The fourth
installment in
The Secret of Monkey Island series from
LucasArts,
scheduled for a
fall 2000 release.
Since some
dumbass decided some years ago that
everything from
word processors to
adventure games has to be in
3D, this one will be too. With that
patented slow and
frustrating control system made
popular by
Alone in the Dark.
Not many
details on the
story are
available as of now, but I'm guessing it will be similar to
The Curse of Monkey Island:
Short and
inconsistent with the first two
episodes. (which happen to the
best games of this
genre ever)
There are some
screenshots available at
http://www.lucasarts.com/, and I must
admit they look
OK. But the
hand-
drawn characters in the 3rd part looked
so much better than the low-
polygon models you see here.
Anyway, don't get your hopes too far up.
But
remember that with really
low expectations, you can only be
pleasantly surprised.
Update (
November 10, 2000)
Ok, now I've gotten my hands on the game. Here are some first impressions:
- The user interface is downright terrible. No two ways about it, the controls simply suck ass. It's quite sad that the playability on the first episode made a decade ago is years ahead of the 3D crap presented here.
- While the backgrounds are quite beautiful, the characters look like they belong in the year 1996. The 6-polygons-per-model style may have worked in Grim Fandango, but not in here.
- Much of the music seems to be recycled straight out of MI3. Did they run out of money or time?
- Although it may be too early to voice an opinion about it, the plot seems as interesting as reading through a phone book.
Of course, I will stay from giving any final
judgement until completing the game. After all, part #3 seemed awful in the beginning but turned out to be a fairly decent
adventure.
And don't get me wrong, I don't think everything about
Escape is
negative. I especially like the way they have brought in old
characters and jokes to warm the
fans' hearts. But the problems are what first got my
attention.
This all is of course extremely subjective. Apologies for that, but as a huge Monkey Island fan I find it hard to not be a little passionate about the subject.