Escape from Monkey Island

Herald rating: * * * *

LucasArts, PC

Review: Peter Eley

While many adventure games try to create some semblance of realism, the Monkey Island series has always been over the top.

The fourth, Escape from Monkey Island, is no exception. It combines terrible jokes and bizarre puzzles into a game that makes a refreshing change from the endless barrage of shoot-em-ups and war games.

Series hero Guybrush Threepwood is again in the thick of it, along with his new bride, governor Elaine Marley.

But while on honeymoon, Elaine has been declared dead. The corrupt Charles L Charles and his partner Australian property magnate Ozzie Mandrill want to take over and Elaine and Guy must stop them.

As well as having on eye on Monkey Island's prime real estate, the pair are also looking for a voodoo artefact called the Ultimate Insult.

This sends Guy off on his travels around the Caribbean haunts which will seem like a second home by now to Monkey Island fans — Jambalaya, Melee and Lucre Islands — where series' characters LeChuck, Herman Toothrot, Carla Meathook and Murray the Skull are still lurking.

There's an air of familiarity here, although it doesn't breed contempt just yet. The humour starts to wear thin in places, but in-game games like Insult Arm Wrestling, Monkey Kombat and lessons at the Pirate Reformation Academy are hilarious.

Monkey Kombat is a take off of Mortal Kombat, but here barbs traded in monkey language replace martial arts. It revolves around saying four monkey words — oop, ack, chee and eek — in various combinations. Great fun, but complicated to learn and you really need to take notes.

Monkey Kombat is an essential part of the game, so your enjoyment of the whole will be spoiled if you try to sidestep it.

As you would expect, Escape from Monkey Island is the best in the series visually, and uses 3D characters on 2D settings.