Pads & Panels

Telltale holds wake for Guybrush Threepwood

By Chris Park

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Heading out to San Francisco from Berkeley, Ca is always a bit of a daunting task. Braving the ever-so-annoying BART system and walking through the massive climate change that is “The City” usually pushes me towards the “not too often” category for visitation.

However, on December 2, Telltale Games hosted a nice little event they called the “Wake of Guybrush Threepwood,” which translates to, “Check out a demo of Tales of Monkey Island: The Rise of the Pirate God.” (more…)

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Title: Tales of Monkey Island – Chapter 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood

Platform: PC (Also Wii)

ESRB Rating: E10+

Publisher: Telltale Games

Developer: Telltale Games

Rating:

Review by: Kevin Haverty

After escaping from the belly of a manatee then being a wingman for the same manatee, Guybrush is back at Flotsam Island for the fourth chapter of Telltale Games’ Tales of Monkey Island. He is welcomed with a summons to pirate court for his various crimes during the series. Each crime bears the death penalty, so Guybrush must channel his inner Phoenix Wright to save his neck.

Telltale brings back the slick talking Smilin’ Stan S. Stanman to face Guybrush in the courtroom as well as sell souvenirs outside the courtroom. It is great to see Stan back with his flailing limbs and trademark suit, where the texture stays stationary. (more…)

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Title: Tales of Monkey Island – Chapter 3: Lair of Leviathan

Platform: PC (Also Wii)

ESRB Rating: E10+

Publisher: Telltale Games

Developer: Telltale Games

Rating:

Review by: Kevin Haverty

In the third chapter of Tales of Monkey Island, our hero finds himself in inside a giant manatee during his search for La Sponge Grande. Guybrush needs to infiltrate the democratic pirates stranded in the belly of the beast and reconstruct the inner ear of the manatee so he can escape. Telltale Games proves its dedication to the Monkey Island franchise by bringing back another classic character and using him perfectly, with respect to the series. (more…)

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Title: Tales of Monkey Island – Chapter 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay

Platform: PC (Also Wii)

ESRB Rating: E10+

Publisher: Telltale Games

Developer: Telltale Games

Rating:

Review by: Kevin Haverty

Chapter 2 of Tales of Monkey Island kicks off by introducing the new adversary Morgan LeFlay, Mighty Pirate HunterTM. LeFlay makes a name for herself by cutting off Guybrush’s infected hand in order to cash in on the bounty. Guybrush, sans hand, then heads to the Spinner Cay, part of the Jerkbait Islands, to find his fiancée and get his mast repaired. While there the game keeps a good balance of a self-contained storyline for the chapter while keeping the overall arc of the series moving along.

As is usually the case with Telltale Games’ releases, the basic mechanics haven’t changed from chapter to chapter. Gamers control Guybrush as he talks to everyone who will listen, pilfer anything that isn’t nailed down and solve any puzzles along the way. (more…)

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Title: Tales of Monkey Island – Chapter 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal

Platform: PC (Also Wii)

ESRB Rating: E10+

Publisher: Telltale Games

Developer: Telltale Games

Rating:

Review by: Kevin Haverty

In 1990, Guybrush Threepwood debuted across CRTs, uttering “I want to be a pirate!” And almost two decades later his dream is still alive. Telltale Games has revitalized the Monkey Island series for its newest episodic adventure series, Tales of Monkey Island. Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal kicks off the series a few years after the events of 2000′s Escape from Monkey Island.

”Launch of the Screaming Narwhal” begins with Guybrush trying out his new voodoo sword on LeChuck to save his wife, Elaine. Guybrush improvises with ingredients and the result turns LeChuck human while it curses Guybrush’s hand with the Pox of LeChuck. The ship explodes and Guybrush washes up on Flotsam Island. This lays the framework for the series as well as the first chapter, in which Guybrush must find a way off of the island. (more…)

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It has been a mega-busy week in terms or trailers, in part because we caught up on a lot of games we missed over the last two weeks. We’ve got trailers of the just-launched Katamari Forever, Scribblenauts and Need for Speed Shift, as well as the “Dream Events” from the upcoming Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. We also have three Tales of Monkey Island trailers, four new ones for Tekken 6, and round it out with Majesty 2′s “Destruction and Mayhem” trailer.

Katamari Forever Trailer

(more…)

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Telltale Games announced that in honor of “International Talk Like a Pirate Day”, episode one of Tales of Monkey Island, “Launch of the Screaming Narwhal,” can be obtained for free. The deal only lasts for 24 hours, and some of that time has already ticked off the clock. It ends at midnight, Pacific Standard Time.

Gamers interested in picking up can do so by visiting www.playlikeapirate.com.

The entire season can be purchased for $29.95 through Sunday. Anyone who already owns Monkey Island will receive a coupon for an episode of any other Telltale game, according to the release. The third chapter of the episodic series is set to hit Sept. 29. Arrrrgh!

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Pads & Panels proudly announces the winners of our last two contests.

Tales of Monkey Island Contest Winners

Christian (Winckle) of Rochester, N.Y.

Nathaniel (nnoah95) of Westfield, Mass.

Emily  (iceboxme) of Tuscon, Ariz.

Worms 2: Armageddon Winner

Stephanie of Urbana, Ill.

A special thanks to Microsoft’s PR firm and Telltale Games for providing the codes.

And for those curious about the answers to the questions…

Question 1 – The scientific name for the bootlace worm is Lineus Longissimus.

Question 2 – Professor Monkey-for-a-head created the “ultra-high-tech-super-space-cyber suit” for Queen Slug-for-a-Butt. (Earthworm Jim)

Question 3 – Ninja Blade was the one worm-related game reviewed on this site thus far.

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