Escape from Monkey Island

Escape from Monkey Island brings Guybrush Threepwood back for another wonderfully ridiculous pirate adventure. The game mixes exploration, dialogue, puzzles, and comedy, continuing the series' tradition of treating pirates, ghosts, insults, and bureaucratic nonsense with exactly the same level of seriousness. Guybrush remains gloriously incompetent, which is fortunate because the world around him is filled with characters who are only slightly more sensible. The puzzles can be devious, but the humor is what keeps the journey moving, with plenty of memorable conversations and absurd situations along the way. The game also embraces a more modern visual style while retaining the personality that made the earlier adventures so enjoyable. Escape from Monkey Island is at its best when it lets its characters behave like complete idiots while the player quietly solves the problems they created. It is pirate adventure as comedy, and Guybrush remains one of gaming's most entertaining disasters.