29 Oct, 2011
Title: Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 5: The Rise of the Pirate God
Platform: iPad
Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Telltale Games
TL;DR: The last chapter in the series that really wraps up all the underlying questions left in the previous chapters.
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Please note this is the 5th and final installment of the Tales of Monkey Island games. If you have not seen the previous reviews yet, you can do so here: First, Second, Third, and Fourth.
The previous chapter, The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood, ended with very entertaining plot twists and a foreshadowing of big changes on the horizon for the finale. There were many questions to ask, especially one: Will Guybrush pass the torch of clear pirate heroism on to Elaine? The final chapter, Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 5: The Rise of the Pirate God, picks up with Guybrush in the pirate afterlife, where he has to bridge the gap to rejoin the living, save Elaine, and settle his score with LeChuck once and for all.
Elaine’s heroic attempt to avenge Guybrush at the end of The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood ends up going nowhere and Guybrush has to, once again, rescue her from LeChuck’s clutches. Unsurprisingly, the pirate afterlife breaks down into a triad of locations inspired by the trio of quests from The Secret of Monkey Island: Swordfighting, Thievery, and Treasure Hunting. Guybrush scours the afterlife for confusingly specified ingredients to complete a voodoo spell, and eventually his scavenger hunt takes us through the world of the living and the dead to complete the voodoo spell he needs to stop LeChuck.
I really enjoyed the main theme of the new series which is about interpreting the old series’ familiar characters in a new light, with LeChuck’s crazy personality changing, to the infestation of the pox, and finally to Guybrush’s and Elaine’s transformations in this climatic chapter. Guybrush essentially copies LeChucks’s style and comes back to the physical world as both a ghost and a zombie whereas Elaine finally becomes the demonic bride that LeChuck has always wanted. Our favourite voodoo lady comes back, although her efforts seem a lot more malevolent than before, as we and the characters slowly find out that she is she is responsible for the never-ending battles between Guybrush and LeChuck.
The Rise of the Pirate God has some creative innovations in terms of gameplay in comparison to the typical inventory mix-and-match in previous chapters. I really enjoyed the swordfighting; challenging as it is, it’s an ingenious take on the well-adored “insult swordfighting” in which Guybrush has to match his comebacks to two different statements and they both have to make sense.
Unfortunately, the game really does suffer from serious backtracking in how the locations are laid out for you: there are only a few times where the game tells you exactly where you need to go next and you realize you have to wait a bit longer before being given a genuine puzzle to solve. Towards the end, Guybrush is going through his final scavenger hunt and the relevant locations he needs to visit are so spread out between irrelevant scenery which he has already visited, which is a bit tedious after a while.
Though Guybrush is letting us experience the pirate afterlife, it is not as dramatic as one might think. The post-living world is somber and basically empty. There is no real clear picture on how the undead pirate world operates, which is a bit of a shame. I had wish they had expanded on that a little more. Though, I understand why we don’t get to explore the afterlife more fully as Guybrush is desperate to follow the footsteps of LeChuck in hopes of crossing over to the other side. The final chapter hopes to answer some underlying questions we have had all along in this series: why does LeChuck keep coming back to bother Guybrush and Elaine, why are Guybrush and LeChuck sworn enemies for eternity, and how will Guybrush and Elaine ultimately stand with each other?
The Tales of Monkey Island series biggest strengths were definitely the fresh outlooks on the characters and the excellent plot. This final chapter succeeds in both respects. At its heart, the new series is a story spaced out by the usage of puzzles, rather than a long series of puzzles in search of a story. The biggest weakness to this series is that due to the smaller range of the episodic format, re-usage of same locations and characters occurred and there was also the occasional imbalance between the strength of the central story arc and its characters with the side quests and supporting characters encountered along the way.
The Tales of the Monkey Island series has taking some great risks in reinterpreting the Monkey Island mythos and while at first I was hesitant, being a huge Monkey Island fan, the series proved to be nostalgic with a twist of modernity. It left me wanting a lot more which is a great feeling as I can see myself replaying all of the chapters again in the near future.
Good times!
- Strong ending to an excellent series
- Fantastic plot and dialogue
- It is very endearing seeing all your hard work put forth in this finale
Bad times :(
- Re-cycled environments gets a little stale
- The puzzles don’t allow for much variety
- The bigger puzzles are somewhat challenging, but there’s not much else to sink your teeth into
Family Focus
As always, still a great family game. A great ending to a great series that your child as been playing. The ideas may be a little bit too complex for your child, depending on the age so you may need to explain some key points for them.
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