Escape From Monkey Island (PS2)

In a world dominated by grim and gritty console games, it's difficult to find a madcap adventure about the triumphs of a goofball would-be pirate. Yet that's exactly what we have in Escape from Monkey Island. This PC port follows the latest misadventures of Guybrush Threepwood as he tries to make sense of his ridiculous world; the PC-style gameplay consists of conversing, exploring, and lots of puzzle-solving; gamers who lack patience or who loathe Myst-like puzzles might want to skip this game, but they'll be missing out on one of the most unique console experiences on the market.

The game's forte is clearly its style. Its dialogue, while sometimes lengthy, is often witty and boisterously entertaining. Its characters and environments are bright and vibrant. Its puzzles--in which you often match wacky objects in bizarre situations--are straight out of a Looney Tunes cartoon. Few games can match Escape from Monkey Island's humour, and those that can aren't on the PlayStation 2.

Although the character designers and animators were able to achieve a playful style, some of the series' personality was lost in the translation from 2-D sprite-based graphics to 3-D polygons. Still, there's really nothing else like it on the PS2. Gamers looking for something different, or wanting to take a break from saving the world from cataclysmic menaces, should give this game a shot. --Raymond M. Padilla

Escape from Monkey Island continues in the hilarious anachronistic tradition of its award-winning PC predecessors, The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: Le Chuck's Revenge and The Curse of Monkey Island. Escape features an original cinematic story full of drama, intrigue and, of course, sidesplitting humor.

The story follows wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood and his new bride Elaine Marley-Threepwood. Upon their return to Mêlée Island, of which Elaine is the elected governor, the couple find out that Elaine has been declared dead and that her office has been usurped by a slick--and strangely familiar--politician. Escape from Monkey Island is highlighted by hundreds of challenging puzzles, set amidst dozens of rich and brilliantly rendered backgrounds.

LucasArts' acclaimed Monkey Island series makes a welcome debut on PS2; it's a heckuva jaunt that features an hysterical blend of adventure, puzzle-solving and hilariously cheesy puns as you navigate your way through the madcap world that is Melee Island. With a cast that features sociopathic parrots, a megalomaniac politician, more monkeys than you can shake a stick at, and a dose of voodoo thrown in for good measure too, this game is totally ludicrous but utterly addictive!