Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 3: Lair of the Leviathan
Three down and two to go. The Lair of the Leviathan is the third episode in the Tales of Monkey Island Series starring the legendary pirate Guybrush Threepwood. When last we left our intrepid privateer, he had set sail with his trusty first mate Winslow, under some amount of duress from Morgan LeFlay, the bounty hunter dispatched to bring him in. To everyone’s shock, they were about to be swallowed, ship and all, by a giant manatee.
And so begins the player’s quest to help Guybrush escape the sea cow’s gullet, find the artifact that will cure the Voodoo curse that threatens to infect the entire Caribbean and return to his loving wife. Point and click your way through an adventure light on the swordplay but heavy on the wordplay. As in the previous ‘Tales’ and in fact all the prior Monkey Island games, the game is about the funny. Of course, there’s still a puzzle element driving the title (otherwise it wouldn’t be a game at all), but I’ve found that the singular reason to give this series its dues is the writing.
Lair of the Leviathan is no exception, at least in the comedy department. Most of the dialogue, particularly in the exchanges between Guybrush and hottie huntress Morgan. Murray, a disembodied, wise-ass, evil-for-evil’s sake skull takes the comedy cake though. Make sure to stick around for his commentary during the credits.
Compared to previous chapters, I was a little disappointed by the difficulty. The titles aren’t known for being especially mind-bending, but answers and objective items seemed to come a little too conveniently. True, I could be smarter than your average gamer, but I still thought it on the short side because of it.
That’s certainly not to say ‘Lair’ isn’t worth your 7 bucks. Yes, seven. The 5 chapter package for the PC chimes in at $35 (just a bit more on the WiiWare side). Seven bucks for a solid 4 hours of entertainment sounds like a steal to me.
You aren’t going to find card-burning graphics or revolutionary gameplay, but ‘Lair’ makes up for it with good ole fashioned fun and storytelling the big boys glaringly lack. It’s a shame there’s only 2 more chapters left, but I suspect there’s plenty more story telling to be done in the Monkey Islands.
