E3 2009: Preview: Tales of Monkey Island - News

by VGChartz Staff , posted on 11 June 2009 / 2,923 Views

The Monkey Island series is one that is and will always be very near and dear to me. Back in 1990, LucasArts Games developed an amazingly addictive and humorous point-and-click adventure titled ‘The Secret of Monkey Island’. The story revolved around a wannabe pirate named Guybrush Threepwood. It was your job to pass the three trials of pirating (Swordsmanship, Thievery, and Tresure Hunting-ry) and then embark on a quest to save Governor Elaine Marley of Melee Island from the evil ghost pirate, LeChuck. It is a classic in my eyes, but if you have never played the game, you should really wait a few months for the Special Edition.

After a great deal of success with the first installment, LucasArts released three more Monkey Island games over the span of ten years. It has been nine years since the last Monkey Island game was released, but TellTale and LucasArts have teamed up to bring us another hilarious and ingenious game titled Tales of Monkey Island. In the style of all TellTale games, Tales of Monkey Island will not be a full 40 hour pillage and plunder fest, but an episodic tale that will span five different episodes over five months starting in July 2009.

I had the pleasure to sit down with some of the brains behind the original Monkey Island games (who will also be helping to create the new adventure). They played through an early build of episode 1 titled Launch of the Screaming Narwhal (referring to Guybrush’s new ship). In this adventure, Guybrush’s voodoo ritual to rid the world of the tyrannical LeChuck backfires and infects Guybrush’s hand causing it to disobey him at verry unfortunate times. With the the help of puzzles, clever items, and hilarious advice from the characters themselves, it is up to you to prepare yourself to set sail on a glorious adventure to once again take down LeChuck.

Telltale games keep getting better and better. Having played Sam and Max, Strong Bad, and Wallace and Gromit, I can safely say that Tales of Monkey Island will be a huge hit. The characters seem to have better flow, especially when speaking. Their mouths move more in line with the words they are saying rather than just up and down. With the announcement of this game and the Special Edition of the original Secret of Monkey Island, there is no question that the Monkey Island series is still alive and well.

Tales of Monkey Island will be released monthly starting in July 2009 for WiiWare and PC. The game will be developed and published by TellTale Games and LucasArts. You can pre-order all five episodes right now for $34.95 and receive this awesome pre-order bonus:

A free Collector's DVD at the end of the season, with a special, limited edition cover painted by legendary Monkey Island artist Steve Purcell
A free Telltale game of your choice ($8.95 value, coupon will be emailed to you after checkout).
Exclusive access to a special Monkey Island section of our website, where members of the Tales of Monkey Island team will check in to spill secrets about the game and answer your questions.

Haven't seen the E3 trailer yet?

8 Comments

loadedstatement (on 11 June 2009)

@EIRhodeo Im not sure if you ccan get the Collectors DVD for free if you buy all the WiiWare versions. You might have to buy it on PC.

ElRhodeo (on 11 June 2009)

@ loadedstatement
I don't know if we're talking about the same thing here... On the linked Telltale Games page, they offer a "Collectors Edition" for "Tales of Monkey Island". Has nothing to do with "Secret of Monkey Island SE", afaik (Telltale couldn't offer it if they wanted to, cause the SE is developed by a different studio).

zexen_lowe (on 11 June 2009)

Well, if a fellow MI fan says that Tales looks to be fantastic, then I'll believe you. I don't like the 3D look (I hated it in EMI too), but if it keeps the humor, I'm done. Can't wait for it and for the remake.