LucasArts has revealed the return of the much-loved Monkey Island franchise, with Telltale Games premiering Tales Of Monkey Island and WiiWare and PC starting July, and a Special Edition of the original coming to XBLA/PC later this summer.
The deal with Telltale, in the traditional episodic style of the Sam & Max, Strongbad and Wallace & Gromit episodic game developer, will bring Tales of Monkey Island to PC and WiiWare starting on July 7th.
According to the official announcement, Telltale will be "delivering a completely new epic storyline and swashbuckling flair that will unfold across five monthly episodes."
Specifically: "While battling his nemesis, the evil pirate LeChuck, Guybrush accidentally unleashes an insidious voodoo pox that threatens to transform the buccaneers of the Caribbean into unruly pirate monsters", and initial information will be available via Telltale's website in the near future.
Separately of this, the updated LucasArts-created title, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition "faithfully re-imagines the internationally-acclaimed classic game (originally released in 1990) for original and new audiences alike."
The development team at LucasArts is bringing the game into the modern era with all-new HD graphics, a re-mastered musical score, full voiceover, and an in-depth hint system has been added to help players through the game’s side-splitting puzzles.
Players can also seamlessly switch between the updated HD graphics and the original’s classic look, and more information is available on the Monkey Island: Special Edition website.
According to LucasArts, these efforts are "just the start of LucasArts’ new mission to revitalize its deep portfolio of beloved gaming franchises."
In addition to these new Monkey Island projects, LucasArts recently revealed that the classic adventure game Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (originally released in 1992) is included as an unlockable bonus in the Wii version of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, set to be released on June 9. Additional announcements are forthcoming.
I think gamers are becoming a lot more sophisticated and are willing to give alternative genres a try. So many games today rely solely on combat-oriented obstacles to progress narrative (level start --> enemies --> level end), it's refreshing to see the old LucasArts point-and-click adventures make a return. Maybe they'll win over a new generation of gamers like they did back in the late 80's and 90's? With games like Heavy Rain (PS3) on the way, it may only be a matter of time before adventure games (in some hybrid form or another) trickle back into the mainstream.
While I was a big fan of Sam & Max: Hit the Road, I didn't much enjoy Telltale's Season One. We'll see how the return of Monkey Island fares.
The video on the special edition website just looks great. I love the idea of seamless shifting between the classic graphics and the new HD look - which looks stunning by the way.
Now I can only hope that Tie Fighter will get a similar treatment :)
While I was a big fan of Sam & Max: Hit the Road, I didn't much enjoy Telltale's Season One. We'll see how the return of Monkey Island fares.
Now I can only hope that Tie Fighter will get a similar treatment :)