Good but Repitition is rearing its head again!!
Tales Of Monkey Island Episode 2: The Siege Of Spinner Cay is as the title suggests the second in a series of five Monkey Island games released by the masters of episodic gaming Telltale Games(Sam and Max season one and two).Their sucessful relaunch of Sam and Max led them to relaunch Monkey Island in episodic format.
The first game Launch Of The Screaming Narwhal was an excellent opening episode being quick witted,beautiful and effortlessly charming.
Following immediately after the cliffhanger ending of Launch of The Screaming Narwhal.The Siege Of Spinner Cay opens with Guybrush Threepwood,Mighty Pirate TM, in search of La Esponja Grande a voodoo sponge which is the only thing that can cure a pox, which has infected pirates all around the Caribbean, and which was unwittingly released by Guybrush in the previous episode.The game takes off at a rollicking pace with Guybrush locked in combat with a mysterious bounty hunter within seconds of the game's opening.
Following this Guybrush lands on the island of Spinner Cay.Spinner Cay is the most beautiful location Telltale have yet created, while there isnt a whole lot to it (there are only four places of interest), it is beautifully lit and the art design is fantastic.It reeks of Atlantis and magic.Spinner Cay is ruled by the merpeople who hold a key to the secret of finding La Esponja Grande. The merpeople are well voiced and modeled and are an excellent addition to the series.
Also on the graphics front, some nice pans and zooms are thrown in at appropriate times.It dosent sound that important but it adds some dynamism to the experience that previous Telltale games havent had.
The writing more or less maintains the high standard that Telltale are known for. There were several laugh out loud moments for me, but overall I didnt find it as funny as Episode One.
Gameplay wise, its a Monkey Island game.You travel around the Jerkbait Islands solving puzzles to find the Summoning Artefacts needed to summon the Legendary Sea Creatures who will lead the way to La Esponja Grande.Guybrush must find these before a gang of pirates who have the pox and are besieging Spinner Cay for the Summoning Artefacts.
Later in the game, Guybrush can use the Screaming Narwhal to navigate to other further away islands,
however these are small and uninteresting as locations.
*SPOILER WARNINGS!!SPOILERS SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED NARHWAL STOP READING*Due to LeChuck's dezombification at the beginning of Narwhal during your dealings with him you will feel sympathy
for him and actually like him he is a big old Father Christmas. More than likely the old LeChuck will be back soon but it made an interesting change.
The puzzles are for the most part fun and well designed one or two are slightly too easy. Sadly the game fails to charm in the same way as the previous episode.Perhaps my expectations were too high, as I loved Launch Of The Screaming
Narwhal and expected to be blown away again.
Another reason for this is reptition.Telltale only have four different pirate models, it seems.One of the major puzzles involves two pirates who have got hold of a summoning artefact.One of the
pirates burying the artefact is the exact same model as the journalist in the previous episode.The second pirate burying the artefact was used twice in the previous episode.
One of the worst features of Narwhal was the jungle sequence and while it is cut down in this game the art assets are used again.Telltale are obviosuly pushed for time but this "hey heres that guy again!" moments do a lot of damage to immersion.
The music is typical Monkey Island fare, but its toned down and after a while you won't notice it at all.The voice acting is excellent all round.The whole cast turn in good performances.
Also the cliffhanger at the end is even better than in the previous episode.It's very funny and leaves Telltale freedom to do almost anything in the next episode..
Siege of Spinner Cay weighs in at about 5 hours of gameplay.However if you don't get lost.(getting stuck in Telltale games usually happens when you dont know where to go, rather than you dont know what to do).Then you could shave off maybe 3/4 of an hour .
Tales Of Monkey Island Chapter Two:The Siege Of Spinner Cay is a good game.With great voice acting,writing
and (with the exception of some reptition) great graphics.However it is not the great leap forward some may
have hoped for after the first episode.The first three monkey island games are not in serious danger from
this series.However if you liked those games you will like what Telltale has done.Once monthly doses of Monkey Island which are almost as good as the original three has got to be a good thing.
