Having oddball solutions to problems is nothing new for a LucasArts game, let alone the Monkey Island series. Some of the solutions were just a little bit TOO out there, however. For example, a certain puzzle can be solved by reading the inscription written on the back of a manhole cover. Who ever takes the time to examine manhole covers? I kept going around town trying to see if I could use it to clobber someone over the head with. Eventually I broke down and clipped the seal on the walkthrough...and it got worse from there. Certain solutions would just not have presented themselves obviously, and I felt that a few of them would've taken me hours to figure out. I like the puzzles in Monkey Island, but I don't think this is a good way of expanding gameplay. And I don't know if the retail copies come with the full-walkthrough, but I do recommend that in the interests of preserving the integrity of your gaming ego - Don't open the book until you absolutely HAVE to.

There is plenty of gameplay to go around, of course. I was a bit disappointed to find out that while the island-view map displays eight or nine islands, only three of them can actually be visited, and not under your control. (What kind of pirate captain is Guybrush anyway?) Still, with what I was given with the game, there was little to be disappointed over. I just had false perceptions regarding the size of the game.

I agree.

While the solutions may have been hard to figure out, they always resulted in something tremendously funny. Seeing Marco de Pollo being attacked by seagulls is just outrageous, and flunking out of Pirate Transmogrification School was equally funny. And if you think that you'll just play this game once and then put it away...well, you may be right, but give it another chance sometime in a few weeks. Quite a bit of the dialogue is randomized, and so you'll find yourself laughing at the old quips and the new lines together.