Review - Tales of Monkey Island: The Siege of Spinner Cay (WiiWare)

It’s not easy to make people laugh. Doing so is even tougher when the medium is video games—just ask Harold Ramis. This is what makes Telltale Games’ pedigree more impressive: their forte is making funny games. Telltale has recently released the second episode for Tales of Monkey Island on the WiiWare. Is The Siege of Spinner Cay a suitable addition to the laugh-worthy annals of Monkey Island? We walk the plank to find out.

Naturally, The Siege of Spinner Cay plays a lot like Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, the first episode. Menus use the same layout, while the game uses the same controls. The preferred method for moving Guybrush around is still the Nunchuk’s analog stick. The fast-travel option is still here, but the island you’ll move around looks a bit too similar to the previous chapter.

How is chapter two different? Obviously, the story has advanced. Guybrush Threepwood is now on the hunt for the magical exfoliating sponge that can cure the curse that he has unwittingly unleashed. The setting has changed as well—Guybrush makes his way to Jerkbait Island and encounters even more bizarre characters like androgynous merfolk, poxed buccaneers, and a crazed pirate hunter who’s after our hero’s cursed hand.

The Siege of Spinner Cay doesn’t match the comedic punch that was present in Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. Make no mistake—the humor here is still chuckle inducing, but it lacks the laugh out loud moments that the first chapter had. Interestingly, Launch of the Screaming Narwhal isn’t as funny as earlier Monkey Island games.

Presentation-wise, The Siege of Spinner Cay is a mixed bag. The game has strong and quirky art design, as well as a good range of believable facial animations. However, performance of the WiiWare version is rather poor, especially the framerate that almost never fails to stutter every few seconds. There’s also the matter of reusing character models that was seen in the first chapter. Audio is mostly impressive, thanks to the outstanding voicework for the main characters namely Guybrush, Elaine, and LeChuck. The music is pretty good too, giving off that lazy Caribbean feel that’s perfect for harebrained pirate adventures. There’s a hitch: sound quality for certain merfolk characters are bad so you’re going to have to turn up the volume or switch on the subtitles to fully understand.

Like the previous episode, The Siege of Spinner Cay comes with a cliffhanger ending. The humor here may not have you laughing out loud like previous Monkey Island games, but its charm can’t be denied. If you’re a true blue Monkey Island fan, then you better not miss this solid installment.

6.5/10

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