The story continues from the third game with Guybrush and his wife, Governor Elaine Marley, returning to Melee Island after their honeymoon. They soon find that something is amiss as the town seems empty with no one to greet them upon their arrival. Apparently, Elaine has been pronounced dead while on her honeymoon. Guybrush sets off on an adventure to return his wife to gubernatorial status so they get on with their life. In their way is Charles L. Charles, a sneaky politician running for Elaine's vacated post, and Ozzie Mandrill, an Australian land developer with plans to turn the Tri-Island area into a tourist attraction. Ozzie is also after the Ultimate Insult, a supposed powerful voodoo curse with the ability to destroy a man's soul. Guybrush definitely has his hands full.

Escape from Monkey Island features some extremely beautiful scenery. The backdrops are rich in color and really stand out amongst the events unfolding during the game. Small effects like shimmering water and flickering lights are a nice touch and add a good ambience. It's too bad that the character models aren't at the same level. They do feature nice animations and good hand and facial gestures, but are just too blocky and jagged for my tastes. They just don't seem to fit with the gorgeous backgrounds that they stand against. The camera angles are fairly good, but sometimes zoom out too far for you to see what's going on. The constant hiccups in the framerate are really annoying and detract from the flow of the game. Overall there isn't much to complain about, but the lack of polish for the visuals is really disappointing.

The controls are fairly standard for an action game, but every now and then a bothering nuance will pop up and get you slightly fluttered. One such example is that venturing too close to a door or location will automatically make Guybrush enter or approach. This can be really frustrating as entering and exiting isn't exactly a quick process. The analog control is nice and responsive, allowing for a good flow of motion. The button layout is simple and easy to get the hang of. There is your basic action button, which performs tasks like turning a knob or talking to someone. Then there is the pick-up button, which makes Guybrush pick something up. The trigger buttons open Guybrush's inventory and allows you to circle through the various items he has collected. While the control scheme doesn't account for a significant addition, take comfort in knowing that it won't add any hassle to the gameplay.

Another applaudable feature are the sounds and the voices. The voices are spot on and the delivery of the lines add to the humor that this game thrives on. This is only the second installment in the Monkey Island series to have voice acting, but with the way it sounds you would think that they've been doing it all along. The voices do tend to sound a little distorted every now and then as if the sounds were coming from a distance and then changing to up close. I'm not sure if my television was to blame, but it sounded a little weird. The sound effects are handled very well and give off a rustic yet quaint feel. The music seems to be another staple of this great series. With it's tropical rhythms and merry sounds, it contributes alot to the light-hearted atmosphere.

There are a few complexities that hold Escape from Monkey Island back. One are the insane load times. Not just the length of them, but the sheer number of them. After you see that little CD in the bottom corner of your screen for the thousandth time, you'll know what I mean. This problem so hurts this otherwise great game that I feel a little nauseous. If the time can't be taken to fix something so trivial yet so important, then there shouldn't be an Escape from Monkey Island at all. Another is that the game can lock up at any time. To get so far into the game only to have it freeze on you makes you feel like you just wasted forty-five bucks. There is a remedy for this, though. Save often.

Looking back on my experience with this series, I can honestly say that this isn't the best game of the lot. While it takes strides past the prior games in terms of visuals and sounds, the gameplay and puzzles seemed to be cheapened in this outing. This is really disheartening since this series deserves so much more. Seeing that every game so far has showcased something totally new, one can only wonder what the future installments will bring. As far as PC ports go, it isn't all that bad. With so many things done right, it's hard not to like this game. I mean, where else can you find monkeys so blatantly featured?

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