Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2: Siege of Spinner Cay Review: Avast Ye Matey

Written by Greg Roake | November 3, 2009

I made a lot of mistakes poor choices when I was growing up; they led to bad decisions and regrets. Some say that’s part of life, and this is the process that helps us to learn about almost everything. We all have regrets big or small some are harmless some are more severe some we don’t even know about.

The “Monkey Island” series is one of my regrets.

I just didn’t know my only experience in “point-n-click” styled adventure games was the “Myst” series, and I wasn’t even a fan. It was far to serious, and, well … boring. I know there are people out there, who enjoy it, and, from what I hear, it’s pretty well received, but I couldn’t get into it. It felt like I was walking through a slideshow. I grew up craving more excitement and violence from my games; give me a zombie apocalypse and I’ll be at home, but a huge puzzle confuses my simple run-and-gun mind. That was until I discovered “Monkey Island.” Now, I wish I picked up a copy of “The Secret of Monkey Island” instead of a “Myst” demo back when I was a wee nipper

The “Monkey Island” franchise has been going strong since 1990, with five titles; the newest being “Tales of Monkey Island.” Split into five chapters and being released for WiiWare and the PC, the game is produced by TellTale Games. Set several years after “Escape From Monkey Island,” this time around Guybrush Threepwood has left his bumbling happy-go-lucky pirate days behind him, and seems to have become somewhat famous, and not just for the fact he can hold his breath for a astounding ten minutes (a running joke in the “Monkey Island” series).

In this episodic adventure, Threepwood is trying to create a voodoo sword, made from various artifacts, to destroy his evil foe LeChuck once and for all, and save his wife Elaine Marley from the evil pirate’s grubby hands. Guybrush messes up his first attempt, and, with a botched sword, accidentally turns LeChuck into a human. Meanwhile, his hand becomes infected with the “pox of LeChuck,” and he also manages to infect the rest of the pirates in the Caribbean with the pox. This epidemic then threaten to infect the rest of the inhabitants of the Caribbean, unless Guybrush finds La Esponja Grande, “The Big Sponge,” to eliminate the pesky pox, and, with that, he sets sail in his new ship, The Screaming Narwhal to find Elaine, and sort out LeChuck for the last time. And that’s exactly where part two of “The tales of Monkey Island” picks up.

I enjoyed “The Siege of Spinner Cay,” and was left wanting more since it only took me about six hours to complete on my own, without resulting to “googling” a walkthrough.

Overall, “Siege of Spinner Cay” is a very well put together game, which blends humor and exploration into a point-and-click game that actually doesn’t seem outdated. The end leaves you with an obligatory cliffhanger, leaving you to wonder where Guybrush will end up next, and if everything will work out for him. The graphics are not top notch, but they do a good job of making the game look as it should, and keeping the fans of the series happy by not changing the format too much, and, at the same time, bringing the title up to date. The only issues I had with the game were the lack of new environments, or designs that seemed quite simple, and, on top of that, the extra voice talent wasn’t very memorable. Whereas Dominic Amato put in another fine performance as Guybrush, with loads of funny lines and well written dialogue that sometimes had me clicking on things I knew where of no interest just to see some of the reactions, the other characters sort of just fell flat.

I, personally, found the game quite short, but for being just one of the 5 chapters, I think is a good deal, with the PC version running you $35, which comes complete with a bonus collectors DVD. Therefore, as far as value per dollar is concerned this game has hit the sweet spot, and the fans seem to respect the titles and enjoy and anticipate the next installment.

“Tales of Monkey Island: The Siege of Spinner Cay,” is another enjoyable chapter in the series, and while it may not be exactly like classic “Monkey Island” titles in every respect, it does a good job of keeping the series alive. Anyone who has enjoyed the series, and is left wanting more, should defiantly pick up this title and give it a play.

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“Tales of Monkey Island: Siege of Spinner Cay” was developed and published by Telltale Games for the PC and Nintendo Wii. This review is based on the PC version of the game.