Monkey island is back - "Tales of Monkey Island"

[Puni/Void]

Hi everyone,

I don't know if you've heard, but a new edition of Monkey Island will be released next month. The date is July 7th. The title of the game is "Tales of Monkey Island".

Check out the trailer on YouTube by clicking here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIAmX39W2Fs).

The official homepage for the game can be found here (http://www.telltalegames.com/).

So, what do you think after seeing the homepage and the trailer?

[Demon Cleaner]

I heard that today, The Secret Monkey Island will be released for XBox Live, and Telltale will work on new Monkey Island episodes.

[Tiago]

Great news!
i wonder what will be the story...

[Harrison]

I have my reservations. While it is great to see the series hasn't been forgotten and a new one is about to be released, it is in monthly episode form.

A couple of good game series have recently been ruined using this monthly episode release idea with some of the monthly episodes containing hardly any gameplay at all for the money.

And it gets worse. This is being created by the same developer who has been releasing the new Sam and Max monthly series, which hasn't been very good so far.

But I can't judge anything by their previous efforts. This might turn out to be worthwhile.

[Bloodwych]

The Monkey Island SE remake can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu9jwYVeK1U

We are discussing it over at EAB. Many don't like the new closeup art shots with cartoon style cell shading, but the switch between new and old versions whilst in game is a cool feature. I fear the old version will look like crap on modern 32" TVs and massive LCD monitors though, so it won't be doing the original experience much justice! :(

[Demon Cleaner]

I really like the new style, and also the voice acting. Looks like a lot of fun :)

[Bloodwych]

It indeed does look like fun. Monkey Island in widescreen! Only on the 360 and PC though - would have liked to download it on my PS3!

[Harrison]

The style reminds me a bit of Grim Fandango.

[my_lo]

I've just pre-ordered Tales of monkey Island, yay! :D

And I found a few things here and there:

A monkey Island flash (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXoO9JslgBk)

And the Converse All Stars: Mêlée edition (http://maya-plisetskaya.blogspot.com/2009/01/converse-all-star-mle-edition.html)

Too bad those shoes arent produced on a big scale, i'd sure go for it: my favourite shoes and one of my favourite game <3

[Bloodwych]

Give us a full review my_lo when you are up and running. I'm interested in this too. :)

[my_lo]

Give us a full review my_lo when you are up and running. I'm interested in this too. :)

It starts the 7th of July, i'll let you know everything ;)

[Bloodwych]

Thanks my_low.

That Monkey Island flash is pretty impressive! Great skills! Those boots would be going a little too far for me however! I'd feel far too cool wearing them! :smokin:

[Thunderhawk]

I am Monkey Island game fan i want Tales of monkey Island, but i do wish they would return back to the 2D point an click graphics of Monkey Island 2 LeChuck's Revenge it was very detailed and atmospheric and very scary Guybrush Threepwood was at his best
http://www.abandonware-paradise.org/Gifs/Abandonware/Monkey_island2.png

since then they have turned Guybrush in to a wimp and the graphics for Tales of Monkey Island are cheap and ugly looking they are a step down from Monkey Island 4 Escape from Monkey Island, released back in November 18, 2000 on PC and June 20, 2001 PS2

http://2f.img.v4.skyrock.net/2fa/guybrush/pics/123419668_small.jpg

[Harrison]

I agree. Even though the graphics were lower resolution and more pixillated the characters and scenes looked much better.

Also didn't the original 2 games use matte paintings and hand drawn cell animation scanned in for the graphics? If so then it would be possible for them to rescan the images and make a better looking higher resolution version of the first two games. That would be brilliant.

[Thunderhawk]

I agree. Even though the graphics were lower resolution and more pixillated the characters and scenes looked much better.

Also didn't the original 2 games use matte paintings and hand drawn cell animation scanned in for the graphics? If so then it would be possible for them to rescan the images and make a better looking higher resolution version of the first two games. That would be brilliant.

Yea all the backgrounds were hand painted the 2D versions are fantastic.

I’m looking forward to the xbox 360 arcade version of the Secret Of Monkey Island, because it includes the original and the new version with voice acting, there also going to be releasing Monkey Island 2 LeChucks Revenge the original version and the new version with voice acting on xbox 360 arcade and the other 2 games in the series.

I will be getting them regardless of already having them and playing them since they were originally released.

I posted screenshots in this post http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3504
heres some links to the videos

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14354313/the-secret-of-monkey-island-special-edition-/videos/monkey_trl_cliffside_60109.html

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14354313/the-secret-of-monkey-island-special-edition-/videos/monkey_trl_dockwalk_60109.html

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14354313/the-secret-of-monkey-island-special-edition-/videos/monkey_trl_bar_60109.html

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14354313/the-secret-of-monkey-island-special-edition-/videos/monkey_trl_islandmelee_60109.html

[Shoonay]

SE of MI and Tales of both available at your local BG ;)

Finished "Tales of" a few days ago, it is a pretty fun game, had some phun moments had some nostalgic moments, it's good.
Now to test the SE... 2 moar hours... ;)

[my_lo]

I have just completed the game. I was on holidays in France and came back yesterday evening.
So, first things first: it is pretty short and easy to complete, it took me only a few hours to see the end of this first chapter.

The Graphics: Honestly, it's very well done. Okay, it isn't the original pixel effect like in the first original episodes but i found the characters full of funny expressions matching the situations and Guybrush matches (more or less) the idea i had of him. I also like the use of the colors which gives a gloomy look to the game.

The scenario: Well, it's great. The sense of humor triggers, like Shoonay said, a lot of nostalgy. It really stays faithful to the original.

The controls: It's pretty intuitive and i got used to it very fast.

All in all, i think that Telltale has done a good job and i'm very impatient to get the next chapter and, especially, to re-play them one after another once they will all have been released. That's, for me, the only problem: a single chapter is a little bit too short. I can't wait to look at the whole picture :)

[Bloodwych]

Thanks for getting back to us my_lo with the review. Sounds good! :)

[my_lo]

Thanks for getting back to us my_lo with the review. Sounds good! :)

I'll do something a bit more detailed when the 5 chapters will have been released but i can already tell you that, for the price, it's worth it ;)

[Shoonay]

Just finished (first! :D) Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition, and as soon as nostalgia kicked in on the main menu loved every second of playing it!

All the old/new painted backgrounds look lovely in 1280x1024, the characters...
Except for Guybrush and Elaine, they simply look butt-ugly anorectic chiseled-in-wood liveless manequins.
Especially Elaine on the close-up, yuck... :(
...
Oh well...

Voice acting is really well done, perfect in each and every case (checkout the ghey cannibals voices :cheese).
I was having doubts about Guybrush's voice being too wimpy in that trailer, but hey, he is a kid, no? ;)

Rearranged music sounds great, very similar to the original tunes - which of course you can hear with a single key click :)

Be sure to do so - confront the old version with the newer that is - there are a few tiny little details that got changed here and there that add some phun to the playability.

BTW, I just realized how HUGE the first game was compared to the laters.
Sure, it doesn't take much to finish it when you know what to do, but still, with so many locations, items, and tricky solutions, it took me almost 5 hours to finish it (of course with a little help from the awesome hint system when irritation kicked in ;)).

[Harrison]

The first one was definitely a big game. I remember it taking me much longer than 5 hours when I originally completed it years ago. Will definitely be getting hold of the update/remake.

[Shoonay]

Personally I didn't finish it "in the good old days" since I was too young, too hasty and after weeks, months even of trying I got bored somewhere in the 1st act.
It was around ~2003, armed with a solution, that I finally did finish the trio.
Hasn't tried 4th one yet, not very eager to do so...

[Harrison]

Did you ever plat Future Wars or Lure of the Temptress? Those were my two favourite Adventures from the Amiga days. Both quite large, with a load of different locations and events.

[Shoonay]

Nope, seen only a longplay of those - I've been more into Universe, Innocent Until Caught, and of course all the Polish adventures back then :)

[Shoonay]

Oh yeah, about SoMI SE one more time... TCD from EAB just reminded me that I forgot to mention that the new interface sucks. :(
The icons/names aren't always on the screen, and you either have to press V to show them, press the shortcut key to activate the desired action, or move the mouse-wheel to switch between them.
Many times I found meself switching back to the old look, to do some tricky actions that required using something on something... :(
Besides, the name of the SCUMM BAR (the place ;)) doesn't make sense now ;)

[Ghost]

I bought the episode pack about two weeks ago.

It was quite fun to play MI again but I miss Earl Boen's voice, he played LeChuck so well, I do like the new marquis character.

Sadly I finished the first episode rather quick.

[Shoonay]

Sadly I finished the first episode rather quick.Yes, it is a bit too short, but if you consider it as one (new) episode = one act (from the original), it sounds better, no? :)

[Shoonay]

Hey guys, The Tales of Monkey Island Episode 2 - Siege of Spinner Cay is out :)

[J T]

I've played the remake (Monkey Island special edition) on the 360 and it is very well done indeed, although I think i preferred the more realisitic character-look to the new cartoon style, some of the faces (Gov Marley) look a bit too goofy. The ability to switch back to classic mode on the fly is super neat; but I did find myself switching to calssic mode and back repeatedly rather often so I could have a look at every location in the style I remembered.

Me in another Monkey Island thread on here (http://www.forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3503&highlight=monkey+island).

I am really very tempted to try these new episodic MI games. By the way, I have never played MI3. Anyone got a copy to sell/lend (or a full ISO - sure I had one somewhere once upon a time, but there was a problem with it iirc)?