I was there in the 90’s when The Secret of Monkey Island changed the whole genre that was adventure games. I was there when LeChuck’s Revenge pushed the boundaries of how many floppies you could ship a game on. And lets not forget The Curse of Monkey Island, that got so much bad publicity for not being a true Monkey Island game, but actually turned out to be my favorite.
Both LeChuck’s Revenge and Curse took the original formula and made something new with it. I love the treasure hunting in Monkey 2 and Curse has some really unique characters and memorable situations. They managed to be excellent games without falling into the Monkey Island trope too hard.
Return to Monkey Island is not so much of a new chapter in the story of Guybrush Threepwood, but a tribute to the first game. The story is that Guybrush, failing to find the secret to Monkey Island in the first game, now tries to do it again. He must get a crew, a ship and… you know. And then he must beat LeChuck to it, as the evil ghost-zombie pirate also must find the secret just because Guybrush is after it.
I don’t like it. When I was little I thought the ghost ship and LeChuck were quite scary. Also in Monkey Island 2, even if somewhat more comical in nature, LeChuck was quite frightening. Being chased around at the end by LeChuck with the voodoo doll of Guybrush was very stressful. In Curse he had this flaming beard and was quite a fearsome character. In Return to Monkey Island, LeChuck has been reduced into a comical slapstick figure. For being the main villain he is very weak and made silly. I don’t like that at all.
The same goes with Elaine. She used to be kick-ass. Why she would hook up with a looser like Guybrush was a mystery to all, and here she’s been reduced to a weak supporting role that wouldn’t pass the bechdel test. It is so disappointing. I want to see her dismiss Guybrush, give him a hard time, but instead she acts like his mom!? Completely out of character from the other games.
The game is silly. The story is awful and I do not enjoy it at all. The dialogue is quite well written, with puns that occasionally makes me giggle. The jokes are good when they do their own thing apart from the Monkey Island tropes.
This is true for the whole game. When the game tries to stand on its own, build its own characters, story line, apart from The Secret of Monkey Island, those are the moments that stand out to me as the best in this game. It is a shame that they didn’t have the courage to make a whole new original story, but regressed to this tribute to The Secret of Monkey Island.
If you want a stroll down memory lane, this is an excellent game to scratch that nostalgia itch. I loved the new art style and the revised music score. That was all awesome. But if you like me, were looking for a new chapter in the Guybrush story, I’m sad to say you will be disappointed.
I rate this game as OKAY.
Replay 