Review: Tales of Monkey Island Ep5: Rise of the Pirate God (PC)

Author: Rees | Date: December 14, 2009

…and so it draws to a close. Telltale’s great episodic Monkey Island experiment has seen many twists and turns, introducing us to mer-people, seeing LeChuck go from bad to good and back again, and telling plenty of people that there’s something behind them that they really need to check out. It’s been Monkey Island through and through, a triumphant return to form for the series, and this reviewer has been more than happy to go along for the ride.

But of course, I’m not here to talk about the series as a whole, as magnificent as it has been. I’m here to talk about the final instalment, Rise of the Pirate God. Will it serve as the epic grand finale that the previous instalments have been hinting at? Does it explain all those unanswered questions from chapters 1-4? Does it attempt to bring the somewhat disjointed tangle of episodes we have seen into a coherent whole?

In a word… No.

In this chapter, we’re introduced to some new characters, a new setting, and a new twist int he Tales saga. If you haven’t played the previous episodes, look away now.

Spoilers!

Guybrush finds himself dead at the end of episode 4, and in this episode he finds himself at “The Crossroads”, the voodoo version of purgatory which links the spirit world with the physical. Guybrush must fight to get his body back before it completely rots away, work out the mysterious intentions of the voodoo lady, and defeat LeChuck in an epic season-ending finale.

End Spoilers!

The main problem I had with this episode is pretty much the same criticism I had of Episode 3: Lair of the Leviathan. Much like Episode 3, we’re introduced to some interesting characters, but we don’t learn an awful lot about them and it’s hard to work out how they fit into the story. We’re also confined to a pretty limited setting, and while some external exploration is required later on, it’s still confined to a few more very tightly constrained areas which seem to serve mainly as “nods” to the earlier chapters in an attempt to tie them together.

Just like Lair, the puzzle element is somewhat lacking and mainly consists of wandering around clicking on things to advance towards your eventual goal. Working out how to combine items in weird and wonderful ways, as well as getting every potential line of dialogue out of the NPCs, won’t get you any further in this game. Also, there are still a lot of questions unanswered from the previous episodes, which is disappointing as there were a lot of loose ends which should have been tied up.

Don’t get me wrong – this episode doesn’t bring the whole series down. It still has the atmosphere we have come to love, and the quirky humour and charm of the series carries through despite the more subdued setting. The relationship with Morgan is still on top form, and as with the previous episodes, adds a little emotion and human story to a series which has always relied on humour as its main plot device. I only wish that Guybrush would get with her, because she’s a hell of a lot less irritating than Elaine – but I guess that this tension between them is the entire point.

The game’s “grand finale” is a high point, and took some puzzling and timing to work out. It’s tense and exciting, and proper Monkey Island stuff through-and-through. Without wanting to give too much away, it’s true to the previous games in the series while still managing to be original enough in its own right, and does help raise this episode from “lacklustre” to “rather good” status. The ending itself isn’t so good however, and seems rushed and rather pointless, story-wise. It also does that annoying post-credits “setting up for a sequel” thing that seems all too popular these days. Meh.

So, in conclusion… I’m torn by this episode. I wanted it to tie everything up neatly, but it didn’t. It seems just as disconnected as the previous episodes, but I can’t help but like it for what it is. This review has come across rather negative, and it’s a shame because this is a good game, but it sums up my disdain that this episode has fallen short of everything it should have been.

Tales has been a fantastic series, and I’ll be writing a review of the entire thing in time for its release on store shelves, but I’m going to have to score this episode in relation to the others. Therefore it’s earned an above average, but far-from-perfect, 6.5/10 from this reviewer.