Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 3 - Lair of the Leviathan Review

 Once again we return to the swashbuckling antics of Mr Guybrush Threepwood mighty pirate, but before we do if you still haven’t looked at this series or heard anything about this game I suggest you take a look at the first two chapters, their reviews can be found on theGameOn website here and here. Also, due to the game still running on the same engine as chapter two I think by now we can all assume that the graphics quality and sound is the same as the previous two so once again, if you want our opinion on that, check out the first two reviews but for now let’s focus on chapter three.

For diehard fans of the series I may be able to get you wanting to instantly play this by uttering one word. Murray. Yep that’s it,Murray; no need to say anymore he’s in it and boy, have I missed him since the good old days since his appearance in Monkey Island 3. For those you still don’t understand who I am talking about, Murray is an undead skull who always rants on about how he will destroy and kill everyone and everything that crosses his path apart from one slight problem - he has no limbs and everyone waves him off and doesn’t take him seriously. It’s good to see that they haven’t replaced the voice of Murray as he offers comic relief throughout the whole of the game.

While I have started to get a little tired of the same old puzzles that we have been stuck with from the last two episodes it’s nice tosee that the game has taken a fresh ideas and have given us some more puzzles to ponder our brains over. Also, for fans and old players they have taken the old insulting sword fighting and have replaced it with face-pulling instead. Once again this is a good idea but unfortunatelyit starts getting a little tedious towards the end and the ending ofthis puzzle feels rushed and left me slightly disappointed.

For the story I doubt no one will mind me telling you that Guybrushdoes find the La Esponga Grande and from that point on things start toget more interesting. Due to this, is the 3rd episode is kind of hardto judge on how things are going to pan out, whilst everything from the first two episodes come to a head I always know in Monkey Island games it’s not over until the credits roll which you should also watch in this one as it is the best out of the episodes so far.

While this maybe not the most progressed chapter it has some fresh ideas and the story line is now fitting in place perfectly where it needs to go. If anything, chapter three is a great little fresh airbreak and adds new elements to the game play which I hope to see in the two final episodes. While this one feels a lot shorter due to the limited rooms and space we have to play in, I feel that this is a solid part to the game and the addition of Murray was the icing on the cake.I can’t wait for part four so let’s get it going!!!