Review - Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1: ‘Launch of the Screaming Narwhal’

Guybrush Threepwood’s return maintains the series’ trademark humour and charm, but ‘Launch of the Screaming Narwhal’ feels like more like a teaser than an episode in its own right.
 
Ineffectual pirate Guybrush Threepwood is back after almost nine long years, and while a new instalment in the Monkey Island series is unlikely to stir up a fan-storm à la The Phantom Menace, there are few other videogame series that conjure such fond memories amongst nostalgic gamers. With the placid Swashbuckler once again sailing the seas, the foremost question followers will be asking is whether or not Chapter 1 in Tales of Monkey Island has retained the wit and whimsy of its predecessors. The answer is a resounding yes, and though ‘Launch of the Screaming Narwhal’ suffers from some puzzle issues and an abrupt cliff-hanger ending, as the first instalment in a five-part series it’s offers a fun few hours and sets up a larger, ongoing plot as well as could be expected.
 
LucasArts may have abandoned the Monkey Island franchise for the bigger bucks that Star Wars titles generate, but there really couldn’t be a developer more suited to taking on this sequel than Telltale Games. The authority in episodic adventure gaming is not only comprised of several ex-LucasArts employees, but has been channelling the spirit of the point ‘n’ click heyday with games based on properties such as Wallace & Gromit, the guys from homestarrunner.com, and a successor to another LucasArts classic: Sam & Max.
 
Rather than following on directly from fourth instalment Escape from Monkey Island, Tales of… takes place after a fictional fifth game. The zombie pirate Le Chuck is back (it doesn’t matter how, he just is) and this chapter opens with a maritime skirmish for Guybrush’s feisty wife Elaine. Guybrush has acquired a mystical sword with which to vanquish his undead nemesis, but his efforts to permanently rid the world of Le Chuck result in something expectedly unexpected; Le Chuck is brought back to the realm of the living and Threepwood shipwrecked on Flotsam Island with a possessed zombie hand that isn’t too fond of its attached owner. Anyone familiar with Bruce Campbell’s self-inflicted shenanigans in Evil Dead II will appreciate the direction this goes in, with Guybrush being slapped by his possessed palm at regular intervals.
 
The majority of ‘Launch of the Screaming Narwhal’ takes place on Flotsam Island, where the surrounding winds blow inward 24 hours a day, the reefs are sharper than a dragon’s tooth, and escape is impossible. Naturally, this isn’t going to perturb the optimistic Guybrush from acquiring the vessel of the title, and ruining life for the residents of Flotsam; who have also been washed ashore and constructed a town from any salvageable flotsam and jetsam they could find. To complicate things further, Guybrush discovers that he has been infected with the Pox of LeChuck, a green-tinted cloud that is spreading across the Caribbean and zombifying the locals.
 
Flotsam’s isolated setting does pose several problems in continuing the universe created by Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman, in that that it allows little opportunity for familiar faces. Voodoo Lady – who, as a recurring joke, relocates her home to wherever Guybrush ends up – and Chuck the Plant make an appearance, but others such as Wally, Smilin' Sta