Melan on 7/7/2009 at 05:40
The graphics are... not good.
Aja on 7/7/2009 at 05:59
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
The little touches of Monkey 4 (Starbuckeneers) made me forgive it, though to be fair I am much more lenient on games than I am with movies.
I played
Escape first, loved it, and then played
Secret, which I also enjoyed. I never finished the other two, but I still have a hard time understanding why
Escape is the one everyone seems to dismiss. It's still funny, it's still well-acted, it still has great visuals and music, and the puzzles are even difficult. I suspect nostalgia plays a big role in most people's opinions of the series: thinking about playing
Escape again brings back some very fond memories.
Scots Taffer on 7/7/2009 at 06:05
No, it's definitely not nostalgia: the awkward controls, the too-removed 3rd person perspective combined with the not exactly great 3d engine (which toned down their fantastic art design imo), the poorly implemented monkey combat mechanic and weaker storyline combine to make Escape the red-headed stepchild of the franchise.
Though it may be usurped by Tales.
Thirith on 7/7/2009 at 06:24
Quote Posted by Aja
I played
Escape first, loved it, and then played
Secret, which I also enjoyed. I never finished the other two, but I still have a hard time understanding why
Escape is the one everyone seems to dismiss. It's still funny, it's still well-acted, it still has great visuals and music, and the puzzles are even difficult. I suspect nostalgia plays a big role in most people's opinions of the series: thinking about playing
Escape again brings back some very fond memories.
I'd pretty much agree with Scots:
Escape is weaker on the whole. For me it was especially the writing - many of the jokes aren't so much jokes in their own right as call-outs to earlier games in the series, and some of the humour comes from a tired, drawn-out play on stereotypes. I also think that the 3D visuals are less expressive and definitely less well composed than the 2D backdrops of the earlier games. And Monkey Combat is a nice enough idea, but in terms of gameplay it's repetitive and gets old very fast. I still enjoy especially
Monkey Island 2 (which I've always preferred to the first game), but I'd have no motivation whatsoever to replay
Escape.
Scots Taffer on 7/7/2009 at 06:27
In terms of immediate fun, I love Curse. I really, really do. The voices sell it.
Aja on 7/7/2009 at 06:29
Weaker storyline? I recall it being interesting; an australian warlord trying to commercialize the world of piracy. I don't remember the writing specifically—it was fine when I was fifteen, but maybe it hasn't held up. I'll have to play it again. If it really is nothing but callbacks to previous jokes, it worked, considering I had no references to the earlier games. Awkward controls, well, that's kind of a requirement for adventure games. Grim Fandango controls exactly the same way and no one complains about it. SCUMM games didn't exactly control smoothly either. Art style—the models looked good enough, lip syncing was perfect, expressions were evocative, and the backgrounds were lush and detailed.
As for Monkey Combat, wasn't that only like the last 20 minutes of the game? I hardly think of that part when there are so many great moments otherwise: the prosthetics shop, the perfume salesman, hmm, maybe I just really liked that one island...
Thirith on 7/7/2009 at 06:40
Quote Posted by Aja
Awkward controls, well, that's kind of a requirement for adventure games. Grim Fandango controls exactly the same way and no one complains about it. SCUMM games didn't exactly control smoothly either.
*Everyone* complained about
Grim Fandango's controls at the time. It's the one blemish people bring up when talking about the game. And even though the point&click interface might have had its weaknesses too (although I thought that they'd ironed most of those out by the time
Monkey Island 2 and
Indy 4 came around), the
Grim Fandango/Curse controls were worse in every way.
Scots Taffer on 7/7/2009 at 06:49
Quote Posted by Aja
Weaker storyline? I recall it being interesting; an australian warlord trying to commercialize the world of piracy.
That part was okay, but the character wasn't fundamentally interesting and it led to a rather uninspiring adventure quest. Also, the monkey island subplot sucked ass.
Quote Posted by Aja
Awkward controls, well, that's kind of a requirement for adventure games.
Oh, so we're not in the process of actually critiquing games anymore?
FYI Point 'n' Click worked just fine.
Quote Posted by Aja
Grim Fandango controls exactly the same way and no one complains about it.
I remember plenty of complaints. Fortunately the plus sides present in Grim far outweigh any negatives (although that fucking forest puzzle was pushing it!).
Quote Posted by Aja
Art style—the models looked good enough, lip syncing was perfect, expressions were evocative, and the backgrounds were lush and detailed.
Opinion, of course, but there was a clearly established artistic style that didn't hold up as strongly on the last outing.
Quote Posted by Aja
I hardly think of that part when there are so many great moments otherwise: the prosthetics shop, the perfume salesman, hmm, maybe I just really liked that one island...
See, there were a few good points!
Angel Dust on 7/7/2009 at 08:58
I generally enjoyed Escape but it is certainly the weakest of the series and I don't think nostalgia is a factor for me. I didn't play Secret until after Curse (play order: 3,1,4,2 ) and despite the fact that it looked old, had little sound etc it still manged to completely enchant me. I love the first three games and quite like the forth but I'm going to give these new episodes a miss.
