Tales of Monkey Island: The Siege of Spinner Cay

_The Siege of Spinner Cay_ is the second episode of _Tales of Monkey Island_; Telltale Game’s newest outing into the world of point-and-click adventures. Having already covered the first episode, _Launch of the Screaming Narwhal_, in depth it seems pointless to re-hash what’s already been said as _Spinner Cay_ operates in a very similar manner. You control Guybrush with the WASD keys, using the mouse is an option but as with the other reviewer I found this pretty useless, and you progress through the game by collecting objects to be used in a variety of situations with, what is usually, comic effect.

The gameplay hasn’t been reinvented for this second outing and it’s still as dull as ever but this has never been the draw of the point-and-click genre; the reason you carry on playing is the story and the trademark humour. The main issue here is that different things make different people laugh; Telltale’s other offering, _Wallace & Gromit_, barely kept my attention while _Narwhal_ made me look like a psycho, laughing to myself in my parent’s study.

I was extremely impressed with _Narwhal’s_ ability to actually make me laugh out loud, unable to remember the last time as game’s dialogue was so engaging, and, although the cliff-hanger at the end of _Narwhal_ was interesting, my main concern with _Siege of Spinner Cay_ was that it wouldn’t continue the witty and humour drenched experience I’d so thoroughly enjoyed in _Narwhal_.

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Having just finished the second episode I can happily say that I am satisfied. Not only does the dialogue continue to be well written, funny and superbly voiced but the game’s locations also have a huge amount of variation between them. One of the most disappointing factors of the _Wallace & Gromit_ episodes was the repetition of assets; each episode takes place in the same house, on the same street and with only small variations to the scenery. _Spinner Cay_, on the other hand, not only allows you to return to the island in the first episode but also opens up multiple new locations (namely the island of Spinner Cay itself). Each island looks different but with a consistent art style throughout and, although there’s not as much content on each, there’s still enough to make them worthwhile additions to the game.

As expected, _Spinner Cay_ continues the story from where _Narwhal_ left off and although the episode is somewhat self-contained it’s definitely a continuation and not a standalone experience; you can see why Telltale don’t allow you to buy the episodes individually. As with the humour, the story left me satisfied and eager to get my hands on the next piece; it’s unpredictable, entertaining and easy to follow. Primarily the story is a vessel for the witty dialogue and allows for a lot of situational comedy, making up the majority of the game’s laughs.

All that’s left to talk about are the puzzles, the bread and butter of any point-and-click games as well as the only part of _Spinner Cay_ that left me disappointed. There’s nothing wrong with them as such, they’re of the correct difficulty and mostly consist of matching a few objects together and using them on something else, normally in a slightly less-than-obvious way. The only issue is that this formula is exactly the same as that seen in _Narwhal_; it would have been nice to see a mini-game, or something similar, to mix things up a little.

Overall, _Siege of Spinner Cay_ continues the _Tales of Monkey Island_ series well, taking Guybrush Threepwood to new and wonderful places while offering a truly entertaining experience. Not only have these first two episode brought back a long dead franchise but they’ve also positioned Telltale Games as the industry leader in point-and-click adventure games.