An Amusing ‘Escape From Monkey Island’

Guybrush Threepwood is the Rodney Dangerfield of the open seas. Threepwood has saved the day several times, but still, the hero of LucasArts’ comical “Monkey Island” series gets no respect.

So it’s no surprise to find the well-coiffed Threepwood tied to a mast at the beginning of “Escape From Monkey Island” for the Mac, PC and Sony PlayStation 2. Around him, his love, Elaine Marley, fights off marauders with her cutlass.

Threepwood eventually figures out how to sink the marauders’ ship and again pulls his comrades out of a pickle.

But, as usual, it’s just the beginning of his troubles. This time, they must fight bureaucracy. Marley has been declared legally dead and faces the prospect of losing the governorship of Melee Island--unless, of course, good old reliable Threepwood can connect with the family lawyers over on Lucre Island to set things right through litigation.

So begins Threepwood’s adventure back to Monkey Island and back to face the undead pirate LeChuck, who has already been killed so many times that he’s considered a “demon zombie ghost.”

“Monkey Island” has never been the brainiest of game franchises, preferring to entertain players with cute banter rather than vex them with merciless puzzles. Like many LucasArts adventures--”Full Throttle” and “Grim Fandango” come to mind--”Escape From Monkey Island” invites players to saunter through a story peppered here and there with silly, but ultimately logical, brain teasers.

On both the PC and PS2, the cartoonish island environments provide beautiful backdrops for Threepwood and the colorful characters he meets. Friends and foes alike share a sense of humor that appeals to kids who delight in insults such as “poopie head.” Those in search of highbrow humor should look elsewhere.

But those hungry for a gentle and amusing diversion out of the summer sun can find much to appreciate in “Escape From Monkey Island.” Although aimed at kids, it’s the sort of game parents also can enjoy playing for its humor.

The only real flaw with “Escape From Monkey Island” is one that plagues all adventures of its ilk. Characters spend too much time talking. Threepwood often has as many as half a dozen choices as to where to steer conversations. And it frequently requires a tedious session of trial-and-error to get characters to say something helpful.

It seems at times that the game is more about listening and watching than it is about playing. A better balance between activity and passivity would have been appreciated. Overall, though, this latest “Monkey Island” delivers a worthy installment in a hearty franchise.

‘Hot Potato’

The first challenge in “Hot Potato” for Game Boy Advance is just figuring out what the game is all about. The second challenge is palming it off on someone you don’t like. Even after players decipher its confusing instructions, “Hot Potato” is a game better left untouched.

Here’s the drill: Earth has been overrun by living, breathing potatoes. Boy spuds linger on the street while girl spuds occupy their time in the mall. Players hijack a bus filled with girl potatoes and shoot them out to mate with the boy potatoes. The happy spud couple then zips back to a spaceship for the return trip to Mars.

Even by the rather generous standard of video games, “Hot Potato” is hard to swallow.

Basically, the spuds come in two colors--red and blue. Red potatoes hook up only with red potatoes and blue potatoes get busy only with blue potatoes. If a street potato gets hit with the wrong color, he just sits there and blocks traffic.

Got it?

Don’t bother. Even with the improved screen of Game Boy Advance, it’s nearly impossible to tell which spuds are which color. If eyestrain and headache sound like fun, “Hot Potato” is the game.

Otherwise, avoid it like, well, a hot potato.

*

Aaron Curtiss is editor of Tech Times.

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The Skinny

“Escape From Monkey Island”

Genre: Graphic adventure

Platform: Mac, PC, Sony PlayStation 2

Price: $45 on the Mac, $30 on the PC and $50 on PlayStation 2

Publisher: LucasArts

ESRB* rating: Everyone

System requirements: On the PC, a Pentium 200 with 32 MB of RAM and a graphics accelerator. On the Mac, a G3 233 running OS 8 with 64 MB of RAM, 100 MB of available hard disk space and a graphics accelerator.

The good: Often-witty puzzles

The bad: Long, scripted dead times

Bottom line: Logical extension of the adventure

“Hot Potato”

Genre: Puzzler

Platform: Game Boy Advance

Price: $40

Publisher: Bay Area Multimedia

ESRB rating: Everyone

The good: Creative story

The bad: Impossible to figure out

Bottom line: Forget it

*Entertainment Software Ratings Board