If you’ve been playing Tales of Monkey Island, you probably already know whether or not you want to play Chapter 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood, so I won’t take much of your time. If, after the slightly less than stellar third chapter, you were thinking that you might not pick up the fourth one, then perhaps this will help you decide:
Chapter 4 is the best of the chapters so far. The characters and story—left a bit stagnant in the last chapter—are really starting to come together here. The writing is outstanding, funny, poignant, and at times, even a bit dark. This is a refreshing change of pace from the previously almost too light-hearted plot. None of the puzzles require the sort of rote trial-and-error that sometimes falls flat, and all of them can be solved intuitively if the player is paying attention to the clues. It didn’t bother me that we essentially don’t get any new settings or characters, as this chapter takes Guybrush back to Flotsam Island, among people he already knows. In fact, I think I prefered it, as it gave the writers a chance to flesh out the story a bit more, and prep it for the turn that it takes with this episode’s cliffhanger.
For the first time in the series, I’m not just watching patiently for the next episode. I’m really looking forward to seeing where they take it next.
If you haven’t played any of the Tales of Monkey Island chapters yet, you should probably start with Chapter 1.
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