Return To Monkey Island - Part 4 / The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - Part 1
0When you've spent around 50% of a game hammered, is it fair to review it? Probably not. Am I doing it anyway? Yep.
Anything after Monkey Island 2 has been hit or miss, whether it the whole game or just portions of them. It didn't feel like some puzzles were well thought out (Monkey Kombat I'm looking at you), it didn't feel like the humour was AS good, and it didn't feel.... Ron Gilbert or LucasArts.
30 years on, Gilbert returns to the helm, and so do many of the voice actors we grew to love from TCOMI onwards (except Earl Boen, RIP). Locations past are lovingly crafted together in it's charming new visual style - and I was especially surprised at how smoothly it plays and handles. The puzzles were never once frustrating, and were quite clever (and rewarding when they click). The story is fantastic also (I hated the ending at first, but was quickly turned around on it), and I love how Amato plays Guybrush so straight despite how ridiculous things get.
The game is a love letter to the original in every way, and I'm looking forward to replaying it....straight.
When Telltale released The Walking Dead in 2012, it was considered a revitilisation of the adventure game format. The narrative eclipses the comic and TV show on which it is based, as it pulls you in and makes you care for escaped convict Lee, and newly orphaned child Clementine - and you really feel the impact of the choices that you must make. This format became the base of each and every Telltale game - ranging from Game of Thrones and Borderlands to Batman and The Wolf Among Us.
Fast forward 4 years, and the third season polarised many by turning the main character into a supporting crutch rather than the focal point of the story. The first time I played this, I would say that I was distracted from the story (focusing on brothers seperated at the breakout, now reunited in the sinister community of Richmond), and after this second run, I'm kicking myself for that outlook. The story perhaps makes the best use of the choices system thus far, and when the story concluded I felt real impact of the decisions I made. It's still the weaker narrative of the three - but it's still great.
The graphics engine really benefitted from an overhaul on release and now with the Definitive Collection's Graphic Black rendering it looks the best it ever has, truest to the comic. My only criticisms here are the short episode lengths, and the story-to-gameplay balance, with the later episodes requiring less and less player interaction. It was a satisfying enough conclusion, but some of this game was more like watching a show (moreso than any other Walking Dead game)
#ps4 #monkeyisland #nukeboxharris #twitch #returntomonkeyisland #thewalkingdead #telltalegames #anewfrontier #adventuregame
Broadcasted live on Twitch -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/nukeboxharris
Other Videos By Nukeboxharris
Other Statistics
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier Statistics For Nukeboxharris
Currently, Nukeboxharris has 23 views for The Walking Dead: A New Frontier across 3 videos. His channel currently has around 9 hours worth of content for The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, less than 0.35% of the total video content that Nukeboxharris has uploaded to YouTube.