Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay Review for Nintendo Wii

Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay box art

System: Wii (WiiWare), PC	Review Rating Legend
Dev: Telltale Games	1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid	4.0 - 4.4 = Great
Pub: Telltale Games	2.0 - 2.4 = Poor	4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
Release: Aug. 20, 2009	2.5 - 2.9 = Average	5.0 = The Best
Players: 1	3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
ESRB Rating: Everyone	3.5 - 3.9 = Good

Spending additional time with the two control different schemes in the game this time around reveals the standard Wii Remote and Nunchuk combo ultimately superior. A one-handed option for controlling Guybrush lets you click the Wii Remote on him to bring up a circular interface that lets you pull him around in different directions. While it's not a bad idea, the implementation is a bit unwieldy and imprecise. There's little reason to use this control method, unless you've broken a limb or are trying to multi-task. The regular, and far more preferable, control setup has you moving Guybrush with the thumbstick on the Nunchuk and wielding the Wii Remote to access the menu and interact with hotspots.

Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay screenshot

Since Tales of Monkey Island is essentially a larger, full-size game that's being released one chapter at a time, you'll want to start at the beginning before diving into The Siege of Spinner Cay or risk being more than a little confused by some of the events and conversations that occur. The overarching story is a good one so far, and there are elements from the first chapter that crop back up again and tie into The Siege of Spinner Cay. With a steady stream of unfinished business flowing between the two, it should be interesting to see what comes next for Guybrush and his pals in future chapters.

Like the first chunk of Tales of Monkey Island, The Siege of Spinner Cay culminates in a juicy cliffhanger that will leave you craving the next chunk of the adventure. Additionally, Guybrush's reunion with Elaine is short lived, and there's a lot of potential craziness bubbling beneath the surface. We can't wait to see it hopefully erupt next month. Chapter two is a good continuation of the freaky voodoo pirating already laid down in the series.

By Nathan Meunier
CCC Staff Contributor

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

4.4

Graphics
A gorgeously designed game all around, though the smaller islands lack some of the visual flair found in the rest of the game.

3.8

Control
Strong two-handed controls work well, though the single-handed option falls short.

4.8

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Lovely music and funny dialogue.

3.9

Play Value
Exploring multiple island locations is a natural progression, and the action continues unfettered.

4.3

Overall Rating - Great
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

Guybrush Threepwoods returns in an all new zombie pirate adventure.

Challenging and humorous puzzles off variety and plenty of laughs.

Multiple control schemes let you play one or two-handed.