The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood Review

The state of Tales of Monkey Island’s Caribbean setting grows more treacherous. An epidemic, the voodoo pox of LeChuck, has turned all pirates into unpredictable volcanoes of irritability. A mad scientist, De Singe, threatens to spread the plague even further while he tries to tap into its supposed powers of immortality. And as the title of Chapter 4 of Tales suggests, things look even worse for Guybrush Threepwood, the one mighty pirate hero who can actually cure the plague. Against the backdrop of these troubling times, The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood starts a tale that feels strangely unlike any other Monkey Island adventure.

Differing, too, from their own prior Tales chapters, the developers at Telltale don’t start with an action-packed intro scene that acquaints players with the adventure-style gameplay; while another exciting tutorial level could have been interesting, they are totally reasonable to assume that, by this chapter, players already know how to solve puzzles, use items in the inventory, and do other point-and-click actions. Instead, a well-produced, lengthy intro cutscene depicts Guybrush, captured by pirate hunter Morgan LeFlay in the previous chapter, begrudgingly returning to Flotsam Island where he gets swept away to pirate court.

Finally, the visuals look as appealing as the sultry Miss LeFlay.

Particularly noticeable right away, the visual style actually looks decent compared to the awful graphics of the previous chapters. A full moon and starry sky create a beautiful atmosphere for the otherwise dull Flotsam. Despite using the same graphics engine, the veil of night goes a long way to remove most of the ugly porcelain sheen on characters and to obscure the low-res textures enough to shift focus to the nice lighting and glow effects, which also work well within several light-related puzzles.

Though not full of thrilling action, the following trial provides great pirate humor and adventure gameplay, but with intriguing courtroom-drama style. Slick salesman Stan, and his comically impossible jacket, makes a very welcome return to Monkey Island without, unfortunately, his original voice actor (which is odd considering he recently contributed dialogue for Stan in The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition); still, as the prosecution against Guybrush, he provides much comedy through his fast-talking enthusiasm and arm-waving-enhanced objections.

The structure of the trial, meanwhile, makes way for very flexible pacing and adventure gameplay. You can proceed with the case where you’ll have Guybrush examine the evidence or interrogate each of his four accusers. Or, you can simply move for recess right off the bat to get a much needed breather. And thanks to the rather dim bailiff, Guybrush easily walks out of his cell, whereby you can have him explore Flotsam, solve puzzles, and piece together items as vital evidence to bring back to court. You can also pursue proof of Guybrush’s innocence against each of the four charges in any order, which greatly helps prevent difficult puzzles from halting the narrative since you can save them for later. Needless to say, after a typical pirate night of playing with paralyzed cats and examining risqué scars, you’ll help Guybrush walk free.

The trial culminates with a peculiar, and farfetched, revelation: Telltale pulls a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and unveils information that apparently lies at the heart of everything that ever happened in every Monkey Island game to date. I mean, they already ventured away from the Monkey Island formula when they removed LeChuck as the villain for previous episodes, yet now their revelation takes Tales even more astray, which isn’t necessarily a bad move, though only the 5th chapter will tell whether it pays off. While I look forward to the outcome, some will likely hate both the new direction and the introduction of story elements that only resolve in the next title installment (arguably, however, all the Tales chapters comprise a single whole game).

I’ve been hoping for this girl-on-girl action for a while.

In fact, while the latter half of the game still has much of the light-hearted humor and fun adventure gameplay, it certainly feels different, and more serious in tone than past Monkey Island games. For one, I much appreciated the catty sword fight between Morgan and Elaine, Guybrush’s wife. And though I disliked quests in labyrinthine jungles in previous chapters, I did like the way I could fold a map belonging to the Voodoo Lady that rearranged the jungle for some intuitive exploration and puzzle-solving. Beyond those, I was shocked by the amount of drama in this Monkey Island game: more than one character dies, bloodlessly at that, yet still seriously, and Elaine’s vengeful “Go to hell!” took me off guard.

I enjoyed The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood most out of all chapters released thus far for its longer, more fulfilling experiences, quests, and story in general. But by Monkey Island standards, the atypical melodrama overshadows, and sometimes conflicts with, the expected humorous qualities too much for me to commit to Chapter 4 as “the best” yet in Tales of Monkey Island. By all indications, however, the ending sets things straight in a way, and significantly increases my anticipation for the final chapter.