The Curse of Monkey Island

The Good
The graphics are all hand-drawn and very colorful. It's amazing to see how beautiful Monkey Island looks in those high resolution graphics. On the graphics area this game is simply amazing. The characters are just as beautiful if not better. They are of cinematic quality and are animated very well. To put it short: This game simply excels at graphics. The sound is very good too. This game has more nice tunes you'll be humming along with soon, some of which are taken from previous Monkey Island games. But the most important improvement on this area and probably the entire game is the voice acting. It's done in a believable way and the voices fit the zany cartoon characters well. The gameplay remains the same point and click interface from the first two games but it's much easier to use now making it even better. You now can call up a special menu with the left mouse button that lets you manipulate, pick up, eat or talk to people or items with just three commands. With the right mouse button you can call up a box in which your items are all lined up conveniently, making it easier to combine items without too much scrolling. The story remains good and hilarious. Pirate wannabe Guybrush Threepwood has finally escaped from the theme park he was prisoned in by his arch-enemy the zombie pirate LeChuck in part two and is now lost at sea. Soon, however he strands on Plunder Island where he finds LeChuck and his girlfriend Elaine. LeChuck is always trying to steal Elaine from Guybush. LeChuck captures him and this is where it starts. After having found a diamond ring in LeChuck's treasure hoard to give to Elaine and having escaped the blast that kills LeChuck for the third time in history he lands on the beach. The ring is cursed however and turns Elaine into gold. You will have to find a way to lift the curse and finish of with LeChuck who returns from death this time as a demon. On this journey you'll meet old and new characters that will help you or hinder you and are all weird and hilarious. The humor is still here and yet another strong point.

The Bad
Some puzzles are really hard too solve. You can also try the easy mode but you will miss out on a lot of fun things that are in the hard mode only. This game isn't very replayable, too. It doesn't add too much new twist but fans may find this more of a blessing than a curse.

The Bottom Line
Another brilliant adventure game that lives up to the Monkey Island name. Fans and newbies alike will love it! Highly recommended!

The Good
The Curse of Monkey Island (CMI) seeks to appeal to younger gamers, who were not familiar with the first two games. It also seeks to maintain its established fanbase, who had been patiently waiting years for the next entry in the Monkey Island franchise.

CMI looks and sounds quite impressive for a late-1990s, point 'n click adventure game. I think that the redesign of the characters (generally) works nicely, and the voice talents are some of the best seen in an adventure game.

I suspect that someone thought about developing the Monkey Island franchise into an animated film.

The story picks up where the second game ended and by the end of the 2-CD game, Guybrush will interact with plenty of old and new friends.

The gameplay mechanics are responsive and easy to learn. It is nice to see the point and click gaming given an update. If you played Full Throttle, another Lucas Arts Adventure game, then you will easily pick up the controls for CMI.

The Curse of Monkey Island offers high seas, sword fighting, cursed diamond rings, vegetarian cannibals, and, mostly the sort of humor seen in the first two games.

The Bad
The Curse of Monkey Island doesn't have much of the original Monkey Island designers involved. The creator of the series had left the company, and only one or two people involved with the previous games returns for this third entry in the Monkey Island series. It shows.

While I like the new character design, making the game look more like a cartoon does take away much of the "piratey" atmosphere seen in the first two games.

With few exceptions, the game never really captures an appropriate mood. The animation looks pretty, often stunning, but it doesn't really accomplish much in the atmosphere department.

Yes, the game is quite funny. The character design, game backgrounds and the like certainly help "sell" the on-screen comedy. However, when the game attempts to set a different tone/atmosphere, it is less successful.

The second criticism of the game is how unpolished the Carnival is. It is near the end of the game and fans were expecting to be able to actually explore the Carnival.

Instead, you get a few quick puzzles and lots of exposition. Apparently, the game was reaching its deadline, and stuff had to be cut (or left on the drawing room floor) near the end.

It's unfortunate because the rushed nature of the game is felt with the Carnival and the game's short ending.

The Bottom Line
The Curse of Monkey Island seeks to put the Monkey Island franchise into a Saturday Morning Cartoon. LucasArts hoped that the third entry in the Guybrush Threepwood Adventure game series would expand the fan base, while also keeping established fans satisfied. The Curse of Monkey Island is pretty looking, fun and funny. You cannot overlook the game's faults, but you also cannot resist the Curse of Monkey Island.

The Good
I loved everything about this game. This is my favourite in the series, and I will individually point out all of the features I adore:

Music - Probably the best music in the Monkey Island series. It is so imaginative and well put together - I definitely admire Michael Land for all of the wonderful pieces in this game, and they go amazingly well with whatever scene is present - whether it's happy music for the wonderful island of Puerto Pollo, or it's an anxious score for the rollercoaster chase at the end - it is all exquisite and deserves more recognition than it gets.

Characters - The character development is lovely. You get to know the ins and outs of all the characters by the vast range of speech options you can click, and you can explore all of their personalities as if you were really talking to them. Each character shines through outside of the screen into your mind, and this is valuable in a game. Guybrush's gullibility is so obvious here, as is LeChuck's uncertainty about what's going on, and Elaine's irritation and patronization towards Guybrush!

Graphics - Very cartoon style graphics are present here, which I find good. The puffy clouds become a trademark, so to speak, and the drawing of the backgrounds is lovely; all of which are very interactive and Guybrush makes his comments on all of the scenery and objects around him.

Gameplay - Somewhat different to the earlier games, but very good. It has become easier for people to learn how to play without imposing limitations, by simply 'looking' 'using' or 'talking', instead of all the 'open' 'close' etc. The humour in the game is brilliant, and I never ceased to smile while playing Monkey Island 3! The storyline is excellent and imaginative, and a lot of effort has clearly gone into the making of this masterpiece.

The Bad
There isn't much to dislike about this game in my view. On newer PCs you may encounter errors with the palette of the game, but this is fairly rare and shouldn't cause a problem - and can be cured with a save and restart of the application.

Other than that - Nope, nothing I dislike about this game!

The Bottom Line
Buy it - You will love it, and as with all the other MI games, it can be played at any age and be loved. While it can be enjoyed, unfortunately it is not always appreciated, and you must look carefully at everything they are saying on-screen, to fully understand the genius behind this game.

Simply brilliant.