Genre : Adventure
Developer: Telltale Games
Players: 1
Retail Price: $35 (as part of Tales of Monkey Island)
Availability: PC, WiiWare
I was genuinely excited for the second chapter of Tales of Monkey Island. Chapter 1 was probably the best release Telltale’s put out, and so I needed no prodding to load up the continuation of the series. Launch of the Screaming Narwhal ended in a cliffhanger, and so The Siege of Spinner Cay picks up right after the final scene. It too, ends in a cliffhanger, and so this is obviously going to be a cohesive series with conveniently placed dramatic moments. You might take that as a shot against them, but the ending of this installment was totally awesome and so I can only imagine how the Pyrite Parrot of Petaluma is going to help me in Lair of the Leviathan.
We need to get something out of the way right now: there’s very little sieging in The Siege of Spinner Cay. Oh, there’s some, surely, but I spent the majority of my stay on Spinner Cay (one of the Jerkbait Islands) decidedly unbesieged. What there is a lot of is interaction with surly, pox-ridden pirates and androgynous Vaycaylians, which is what you or I would call Merfolk because we’re not as cool as Guybrush Threepwood.
I don’t expect much visually from Telltale offerings: hell, that’s part of why I think they’re doing so well for themselves. But damn if I wasn’t taken aback as the Screaming Narwhal pulled into port, because the colors in this game are fantastic. Blues, oranges, yellows and pinks are arrayed in such a fashion as to look like the world is in perpetual sunset, and it has no right being that beautiful.
What I did expect was humor, and that’s present in spades. I don’t just mean ‘oh that was mildly clever’: I mean wrenching chuckles out of me with regularity. The aforementioned Pyrite Parrot has one line, but it uses it so well. I’ve only played through part of Secret of Monkey Island, but even then I caught some references I would have otherwise missed (and recognized that there were other jokes I would have found funny had I actually made it off of Mêlée Island by now). I thought they were making fun of libraries at first, in which case we would have had to fight, but thankfully I realized they were more mocking patrons. And as a librarian myself, that’s not only allowed but actively encouraged.
But the puzzles, the puzzles! How did the game play? There were a few times I got stuck while playing (which is why it took me over four and a half hours to finish), but I only gave in and looked for a hint on the Telltale forums once (I knew how to get the buried treasure, but not where). I don’t think it was totally my fault, but neither was it something cheap you’d only get by trial and error (in my case, I just missed somewhere I could click). From other posts on the forum, people were stuck on things that seemed obvious to me, so it’s probably a matter of brains aligning in the proper manner. Not everything is obvious, but nothing is impossible: in general, if I was stuck, I would ask myself what I wanted to happen and then try to figure out how to make that come about. Sort of like a life coach for Guybrush.
I do have to mention the oddly useless hint system, though. With one exception, every time Guybrush tried to nudge me in the right direction he would suggest I ‘look for more stuff to plunder.’ No matter what, that was it. No locations (‘I wonder if Roe Island has anything useful’), no item suggestions and in at least one instance I had all the items I needed already. Getting hints is the sissy way out, I acknowledge, but if you’re going to let me be cheap at least be helpful about it.
Despite the lack of extended siegery (which my spellchecker insists is not a word despite all evidence to the contrary, ie I Typed It), The Siege of Spinner Cay was quite a lot of fun. It took me quite a while to get through it, but then again I was thick at times, so your mileage may vary. However, it’s not the quantity that matters, it’s the quality, and Monkey Island has that in spades (and also hearts and clubs). I wouldn’t suggest playing this unless you’ve completed the first chapter, but why would you do that anyway? Sometimes there’s just no reasoning with you.
How could it have taken you “quite a while” to get through this game? There weren’t any actual puzzles, were there? It was more like a slightly interactive movie. All the player is challenged with in this game is which dialog choice do I make? I tried to stretch the experience by choosing EVERY dialog option (some of them three times) and the entire experience lasted 178 minutes (slightly less than 3 hours). Hardly worth the $7 (split from a total of $35).
I have to ask: When is Telltale going to make an adventure game? They keep promising but they haven’t delivered yet.
Well, there were some parts that I certainly had to think about for a while, so it might be that I’m an idiot and you’re not.
However, let’s agree that this is an interactive movie (it’s not, but for the sake of the rest of this paragraph I’ll play along). You’re complaining about $7 for three hours of entertainment? I don’t know where you live, but 90 minute movies cost me $10 around here, and I didn’t think most were as enjoyable as Spinner Cay.
I’m a newcomer to the adventure scene, though, and I gather that there’s a club that my ilk aren’t allowed in, so maybe you’re discussing this more eruditely there, over snifters of cognac while scoffing at us hoi polloi.
Thanks for this excellent review.
I always enjoy Telltale’s games thoroughly and this one was no exception.
In response to your… response to Grog, where I live, movies cost between $7 and $9, but I can’t remember the last movie that entertained me as much as this game and in addition, my wife can play the game at no extra cost (movie theaters don’t let you do that yet).
Dan: Epic fail. Clearly, you are a newbie when it comes to the internet as well. It’s amazing how folks can spend years, even decades on this medium and still be clueless about where they are and what it’s all about.
Grog, I fail to make the connection between what Dan said and him being an internet n00b, but seriously, what’s your deal? Dan freely admits he’s new to the genre, so you can’t question him on the idea that he’s pretending to be an expert since he’s not.
Your issue seems to be that the content of his review doesn’t add up to how you felt the game should have been reviewed. If he were writing the game from your point of view, then sure, that might make sense. But Dan wrote it from his point of view, and the relative ease you found in playing this game wouldn’t apply. Don’t forget that you’re, presuming by the condescending nature of your post, a veteran of this style of game. Again, Dan’s new, so he might not have the same skill set to fall back upon that you do.
Writing about video games because you love them doesn’t automatically require a person to be an expert on every genre. If Dan were feigning knowledge about things, then I could see your gripes. However, he has openly admited that he has freshly discovered this style of games and is writing it from that point of view. Your apparent disapproval of Telltale failing to deliver on their “promise” does not allow you the space to attack an honest critique of a game just because you disagree with it.
But if anything, you should be glad he’s taken such a liking to this style of game. I would think for you fans, the more people that find interest in this long-dying genre the better. Let them get hooked with the easy ones, then the developers can cut loose when the n00bs have matured some. Then EVERYONE can be happy.