For some, The Escape from Monkey Island is the least inspired installment in their own series. For others it was the end of the golden age of adventure games. A brooch that aroused sensations found among fans of Guybrush Threepwood’s misadventures throughout the Caribbean. In any case, we are talking about a turning point within the genre, as well as LucasArts itself.
The funny thing is that La Fugue de Monkey Island preserves most of the ingredients of the previous installments: we are facing a surreal pirate feat in which picaresque and surrealism take control of events; with puzzles that can sometimes only be solved through lunar logic and that hooligan humor that is a hallmark of the house.
And not only that, LucasArts opted to offer a completely updated visual and artistic section. At least, according to the times in which it was released. With three-dimensional models of characters on pre-rendered backgrounds and that mime in terms of voices -and location- that has always brought the colors out of Sierra, his greatest rival in the genre.
Continuing, in a way, in the wake of the acclaimed Grim Fandango released a couple of years earlier. But of course, neither the scoundrel Tim Schaffer nor the visionary Ron Gilbert continued at the helm of the saga. Its absence was noticed in the Curse of Monkey Island and was even more evident in this installment.
On its own, The Escape from Monkey Island could have been a fun and above-average adventure game. Without reaching the levels of excellence of the two numbered deliveries. However, the reality is that it ended up failing in something essential: the use of the mouse was completely discarded in favor of a keyboard control system (or joystick) that sooner or later threw everything achieved in the point and game titles to the ground. click .
Why did LucasArts decide to take that step? Well, seen in perspective, after the turn of the millennium, Lucasfilm’s video game division generously reinforced the production of games behind the premiere of The Phantom Menace and its sequels, most of these being based on the Star Wars saga.
In fact, were it not for the success of the previous installment, especially in the German market, they would not have considered making a new Monkey Island .
At a certain point, LucasArts appreciated the global sales of Grim Fandango and, although his priority was in other genres and the galactic saga, he saw viable to get a Guybrush Threepwood somewhat more adventurous, but just as defenseless against the adventures, into new trouble. secrets and threats that spring from deep in the Caribbean.
Guybrush’s insane race for the Ultimate Insult
Life seemed to smile at Guybrush Threepwood . After defeating the terrible ghost LeChuck during the events of The Curse of Monkey Island , that apprentice pirate ended up marrying the love of his life: the brave Governor Elaine Marley. However, neither Guybrush nor Elaine herself counted on a dire plan to begin to take shape upon their return from their honeymoon.
Governor Marley’s mansion is being demolished, and the reason – basically – is that Elaine was left for administratively dead. Something very convenient for the new candidate Charles L. Charles, considering that the office of governor on the Isle of Melee is for life.
From there, like Guybrush, our initial mission will be to do a series of bureaucratic procedures to bring Elaine back to life – at least, on paper. Luckily for the player, it doesn’t take long for the adventure to become much more interesting.
In La Fuga de Monkey Island we will end up involved in new problems and absurd situations. Plots that will confront us with the ambition of an ambitious businessman named Kangu Mandril , who wishes to become the King of the Caribbean and end the joyous way of life of pirates; as well as the inevitable return of an even greater threat.
Eventually, Guybrush’s only chance to face a series of catastrophic events will be to obtain what Mr. Baboon most covets: the Ultimate Insult . A weapon so powerful that it is capable of demoralizing even the most ruthless pirates.
But, of course, as in any LucasArts graphic adventure, the really fun thing about The Escape from Monkey Island will be discovering how to get out of the increasingly surreal situations in which we will find ourselves in one way or another immersed. Sometimes through more or less defined objectives, and others pulling more ingenuity and picaresque.
However, the greatest enemy Guybrush faced in The Escape from Monkey Island was neither Mr. Baboon, nor the infamous Pete the Napias or Charles L. Charles himself: the most exasperating thing about this installment was his much criticized and poor control system.
Playing Monkey Island without a mouse is not so much fun
Keyboard in hand, the first contact with La Fuga de Monkey Island did not welcome fans of the saga. LucasArts completely discarded the use of the mouse and the system of the classic SCUMM games that had been so well established since the days of the Maniac Mansion to focus on an initially ungrateful key layout and really difficult to defend in the face of design and resolution. of puzzles.
In this way, with the directional keys of the keyboard we not only moved our hero, but we had to make him look at what we had to interact with with the keys Page Up and Page Down (Page Up and Page Down) and, later, press the specific key of action. If to this we add an inventory system far behind what was seen in previous installments, we find ourselves with a severe gameplay problem at the outset.
The keyboard control system, a real gibberish
There is always the option of using a traditional controller. In fact, the version of the PlayStation 2 released in 2001 was much more comfortable to play by making better use of the button layout. However, the biggest problem was not how we were invited to play, but the way in which this control system made the puzzles and the way to interact with them were not up to the standard of the classic installments or Monkey’s Curse. Island .
That is not to say that the script and other aspects were bad. Nothing of that. Without quite matching that of The Secret of Monkey Island and its sequel, the jokes of The Escape from Monkey Island and the situations Guybrush faces are delusional. Completely absurd. There is even scope for revelations that tie into the previous three installments.
That led to many of the key characters from The Secret of Monkey Island and The Curse of Monkey Island were back, as well as nods to the iconic sword fights that were sentenced through insults through thumb duels.
However, there is an indefensible aspect in The Escape from Monkey Island: the Monkey Kombat.
It’s no secret at this point in the game that the climax of The Escape from Monkey Island is resolved with a kind of parody of Mortal Kombat. A kind of duel in which Guybrush must replicate some patterns of the noises of the monkeys to shape a delirious martial art that, in practice, is closer to rock paper or scissors than to a real combat or a puzzle.
The reality is that the so-called Monkey Kombat is neither fun, exciting or ingenious . And, in the end, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth for the closing of a game that deservedly shines in other respects.
In fact, and as we already mentioned, on an artistic and plot level, La Fugue de Monkey Island is a step forward in the saga. Like any 3D game released in 2000, visually it hasn’t aged well at all. Things from the back break. Above all, if we compare it with the sprites and digitized images of the previous titles. Now, the LucasArts deployment was not modest.
Ultimately, an improved version of Grim Fandango’s GrimE engine was used. And that was reflected in some animations that looked clumsy in the pre-recorded cutscenes, but ended up being quite successful during the development of the adventure.
And despite using three-dimensional models, the game managed to maintain the cartoon style at all times. The secret to achieving this was some very inspired still camera backgrounds, a completely crazy script and, above all, the emphasis on animating the most subtle gestures of the main characters.
Thus, the great big problems, in general terms, of The Escape from Monkey Island are summarized in the unfortunate control system – to which one ends up getting used to without much illusion – and the way in which it conditions the kind of puzzles, deriving everything good of the game in a Monkey Kombat combat that, deservedly, is positioned as the second worst decision of the project.
Unfortunately, LucasArts would not develop -in-house- another installment of Monkey Island and its highest authorities in the genre would end up leaving to undertake their own projects.
A legendary saga, which survived the Monkey Kombat
To what extent does the gameplay manage to outshine all other aspects of a game? Getting used to playing the fourth installment of Monkey Island is possible, of course. One internalizes the keyboard commands in case of not having a joystick or a traditional control. But that does not mean that you miss being able to use the mouse.
In a way, a good part of what The Secret of Monkey Island and the LucasArts SCUMM games did so masterfully had been lost: that vision of Ron Gilbert in which the player experimented without consequences and with absolute freedom with what was in screen while solving the craziest puzzles.
But, on the other hand, finding the interactive elements on the screen was easier. That is indisputable.
It was clear that the next Monkey Island could not go in the same direction. And yet the project proved two things:
- For one thing, the adventure game genre still had a market
- On the other hand, and despite everything that did not finish working in La Fugue de Monkey Island , the game worked commercially. At least when it comes to the PS2 version and the European territory.
Conclusions that Rob Smith synthesized several years later in his book Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts.
The Monkey Island Escape had a less than expected reception in the United States, but was received with great interest and good sales abroad. Especially in Europe, where the demand for adventure adventure games continued to run.
Over time, each of the creators of The Secret of Monkey Island continued on their own path beyond LucasArts.
Ron Gilbert started Cavedog Entertainment and then continued his creative career, including outstanding adventure games such as Thimbleweed Park. And Tim Schaffer did the same from Double Fine. However, the future of Guybrush will pass into the hands of the third genius responsible for The Secret of Monkey Island : Dave Grossman.
In 2005 Grossman would join other LucasArts veterans at Telltale Games , producing new graphic adventures and, in 2009, heralding the return of Guybrush, Elaine and LeChuck with the episodic Tales of Monkey Island saga with the approval of LucasArts itself.
Noting everything that did not work out in The Escape from Monkey Island , but above all, reminding fans of all that LucasArts did well by daring to continue his crazy stories of pirates, ghosts, grog-thirsty drunks and monkeys of three heads. And not only that: revitalizing the adventure game genre itself.
Which does not mean that we continue to sigh for the day when Ron Gilbert regains the rights to the saga to make the long-delayed The Secret of Monkey Island 3 come true. Especially when Gilbert himself is very much on the job.
