With many adventure games, there is always a secondary character that rises up as a shining star to overshadow the main protagonist. Then there are others who through their own bumbling manage to carve an unforgettable niche into the series and become that comedic crutch that supports the plot. Like the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, you know they’re just around the corner and while enjoying said confectionery treat you wonder how long you’ll have to wait to meet them. Monkey Island has one such character: he goes by the name of Stan and is no longer a stranger as we find him in Tales of Monkey Island 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood.

Over the series, Stan has held many titles dating back to his first appearance as a shady used ship salesman. What cemented him as a go-to character was his shady salesman speeches; his vibrant and annoying attire; and, his constantly flailing arms. And all of these pieces are proudly thrown in your face as he takes the stand in his first role directly opposed to Guybrush as the prosecuting lawyer. Seems that your little pirate tirade in the first episode was frowned upon by the other pirates and now you must prove your innocence.

Overall, this episode maintains the high level of production found in the last iteration. One of the main aggravations lies in controls that were sketchy at times. I prefer to play the game using the keyboard to control Guybrush, since the click and swirl mouse lent itself to accidental clicking of objects, which was even more frustrating. So the use of the arrow keys is nice touch to maneuver The Might Pirate. However, the use of the shift key, which allows for fast, almost run-like, speed movement stopped working almost after every scenery change which really dragged the speed of the game down since there was a lot of land traversal in this episode.

The episode starting off on a high note, with a great puzzle that had me confused how to start. Unfortunately, like the cliff hanger plot twist at the end of the episode, the play time of the episode left me hanging. If you recall the previous review, I mentioned that it felt shorter than the previous outings. This fourth attempt was definitely the shortest of all them thus far, which is a shame since I’m loving the world and story that Telltale has weaved. The other item that irked me was a solitary interaction that relied on the movement of the character and not clicking on something. In a breakaway from the standard form of click-to-interact, this puzzle left me hanging as I knew exactly what I wanted to do but could not perform it since clicking was futile. While its nice to see new ways of addressing the old problem, at least some prior mentioning of it would have been preferred.

As with previous chapters, this one comes recommended but be forewarned that while it will whet your appetite for more of Guybrush’s misadventures, you will be waiting a while longer to come full circle. Just like a certain rug, it’s the episode that really ties the series together, and gets 4 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.

Check out Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood and other PC reviews at Test Freaks.