from the rocks.The nautical/sea theme pervades, with new water craft ranging from astately pirate ship to an inflatable plastic turtle. Musical backgroundsinclude pirate ditties, mystical syncopated voodoo themes, and balefuldirges.Guybrush encounters familiar characters, plus some new ones -including a mournful leprechaun-like sage and a specter with a gold toothand curly tail. (Sadly, Guybrush does not remove or use the tooth.)Voiceovers are topnotch. Facial animation is expressive and charactermovement is fluid.Dialogs reveal the trademark Monkey Island humor withabsurdities, sarcasm and amusing banter.
(You can click through thedialogs.) The plot presents some unexpected twists - quite anachievement, considering the plot gyrations in previous episodes. Evenmore surprising, almost every thread in the story is tied up by the end,providing a satisfaction seldom felt at the close of an adventure game.Pirate God, with about eight hours of gameplay, is a good lengthfor a concluding episode. It installed smoothly and ran glitch free,except that it changed my desktop screen resolution every time I exited.Spoiler Free CritiquePortals provide most travel between locations, minimizing the stillawkward click-and-drag technique for moving Guybrush with the mouse. (Theclick-and-drag method is similar to that in Sanitarium, but is morecumbersome here.) Squinting at a tiny red arrow whenever Guybrush ismoving doesn't create the feeling of 'flow' so touted by 3D designers.Keyboard controls provide an alternative, but don’t solve the problemof the constant readjustments needed whenever Guybrush bumps up againststuff (which is often).For the first time, I tried using an Xbox 360 controller to moveGuybrush, and it was a revelation.
I was better at moving Guybrush withthe controller after ten seconds than with the mouse after more thantwenty hours, through four episodes. This game is better suited to consoleplay with a controller, and the mouse and keyboard are hand-me-down,inefficient substitutes. Portal travel in this episode reduces thisshortcoming to a quibble, though I hope this problem is better addressedin future Monkey Island games.The final battle sequence is dramatic, creative and spectacular, andmovement isn't an issue, because Guybrush doesn't take a single guidedstep throughout. But it's quite violent.
Now these are cartoon-likegraphics with no blood shown. However, I'm uncomfortable watching thislevel of violence while frantically solving timed challenges to make itall stop.Mildly Spoilerish Puzzle TalkAll the Tales of Monkey Island episodes exhibit a high level ofprofessionalism in production values.
But Pirate God isdistinguished by the way the puzzles are interwoven with the plot andGuybrush's journey through the fractured gameworld when, at times, hehimself is both material and immaterial.Guybrush must transform into a leader in this episode - not just a'player' - but someone who influences others who are lost, discouraged orafraid. He will encounter dialog challenges, inventory puzzles, uncoveringthe essential nature of items, timed sequences, and voodoo spell riddles.These riddles are intriguing because they both send our hero on a treasurehunt and tie into the game's larger themes that are not explicitlyrealized until the end.The final cut scene after the credit tantalizes with a suggestion of anongoing story arc whose direction is yet to be revealed.Spoiler Free List for Tales of Monkey Island: Rise of the PirateGodThe fifth and final episode in the Tales of Monkey Islandseries. It's best to play the previous four episodes before trying thisone.Pirates, ships, sea creatures, characters from an alternate'dimension.'
Voodoo, theft, heroism, a couple of ultimate answers.Combines the whimsical with the dark and the absurd.Excellent voiceovers, an unusual gameworld. Entertaining dialogs. A fewexpletives in the final scene. You can click through the dialogs. Abang-up, violent, timed endgame spectacular.Third person perspective, easy transport through portals,click-and-drag or keyboard movement, point-and-click for hotspotinteraction.
A Hint system that is occasionally helpful. Handy plotsynopsis in the save/load game menu. Plenty of save slots. Appropriate forolder children.Inventory and dialog puzzles, treasure hunting, observation, riddling.No mazes, no sliders, no color or sound based puzzles.The game series can be purchased via download from the.Aimed at fans of the Monkey Island games, gamers who appreciateabsurdist humor and situations, and anyone who has ever said 'Arrr.' Final grade: A-What I played it on:Dell Studio XPS 8000Windows 7 HomePremiumIntel Core i5-750processor6GB DDR3 SDRAM1024MB NVIDIA GeForceGT 220Soundblaster X-FiDecember, 2009design copyright©2009.
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