It's glossy and well put together. The puzzles are ok, and they've got 2 difficulty settings. Murray is nearly amusing and the soundtrack is classic, but it is from the original Monkey Island anyway. Some of the voices are perfect and don't spoil anything (Le Chuck). It's not a BAD game or anything. If it was released without the Monkey Island label I'd probably enjoy it more; since it has the label you assume the games are going to be similar in some way, and this one ain't.

The Bad

The graphics, despite being quite artistic and well drawn (especially the clouds), are just wrong. Guybrush has been mutated. His height has tripled and he looks younger. In fact according to sources, he IS younger. Apparently Guybrush is 20 in this one, yet he's 21 in Monkey Island 2. The characters pixelate and look a little ugly when they go into the distance. The game seems very aware of the quality of it's predecessors, so bounces ideas and jokes off them frequently. But it's changed everything about what made the first 2 games so sublime. The magic has gone. I know it's unrealistic to say the game should never have used speech; but these old characters are immortal and it shouldn't have been done. Guybrush should never have a voice, not that the guy who does it is in any way bad because he's not, but because it immediatly ruins the character that your subconcious plants in in your brain. The text of the first 2 games meant that you could give your own voices to the characters, and you could laugh at the quality of the writing instead of the delivery of it. Imagine if someone remade the first game with speech, all those funny lines of dialogue would have to be read out perfectly so as to keep them funny. It's hard to explain. But this is why so many scripts are better than the films or programmes themselves. Ever read Calvin & Hobbes? Imagine if a voice actor did Hobbes voice. Travesty. Anyway back to the game and everything...Monkey Island 3 is not funny. It's just not. All the parts and lines seem overracted in case we don't get the joke or something, and often the joke is needlessly explained in detail by some overly hyperactive character. This is again why it would be better without speech. Turn it off, just use text. It's better. The insult swordfighting, once great, is tacked on unessecarily. Though not quite as shamelessly or as pointlessly as Monkey 4. The locations aren't that interesting. The game didn't really need to made considering the ending of the 2nd, which was terrific. It would be better if it stopped while the series was legendary as it once was. They could have made an original game instead of a sequel, but then it might not sell I guess.

The Bottom Line

A solid and good game, but a shadow of it's parents. Slick, stylish, glossy, yet charmless. Lacks the Ron Gilbert magic that was so present in the first 2 and unfortunately does something to dampen the allure of them as well. The 2nd was worse than the 1st (barely), the 3rd is worse than the 2nd, and the 4th is worse than the 3rd. Stop now for the love of God and make a game like Grim Fandango again.