When I was a kid, I got this demo CD in the mail from LucasArts. It contained expansive demos of games that LucasArts made back in 1996, which meant a whole lot of innovation was going on. The demo that I played the most back then, no matter how repetitive it got, was The Curse of Monkey Island. While I did eventually upgrade to the full game years later when I wasn't on a three dollar a week allowance, I kept coming back to that demo because I was intrigued with the concept of being able to pick up things and interact with people choosing branching dialog trees to influence the story. While the tale of Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate, was decidedly linear, it felt as though I was the one that was driving the story forward.

I followed Guybrush's adventures time and time again through The Curse of Monkey Island and then again in The Escape from Monkey Island in 2000, but then...nothing. While there were persistent rumors of a revival for years, nothing was ever confirmed by LucasArts about the continuing adventures of Guybrush fighting the evil zombie pirate LeChuck and saving his lovely wife, Elaine Marley-Threepwood. Nothing, that is, until about a year ago when TellTale Games announced that Guybrush would be coming back for another adventure in the episodic Tales of Monkey Island, and man is it worth every hour you spend on it.

TellTale Games is comprised of much of the original team that worked on the LucasArts point and click games back in the day, which means that Tales of Monkey Island had a lot riding on it. TellTale definitely delivers, bringing back most of the original voice cast from Curse and Escape, making the experience that much more of a nostalgia trip for folks like me who have been waiting on this game for years, but for new players, TellTale delivers quite a treat as well.

The writing has always been the high point of the Monkey Island series, using clever dialog and parody to present a humorous pirate satire of modern times. In this particular pirate misadventure, Guybrush contracts an evil strain of Voodoo Pirate Pox after bringing the evil zombie pirate LeChuck back to life. As a result, Guybrush must find the Voodoo artifact to cleanse the island regions of the disease. The series contains staples of the point and click genre, like humorous dialog trees, Guybrush's commentary on the sights, items and people he might encounter, and of course the awesome voodoo lady.

TellTale is to be commended for their attention to detail and continuity when designing the series. The animations run fluidly whether you're playing on PC, Mac or Wii, while the story takes all of the previous games' characters and events into account. Guybrush's classic line, "I'm selling these fine leather jackets" is included early on in the game, and series staple Murray the demonic talking skull is also back to laugh at you as he rolls through the gates of hell. However, there are a few new faces here as well including the devious bounty hunter Morgan LeFlay, who seems to have an unhealthy obsession with our hero.

The gameplay is very much the same as it was in the early days, but much better animated. Point at items, a description comes up at the bottom of the screen. Click on it, Guybrush will look at it and give you a quick description of what he sees or pick it up. In your inventory screen, you can combine items to make new ones that will help you during your adventure - and you're going to need it for some of these puzzles. They will tease your brain and occasionally make you scratch your head in wonder. The challenge is worth it, though - this may be the best installment of the series yet.

One interesting thing that TellTale did add was a treasure hunting minigame. During each of the episodes of Tales of Monkey Island, Guybrush has a chance to follow a map to a treasure - when he finds the treasure in the game, it is unlocked using your account on the Tales of Monkey Island website to give you exclusive avatars, wallpaper and coupons to use in the TellTale store to buy other awesome point and click adventures. Treasure hunting is a clever and fun tweak to put into a game in order to keep players coming back for more that also manages to keep the games fun and interesting.

Tales of Monkey Island is a great game for those who need a laugh, want a laugh, or just feel as though they have to pillage some piratey vessels to save the day. The best part about the episodic format is that you can buy the first episode and just try it out for a bit before you choose to continue your adventures. Take it from a fan of the series, though - once you start playing, you won't be able to stop and the laughs will just keep on coming.

PROS

Hilarious script
• Excellent voice acting
• Episodic format makes it easy to pick up guilt-free
• Monkeys! So many monkeys!

CONS

Point and click gameplay hasn't changed
• Very little replay value
• Puzzles can be difficult to figure out