Tales of Monkey Island: Lair of the Leviathan

Having reviewed the previous chapter of the _Tales of Monkey Island_ series, it only seems right that I divulge my much sought after opinion on Guybrush’s third outing in episodic form, _Lair of the Leviathan_. While thinking of what I’d say for this review, I immediately ran into a problem. This is like trying to review the same game for the third time which, unless I repeat myself and give away the plot, won’t be overly informative. I’ll try anyway.

As with _Spinner Cay_, _Lair_ continues Mr Threepwood’s story exactly where the last episode left off, in a very similar fashion. Unlike the _Wallace & Gromit_ series, _Tales_ separates one overarching story into five episodes as opposed to offering 5 isolated stories independently; by the third chapter you should be familiar with the majority of the game’s characters, locations and, more importantly, should understand how everything works. This also means that you can’t jump into the series halfway through and that it’s vital you’ve played the first two episodes already, as the short “previously” sequence at the beginning of _Lair_ just isn’t enough.

This leads to one rather interesting question, what was the point of making _Tales of Monkey Island_ episodic in the first place? To fully enjoy the game, you have to have played it from the beginning so why didn’t Telltale Games simply develop the whole thing in one go, no doubt creating a better flowing experience, rather than produce one little chunk at a time. The only reason I can think of is that this would delay the release date; rather than having enjoyed the first episode a couple of months back, we’d still be waiting to play any _Monkey_ related action, which I guess is a bad thing?

All of this doesn’t really matter though as the _Tales_ is still as good as ever and while it operates in mostly the same way as before, the formula has been mixed up enough to make it feel fresh and enjoyable in this third chapter. For starters there are no wonder-around-the-Jungle or rule-of-three sections to be found anywhere; instead we’re blessed with the return of speech puzzles (a classic gameplay mechanic when it comes to the _Monkey Island_ franchise) as well as an extremely entertaining make-a-face game. While the former is pretty much as you’d expect it, the latter sees you attempting to outdo a rival pirate by making the craziest and most outrageous faces you can. You have a selection of four options for Guybrush’s mood, eyes and mouth which, when combined together, make for some scenes that actually made me laugh.

The writing found in this new episode is also as good as _Monkey Island_ has ever been; the series continues to be extremely witty, engaging and, most importantly, funny, a combination that very few games have. You also start to connect with Guybrush, hoping that he’ll succeed and that everything will work out for him which is probably unlikely.

My main concern with the last episode was that although the story progressed well, the puzzles and activities that you were doing were very similar to that found in the first episode; if the series had continued in this way, _Tales of Monkey Island_ would have been in a lot of trouble. Luckily, _Lair_ has had some originality poured on it and comes across as neither repetitive nor dull due to its change of pace and selection of new gameplay mechanics. Overall, the _Tales of Monkey Island_ series is starting to look like a worthwhile purchase, we’ll just have to see where the final two episodes go from here.