Hmmm... Time for a quick poll!

[Rath Darkblade]

Not sure why there's no way to do a poll ere, so let's try doing it this way. Of the Monkey Island series, which is your favourite, and why?

- Monkey Island 1: The Secret of Monkey Island
- Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
- Monkey Island 3: Curse of Monkey Island
- Monkey Island 4: Escape from Monkey Island
- Tales of Monkey Island

I think this will be interesting.

[Tawmis]

Poll'verized.

[AndreaDraco]

Monkey Island 1.

Since I've played these games only once, many, many years ago, I'm not able to pinpoint the exact reason I prefer this one over the other installments. Mainly, I think it has to do with the story, that, while extremely bare-boned and straight-forward, had a naive charm to them that made it quite endearing.

On the other hand, I think that MI2 is one of the most overrated games of all time, due to a horrible, horrible, horrible finale, and MI3, while graphically luscious and technically perfect, was way too long and a bit boring, especially near the middle of the game.

I haven't played the other chapters.

[Datadog]

Time to review all of them...

Monkey Island 1: For a long time, this was my favorite. Good design, good puzzles, good locations, good humor. Maybe my only gripe with it is that it didn't make the best use of its own technology (LOOM came before it and still seems more advanced.) It's still a milestone game because so many games beyond it used the same formula, and because something about it connected with mainstream gamers.

Monkey Island 2: This game looked a lot more like the game MI1 should have been. The music and graphics were much more polished. And the best part of it had to be Chapter 2 where the tri-island puzzle network was an adventure game in itself.

Monkey Island 3: I actually just started playing this one again yesterday. I'm amazed at how much fun these first two rooms alone are. And outside of that, the puzzles still continue to be fun. This one also has the BEST graphics (and against two CG sequels, that says a lot.)

Monkey Island 4: This seems to be the Black Sheep of the bunch, but I still enjoy it. I like the new villain, I like the puzzles, I like the set-pieces, I like that whole epic bit at the end with Ultimate Monkey Kombat. I think people are thrown off by the game's constant self-referential and pop-culture humor which overwhelms the rest of the game. I'd have to play this one again just to see if it holds up for me.

Tales of Monkey Island: I'll give my vote to this one. It's practically everything I enjoy about the other games mixed with lots of new stuff. I like Morgan LeFlay, I like the islands, I like the manatees, I like the trial, I like... ALL of the final chapter. Seriously - the last half of Tales gets incredibly epic and emotionally driven. It's like a love letter to the other games

So my order of preference would be: TOMI, MI1, MI3, MI2, and MI4 (until I play it again).

[Rath Darkblade]

Datadog, I have to agree with you on MI3. Back when I played it for the first time, I played to beat the game and see what happens. Now that I'm replaying it, I can see how much attention to detail the programmers paid to everything. Trying to combine things in Guybrush's inventory, and interact with everything, is a hoot. The graphics are gorgeous, and (needless to say) the voice acting is fantastic. But then, LucasArts games always features wonderful voice acting. For me, Kay Kuter (as Griswold Goodsoup) is a particular stand-out - I've always enjoyed him - but everyone, without exception, gives a stellar performance. And let's not forget, it's the first appearance of MURRAY, the evil demonic skull!

TOMI is a lot of fun, but I had the feeling that it was (at times) made a little too difficult. I had to resort to hints to make it past some parts (e.g. finding the manatee's ear bones) - and the face-making thing was just too creepy for words. I also found TOMI much "darker" and certainly much more mature than the others, even MI2; to me, this just added to the fun, but I'm not sure this game is suitable to the younger audience that MI1 or MI3 is designed for.

MI1 and MI2 are fun, but not as fun (to me) as MI3. Maybe it's just nostalgia, but MI3 was (for me) the first Monkey Island "talkie", which obviously made a big impression. There is, of course, the matter of the ending of MI2... I remember at the time staring at my screen and thinking "*blink, blink* That's it??!?" I was SURE there had to be more to it, so I watched all the credits, just to be sure there was nothing to come, and... fade to black. It obviously set up MI3, but still disappointing.

I agree with Datadog that MI4 is the "black sheep". There is nothing wrong with it technically, graphically or voice-wise. In fact, to me, this game contains one of the best (and funniest!) characters in the canon - Father Rasputin, of the First Church of LeChuck. His appearance and voice are just right without being overly creepy, and since I have a background in Russian, Fr. Rasputin's Russian is hilarious. Also, Guybrush's comment to H. T. Marley ("How do I get off this fershlugginer island???") always cracks me up. On the negative side, this game also features two of the hardest puzzles (throwing the boulders in the right order to knock down the bananas, navigating the lake of lava) and one of the most irritating side-games of the series (i.e. Monkey Kombat). I understand that it's supposed to be difficult for Guybrush, but it's just very frustrating.

Anyway, that's my two (very large) cents.

[Datadog]

That's probably the kicker right there about MI4 - learning to play Monkey Kombat. In a way, it's brilliant because it follows the basics of learning a new language. On the other hand, it's completely annoying because learning a new language composed entirely of Ooks, Eeps, and Acks is aggravating to a fine grain.

I just finished going through High Seas Insult Swordfighting last night, and I thought that was a blast in comparison. It required a lot of repetition and trial-and-error like any sword-fighting puzzle in an MI game, but everything just flowed. All the little details made it fantastic - being able to attack tourists, your crew fooling around in the background - the little fax modem noise that plays after you max out your cannons.

And I'd forgotten how awesome the interactive musical number in this game was. Especially Guybrush's little tirade after "Stop! Stop! Stop!"

[Rath Darkblade]

I just finished going through High Seas Insult Swordfighting last night, and I thought that was a blast in comparison. It required a lot of repetition and trial-and-error like any sword-fighting puzzle in an MI game, but everything just flowed. All the little details made it fantastic - being able to attack tourists, your crew fooling around in the background - the little fax modem noise that plays after you max out your cannons.

You're able to attack tourists in MI3? How? *wonders* Do you mean all the things that you have to do to Palido Domingo?

And I'd forgotten how awesome the interactive musical number in this game was. Especially Guybrush's little tirade after "Stop! Stop! Stop!"

You say you're nasty pirates -
Scheming, thieving bad bushwhackers;
From what I've seen I tell you -
You're not pirates, you're just slackers!

Epic.

[Maxor127]

I was impressed with the Monkey Island 2 Special Edition, so I guess I'll choose MI2.

[Datadog]

You're able to attack tourists in MI3? How? *wonders* Do you mean all the things that you have to do to Palido Domingo?

It's during the seafaring scenes. Sometimes on the map, a glass-bottom boat will appear, and you can go have a battle with it. They never fight back, but you will hear the tourists screaming for mercy as you fire cannonballs at them. It's wonderful details like that which really make the game.

I played through a better part of MI3's Chapter 4 today. This game really IS huge. I've been going at that one chapter alone for three hours. I'm really digging all the ghost stories and cemetery side-quests in this chapter. Had MI3 been episodic, then Blood Island would probably be that inevitable "best fourth episode" of the season.