"Now in scurvy-inducing 3D!"
LucasArts LLC.
2000
****
Escape is the fourth installment of the Monkey Island series of graphic adventures. After reviving the long-dormant series with the third installment (1997's The Curse of Monkey Island), LucasArts obviously took on board a lot of the criticisms that were leveled at that game, and had a good hard think about what gamers expect from a graphic adventure in this age of 3D acceleration and identikit sequels to shallow "action-adventures". The result is a worthy addition to the series that proves the traditional adventure game isn't dead (at least, if bolstered with sufficiently aggressive marketing).
As you may have gathered, Escape makes the transition into "Resident Evil" style 3D (courtesy of GRIME, the Grim Fandango engine). While most of the character models have a fairly low poly count, intelligent use of texture and lighting coupled with extremely fluid animation give them a very solid feel. Escape is probably the first game to really pull off the seamless combination of rendered backdrops and polygons. One important point about the graphics: ensure that your graphics card has anti-aliasing capabilities before even thinking of buying this game. With a fixed resolution of 640x480, jaggies totally ruin the experience.
From the screenshots, the character designs look a little too cutesified, considering most of the cast are scurvy-ridden pirates and monkeys. In motion, however, the designer's intentions become clear. The range of gestures and facial expressions for each character, coupled with the exemplary voice acting, creates what are in effect three-dimensional cartoon characters. The big influences have obviously been the Muppets and Toy Story.
While I'm lavishing praise on the game's visuals, I should also point out that the cut-scenes (both in-engine, and lavishly rendered Bink FMVs) kick monkey ass. The ideal of "plot advancing footage in the visual style of the game" (as first attempted - with encouraging results - in Interstate '76) is finally achieved.
There are some problems however. Firstly, everything seems much too shiny and spotless, especially in the early stages of the game. The new islands (and even parts of the re-created Melee and Monkey Islands) seem a million miles from the dingy, dangerous shores of Scabb Island (for example). Also, the extreme stylisation is more reminiscent of Day of The Tentacle than the original Monkey Island games (but at least it works better than in Curse).
Of course (as Edge magazine are so find of saying) what's important is how it plays. Well, it's certainly as good as the bulk of the SCUMM adventures. Puzzles range from the satisfyingly obvious to the mind-bogglingly inscrutable. The game never quite opens up to the degree of the "map-finding" section of the second game (by which I mean the game is rather more linear than its predecessors), but it still provides plenty to do (and get stuck on). Some of the old Monkey standard puzzles are there (insult-fighting, code languages, the riggable contest) although thankfully reaction-based puzzles and "arcade-style subgames" are largely done away with.
There is a sizeable fly in the ointment however. At certain points in the game, there will be a "chokepoint" where you must complete a certain puzzle to continue. Fair enough, you might think. But on two or three occasions, I found that the action required to solve these puzzles was so obscure, so illogical, and so mindbendingly unfair that I was quite annoyed.
Now, I have a rather high tolerance for illogical puzzles (I've completed the notorious Discworld games and countless SCUMM and Infocom adventures), but the point of difficult puzzles is that they only work as a gameplay challenge if you can solve them with lateral thinking. The solutions to some of the puzzles in this game make no sense even after you've done them (by trial and error, or more likely by consulting a walkthrough). If this happened just once then it'd be tolerable, but the fact that the designers seem to run out of ideas on three occasions (including the last fucking "puzzle" of the game) it's inexcusable.
If my outburst makes it sound like these small niggles ruined the game for me, let me assure you that isn't the case. Thankfully there is plenty of entertainment value to be had from Escape. The writing is fantastic (coming from the team who did Sam and Max Hit The Road, you know you're in for some serious laughs), the re-use of previous characters (including Stan, The Voodoo Lady, Murray, and Meathook) and locations is brilliantly done and in no way sullies the originals (unlike some of the tinkering that was done in Curse).
The new stuff is great too, with the new villain Ozzie Mandrill being sufficiently evil to make up for his slightly crap premise. Other highlights include the strict teacher Miss Rivers ("Pirates are Bad. Pirates are Mean. Pirates are POND SCUM!"), some scheming lawyers, and a vain (and psychologically scarred) plank-diver called Marco Pollo.
So is it funny? Well, if you think pirate handpuppets having an argument where one of them calls the other "Girlie Man!", talking tattoos, and butt-slapping monkeys as patently hilarious as they so obviously are, then you will laugh. Hard. God knows I did.
So, there you have it. A well written adventure game of the old school with a thick coating of LucasArts polish. Hopefully its commercial success will prompt LucasArts to bring us some more GRIME-powered adventures. When you have technology and talent this good at your disposal, it would be a far greater crime to under-use it than to hold back for fear of pushing your luck.
And maybe give us the option of mouse control next time?