Review - Tales of Monkey Island: Lair of the Leviathan (WiiWare)

The first two episodes of Tales of Monkey Island were good, but not great. They’re quite disappointing, especially when you consider the series’ impressive pedigree. However, don’t cross out Tales of Monkey Island just yet—there are still several more chapters to go. The next episode is Lair of the Leviathan, and it’s the best installment in the series so far. Just how good is chapter three? It’s good enough to make up for the shortcomings of the previous episode.

As the episode’s title suggests, Guybrush Threepwood is stuck in the stomach of a giant manatee, which swallowed his ship in the previous chapter. Your mission is to escape from the beast’s belly and find the magic sponge that can cure a nasty pox. Of course, it’s not going to be easy. The only guy who knows where the sponge can be found is missing, or is he?

Telltale Games finally mixes up the settings in Lair of the Leviathan. You’ll be spending most of your pirating adventures in a dark, dank, and occasionally disgusting manatee stomach, on your ship (the Screaming Narwhal), and deep underwater. Fret not! Guybrush can hold his breath for ten minutes. The puzzles this time are noticeably different than the previous two installments, relying more on the selection of key dialogue phrases and less of inventory combinations. Because of this, the solutions feel more logical and less tedious.

Can you guess who this character is?

Lair of the Leviathan is easily the funniest of the episodes so far. Compared to the earlier chapters, episode three comes with more laugh-out-loud moments. The dialogue is more humorous and the situations are sillier—stretching all the way to the end. I won’t spoil anything for you, but let me just say, Lair of the Leviathan’s end credits are one of the best ever in a video game.

Obviously, Lair of the Leviathan behaves very much like its previous chapters, control-wise and such. That means you still move Guybrush around using the Nunchuk’s analog stick, the framerate isn’t topnotch, and the WiiWare version’s overall look isn’t as clean as the PC edition. On the flipside, the character models in Lair of the Leviathan no longer look alike—each has his or her own visual style that shines through, even if their name isn’t Guybrush. The lip synching is occasionally inexact, but it’s never completely distracting to affect the delivery of the jokes. As always, voice acting is believable and funny. Unfortunately, there are a few off-putting spots when the music abruptly changes, particularly when the scene shifts to dialogues.

The latest chapter is every bit as good as its predecessors: it’s hilarious, clever, and better designed overall. If you’ve played the previous episodes, then you won’t need any additional push to get Lair of the Leviathan or any of the succeeding installments. If you’re still on the fence regarding Tales of Monkey Island, then Lair of Leviathan should change your mind. Whoever said “adventure gaming is dead” should get their eyes checked.

8.5/10

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