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

Tales of Monkey Island: The Siege of Spinner Cay is the second installment in Telltale games newest episodic adventure. If you played the first chapter of Tales Of Monkey Island then you know exactly what to expect when starting up this game. When we last left our plucky hero, Guybrush Threepwood, he was being held at the point of a sword by a mysterious pirate. That pirate turned out to be Morgan leFlay, who is a beautiful young bounty hunter that also happens to idolize Guybrush. She’s been hired by the French doctor who wants Guybrush to conduct experiments on him and during their brief confrontation she cuts off Guybrush’s hand and escapes off of the Narwhal.

The Narwhal’s mast breaks during the fight and from there Guybrush and Mr. Winslow head off to the Jerkbait Islands, home to a race of Merpeople. As soon as he gets to the island he runs into Elaine who is arguing with another pirate and the leader of the Merfolk. The pirate and his crew have been infected by the Pox and are attempting to “acquire” the summoning artifacts used to summon La Esponja Grande, the only thing that can rid the world of said pox. Guybrush is also looking for the artifacts and this is the main focus of The Siege of Spinner Cay.

Guybrush spends his time covering ground across three main islands uncovering clues and combining items in an attempt to recover the artifacts so he can save the world. The puzzles in this installment are much harder than the previous game as there is little to no clues as to how you are supposed to go about your tasks. The first game seemed to drop more hints and help you along a little better than this chapter did. That’s not to say the puzzles are completely incomprehensible, you just have to think a bit more than you did during Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. The main island in this game has the same style of winding jungle as before, but you are not required to decipher clues to walk around the correct path. There are set paths to walkthrough and it’s much easier to navigate this time around. There is no quick travel option, though so you will have to walk or sail to all your destinations and that takes a bit of time.

Siege of Spinner Cay does suffer a bit from being one of the middle chapters in a multiple chapter story. There is no real beginning, which means you are thrust straight into the action. That was definitely evident as this chapter seemed a bit more action oriented than before. It also suffers from having no real end. There is, as expected, a huge cliffhanger that will continue into the next chapter. By itself it feels a bit odd, but knowing that it is part of a larger story arc helps quite a bit. You will be left wanting to continue the story when the credits roll.

Overall it’s a quality addition to the story and has all the strengths of the previous chapter. The humor is still there, the characters are developing at a nice pace and the visuals are just as stunning as before. There are some issues on the Wii of the frame rate dipping just before and right after the game auto saves, but those were the only times it ever came up. If you picked up the first chapter and want to know what happens it would be well worth spending the 1,000 Nintendo Points. If you complete this chapter you’ll probably want to end up buying the entire series, because at this point you’re well wrapped up in the story.

Final Score: 4/5

Review copy of the game provided by TellTale Games.