Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 4 Review (WiiWare)

The Monkey Island games have never really been dark. There's been some grim moments here and there, but they always had their fair share of humour and weren't really depressing or anything. Well, if you play this chapter, prepare to have your mind blown!

As goes without saying now, this chapter is a no-no unless you've played all three previous ones. It is, yet again, a direct sequel, meaning jokes and other such things will go right over your head unless you're fully up to date.

After escaping from the manatee and locating La Esponja Grande, Guybrush was knocked out by Morgan LeFlay, who was still unders from the Marquis de Singe to capture and bring him back. Therefore, the objective for this chapter is rather simple: escape from jail and prove yourself innocent!

You'll want to break out as fast as you can once you find out who the prosecutor is — it's none other than Stan, the franchise favourite salesman who always wears a checkered jacket and makes wild gestures during everything he says. Although series fans will no doubt already have pestered him in other games before, he's still willing to help you a little bit. But being a salesman at heart, he is of course also trying his hardest to make a quick buck out of the whole situation!

As in all previous chapters, you must solve various smaller puzzles in order to clear the main issue at hand - For some reason, almost all of Flotsam Island's citizens have accused Guybrush of crimes he did not commit, and you'll have to try and proof your innocence for every single accusation. Once you're a free man, the chapter is not yet over. Because of a rather huge plot twist, Guybrush also wants to get revenge on de Singe, after which you'll be hit with an even bigger twist, which makes the wait for the final chapter almost unbearable!

Although he's not as amusing as Murray, Stan helps make this chapter almost as good as the previous one. He's not voiced by the man who's already voiced him twice before, but his new voice is still very entertaining and fits his character perfectly. You'll also notice that both him and a handful of other characters in this chapter have completely new models rather than simply slightly changing other ones — a very welcome change. You'll also see every single character from the first chapter again, which means there's a rather huge supporting cast here.

Being the largest chapter so far in terms of content, it was of course rather futile to have any hope for fixed framerate and sound — and that seems correct, because the issues still prevail. Try to forget them and just pay attention to the humour!