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Name: ToMI Ch 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal

It has been nine years since the last Monkey Island game, Escape from Monkey Island, and the adventure game genre has decayed into a shadow of what it once was. After LucasArt's adventure game development team was disbanded, the already-beleaguered genre seemed to have very little time left. This seemed to be punctuated when we heard the words of ex-LucasArts CEO Jim Ward, where he told us that we wouldn't see any further entries in the series until at least 2015. How fortunate it is, that we now have Darrell Rodriguez running the company, and allowed Tales of Monkey Island to be created as a five-part episodic series, courtesy of Telltale Games, the pioneer of adventure gaming's renaissance, with one episode to be released each month from July to November 2009.

The first episode, named Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, takes place at an unspecified time after the last game of the series. We see LeChuck on a ship filled with monkeys, with Guybrush Threepwood's wife (Elaine) tied up and held hostage. Guybrush sails in from the horizon with an enchanted cutlass ready to stop LeChuck's plan to learn the ancient mysteries of the world from the simian minds in his hold. It's startling how, within the first two minutes, the past decade seems like nothing more than a passing breath. This ludicrous basis for a story is enough to pull the player back into the nineties, and to don their adventuring cap once more.

Suffice to say, Guybrush's plan goes wrong. He becomes separated from his wife and his nemesis, and he loses his ship. Guybrush finds himself washed up on Flotsam Island, and his objective for this first episodic chapter of the game is to find a way to escape and find his wife again. Of course, being a Monkey Island game, this is anything but straightforward.

The user-interface in Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is much like Telltale's past titles. Movement is controlled with the keyboard, and interacting with objects is joyously simple. Rather than dealing with Look At, Pick Up and Talk To commands, all it takes to interact with anything is a click of the left mouse button, and the game applies these actions in the context of the situation. This streamlined approach carries over to the inventory, which opens up in a separate window on command. Here, you can use your items on your surroundings, or place them on a magnifying glass symbol to look at them, an approach that LucasArts should have implemented in the most recent remake. Combining items is as simple as placing them in two bubbles at the side of the inventory screen, and initiating the combination. This approach to controlling the game is impeccable; simple and easy. One of the movement options, however, is not. The player has the choice to control Guybrush by holding down the left mouse button, and dragging the mouse. Compared to keyboard control, it's quite fumbling and useless.

The graphical presentation is a mixed affair, however. Facial expressions are done excellently, and the locales are colourful and vibrant. However, it's noticeable that the game has been created on an aging engine. While nothing looks unsightly, nothing looks particularly impressive either. Animation can look awkward at times, especially when jumping or other expressive physical movement is involved, and it's quite apparent that it's hand-drawn. The art style has been divisive for many fans since the game was announced, and it's really up to one's personal taste. I believe it's a good direction to take, and is fitting with many previous Monkey Island art styles.

The Wii version doesn't fare as well from a technical perspective. While the controls work very well, with the pointer-nunchuck combination being used to great effect, the audio quality, framerate and loading times have suffered. The game's dialogue seems to have been compressed, with an audible crackling noise overlaying much of the conversation. Cut-scenes seem to push the Wii's capabilities, and the loading times are unbearably long compared to the PC version. Stopwatch primed, I found the first loading screen was sixteen seconds on the Wii, compared to two seconds on my PC. Most of these problems can probably be attributed to the compression required to come under WiiWare's file size limit. Nonetheless, if I had to recommend a version of this game, the PC would be the clear choice.

Aurally, it's another day at the office for Monkey Island. Dominic Armato reprises his role as Guybrush Threepwood, and Alexandra Boyd re-voices Elaine. Michael Land, the composer for the latter Monkey Islands, composes more pieces for Tales of Monkey Island, and they remain true in tone and timbre to the melodies of yore. The most apparent loss, however, is the original voice actor for LeChuck. The replacement does an admirable job, and after time, you do forget it's someone else, but it's still unfortunate that we miss a returning voice.

Being an episodic affair, the game is quite short. My playtime lasted about four hours, and the puzzles therein were simpler than they should have been. While many bizarre solutions are present, like in any Monkey Island game, they are presented in such a way that the player's logic is able to decipher them easily. This may simply be a method in attracting new players to the franchise, and in this situation, it does an admirable job. However, while this individual chapter may have been short and easy, there are four more to come as part of the Tales of Monkey Island package. If all chapters have a similar length, we could be seeing a 20-hour long adventure game experience, unprecedented for an adventure game.

Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is a fantastic start to Tales of Monkey Island. Any doubts that Telltale Games wouldn't retain the Monkey Island experience are washed away within moments of the game's beginning. While this may seem to be just a taster of what is to come, and it may seem somewhat easy to experienced adventure gamers and is over quicker than the player would prefer, it's a triumphant return from a decade-long hiatus. With adventure games being few and far between in these modern times, a package of this quality is not to be missed.