Monkey Island Tales 5 HD - The Rise of the Pirate God

And so our story comes to a close, as The Rise of the Pirate God marks the dark, epic, and somewhat triumphant conclusion to this quintet of new Monkey Island adventures.

To recap, our hero Guybrush has found La Esponja Grande, lifted that nasty pox from the pirates of the Caribbean, escaped pirate court, defeated a bonkers scientist bloke, and found his wife. But he's got a slightly bigger problem now: he's trapped in the afterlife.

Guybrush finds himself stuck in a purgatorial puzzle place, needing to do what he does best - pick up objects, use them on the environment, talk to other characters, and solve riddles - to escape the underworld, get back to the land of the living, and defeat LeChuck.

Again.

Unfortunately, the first few hours of Pirate God feel a little like the story's treading water, as it guides us slowly but surely towards the finale's inevitable fiery showdown between hero / villain archetypes Guybrush and LeChuck.

After the events, and that shocking cliffhanger ending, of Monkey Island Tales 4 HD, all we really want to do is get to LeChuck, beat his demonic ass into a demonic pulp, rescue Elaine, and declare ourselves a Mighty Pirate. But because of the game's episodic nature, we need to get on with something until then.

So, we'll take another stab at the three trials (three different puzzles that we can be getting on with simultaneously - a Monkey Island speciality), engage in a spot of swordfighting here, hunt down treasure over there, and be suitably startled by a few character comebacks.

The puzzles themselves are some of the easiest yet, which is undoubtedly a shame. Surely anyone who's at Episode 5 of this lengthy adventure could be expected to possess the requisite mettle and know-how to crack slightly more devious and tricky head-scratchers?

The game packs in more references to ancient Monkey Island prequels than any Tales entry before it: another Grog vending machine, the victorious return of insult swordplay, a giant earbud used as a key, and various puzzle solutions and callbacks that will only register to the die-hard, veteran Monkey Island fans.

Once we finally get to LeChuck, things step up a notch. The final showdown is not only significantly harder than anything you've accomplished in the series hitherto, but it's also more frustrating. Seeing as the momentum of Episode 4 has withered by the time you've got past those early puzzles, it's even harder to keep the excitement going if you get stuck on this brain-bender.

But some of the more tricky elements aside, Monkey Island 5's epic showdown proves to be a fitting climax to the series after chasing the ghost / zombie / demon pirate around the Caribbean for five episodes and about 20 hours of game time.

The whole of the last chapter, in fact, manages to deliver some really amusing lines, and even a few heartfelt moments between characters we've come to know and cherish.

The references to old Monkey Island games weave seamlessly into recaps of previous Tales exploits, making the entire series feel like a worthy addition to Monkey canon.

A few age-old issues rear their ugly heads, of course. Luckily, this is the last time I'll have to tell you about Tales of Monkey Islands's utterly awkward and annoyingly cumbersome control scheme. It's the final time I'll have to tell you about stutters, framerate issues, sound glitches, and performance issues.

And this is the very last time I can warn you that the game will play fine on iPad 2, but shudder and stutter and crawl and drawl along on the original tablet. There, done. I'm getting a little emotional, actually.

Read our review of Monkey Island Tales 1 HD - Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. [Buy it.]
Read our review of Monkey Island Tales 2 HD - The Siege of Spinner Cay. [Buy it.]
Read our review of Monkey Island Tales 3 HD - Lair of the Leviathan. [Buy it.]
Read our review of Monkey Island Tales 4 HD - The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood. [Buy it.]