Superb, immersive story and brilliantly written characters make up for average gameplay.
PROS:
SUPER STORY. The story is brilliant. I'm not one to become immersed easily, such is my poor attention span, but the writers did very well here. You genuinely become attached to the 3 main characters and really care for their well being. For this reason alone, the game is a must play and the ending is excellent.
WONDERFUL GRAPHICS. Wow, this game looks good. The colours, scenery, cut scenes, all are amazing. The detail in the characters faces is excellent and adds a surprising amount to the story and dialogue.
BRILLIANT VOICE ACTING.
all three main characters are excellently acted and again, help you to care about them. The script and dialogue is really well written, with genuine humour on occasion thrown in for good measure.
CONS:
GAMEPLAY. Sadly, the gameplay isn't up to much. It's repetitive, but lots of games are. The problem lies in the strict rigidity of level design (very linear indeed) but this isn't always a bad thing. Sadly though, the character movement around that linear environment is very false and awkward and Monkey gets stuck on everything her touches. Really takes away from the fluidity.
The platforming lacks danger, in that you really can't lose. That's fine, takes away from the frustration but there's wayyyyyyy too many platforming sections in that case. It becomes very very boring. Same goes for the combat, there's little more than button mashing here. The puzzles aren't great either, quite frustrating.
CUTSCENES. Not sure whether to add this to pros or cons. Really well done but too many. In fact, every time you wander into a new area.
All in all, a good game. They placed too much emphasis on story and less on gameplay perhaps.