One of the biggest pre-E3 announcements for me was the fact that Telltale Games was reviving the Monkey Island point-and-click adventure franchise as an episodic series. I grew up on adventure games and have made no secret of the fact that I love the current point-and-click genre revival that seems to have been brought on by Telltale. There is no better developer to take on this project, as far as I’m concerned. Coop and I sat down with some of the fine folks from Telltale during out first day at E3, and we got a look at Tales of Monkey Island.

First of all, it’s clear that longtime Monkey Island fans are going to be pleased. Many of the old voice actors have returned, including the familiar voice of Guybrush Threepwood. Set several years after Escape From Monkey Island, the new series has Guybrush exploring a tropical island to find his kidnapped wife, Elaine. As if it’s not bad enough that old nemesis LeChuck has kidnapped his wife, Guybrush has an infected, cursed hand that glows green and turns pirates into monsters.



The graphical style resembles the upgrade that Sam & Max got when it was transformed into an episodic PC series. It still looks like Monkey Island, but with a makeover. Between the upgraded graphics, great voice-acting, and story written by Dave Grossman (a former LucasArts employee who helped create The Secret of Monkey Island with Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert, as well as co-designing Day of the Tentacle with Schafer), it’s clear that this revival of a classic series is getting all of the attention and respect it deserves.

I wish I had gotten to play Tales of Monkey Island, but I don’t have long to wait: the first episode is scheduled to be out in July on the PC and WiiWare (though Telltale was unsure if the WiiWare version would launch the same day or shortly after). Instead of being stand-alone episodes, each of the five installments will be part of a continuous story. In the meantime, I’ll be tracking down copies of the old Monkey Island games to prepare for what should be one of the most fun games of the summer.

Who knows, maybe Telltale’s next big project will be the revival of another point-and-click adventure series. Don’t worry; I dropped hints about Maniac Mansion.