Recent reviews by Shakespeare

I have finally played this game. Finally I have the entire Monkey Island series on Steam!

Judging from the reception at the time and retrospective reviews of this game I expected something horrifically awkward to control and a mediocre game at best overall. Whilst the tank controls are absolutely RUBBISH compared to good old pointing and clicking they really aren't so bad once you get used to them. The game itself cannot compete with the first three games but what a ridiculously small target that is to hit in the first place. The graphics are for the most part very good and have not aged badly at all. The voice acting is probably the worst overall of the series, with some actors being different to MI3 and Tales. The most subjectively disappointing part of the game was the locations reimagined from previous games. Whilst I liked them I feel the designers missed a trick by not being more faithful to the original designs in the series.

One small annoyance is that Steam's in-game overlay and associated features don't work. This is a rarity even for older games than this.

Overall this is an excellent game if you are a Monkey Island fan. We enjoyed playing it and I now wish I hadn't waited ten years to play this before Tales which is better, though sadly not available to purchase at time of writing. Sort it out whoever owns the rights! I will definitely revisit this game again in the future.

You don't take your game off the Steam store when it is still a viable and ongoing concern for players. That is just dumb. Don't do that.

Don't look at guides or videos for this game, at least not for the first few hours. Working out what you want to do in this game is a large part of the joy. The wonderful stylised graphics and nice music are more than enough to enjoy during your first exploration. For many players their attention will not be held for more than four or five hours and for what this game sells for, especially in sales, that is absolutely fine. Once those initial hours have passed there is a lot of depth to explore if you are so inclined. Proper etiquette is essential if you plan to stick with a crew.

Grandmaster champion Vladimir Kramnik lost to Deep Fritz on a mate in one. Therefore if you can beat this game you are better at chess than Kramnik, FACT.

I could beat every army thrown at me in this game but I could not beat the ghost, the phantom, of Windows Live.

Worth a play.

Everybody dead. I like that.

Enjoyable enough to be worth the 40p it cost.

I wanted to hate this, but I don't.

Good:

Feels like Quake. Really like the movement. Like that it has taken something of Quake 1's aesthetic mixed with Quake 3's feel. All of the previous Quake games have contributed something to this game. Even Quake 4's sliding is somewhat represented! I like the guns, a nice mix of old and new.

Bad:

Champions and abilities. Loot crates and all manner of modern rubbish which is not Quake. I just can't be bothered.

This is fun to play a bit and it is free so how can I not recommend it. Out of all the games we have seen in this decade from the golden age series (Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake) this is the one that has not quite hit the mark yet.

Essentially a bunch of mini games smashed together with an excellently presented swashbuckling pirate narrative. Some things age this game instantly, interactions with people being the most obvious, but the game's quality shines through nonetheless. Well worth a go.