There are very few pop culture references or overwrought visual gags (I’m looking at you, Starbuccaneers). Return’s humor, perhaps the most fundamental facet of the series, doesn’t try as hard as some more cringe-inducing efforts in the comedy adventure genre. Instead, you’ll find a built-in hint book that nudges you in the right direction. If you do get stuck, there’s no need to call the LucasArts 900 number. Maybe the apology you wrote on the frog wasn’t personal enough? There’s a casual mode with fewer puzzles, but that feels more like an abridgement than an evolution. Puzzle solutions are as harebrained as they’ve ever been - you can’t borrow the chef’s mop, you must obviously go on a spiritual quest to discover the fabled mop-wood tree. Return to Monkey Island seems content to see how others in the world, especially the player, contextualize its existence It’s a welcome refinement, though I do miss forcing Guybrush to describe how a lamp sounds or explain why he can’t talk to a tree. It makes for a more engrossing experience in which the UI is really in service of the story rather than taking center stage, as is much more common in the genre. If you can either talk to the aforementioned friend or steal their wallet, you may have the ability to right click, but two options are as far as it ever extends. A left click might continue a conversation with a friend, peer at a painting, or simply walk to a different point in the room. Instead, that’s established through context. One notable way in which the adventuring has been streamlined: You no longer have to select how you’ll interact with objects in the world. The look will undoubtedly polarize long-time adherents to the games (a first in all of pop culture fandom, I’m sure), but it’s certainly less dated than the 3D models employed for every other Monkey Island game released in this millennium. The downright ugly polygonal visuals of Escape and Tales of Monkey Island have been replaced with a sort of Henry Selick aesthetic, like a living map populated by hinged paper dolls. Of course, there have been clear upgrades. Return to Monkey Island trailer shows off long-awaited sequel’s gameplay Namely: “What actually was the Secret of Monkey Island?” Despite being the title of the first game, the titular secret was never actually revealed. It just decides to pick up on an unanswered question hanging in the series’ history. Though the game picks up after the events of Gilbert’s last entry, Monkey Island 2, Return doesn’t attempt to brush the non-Gilbert games out of the canon. So it is perhaps not surprising that the newest adventure for Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate, is most fixated on his own legacy. Return to Monkey Island marks the return of two of the three original series creators (Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman are back, DoubleFine’s Tim Schafer is not). If you want curated lists of our favorite media, check out What to Play and What to Watch. When we award the Polygon Recommends badge, it’s because we believe the recipient is uniquely thought-provoking, entertaining, inventive, or fun - and worth fitting into your schedule. Polygon Recommends is our way of endorsing our favorite games, movies, TV shows, comics, tabletop books, and entertainment experiences.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |