The Curse of Monkey Island

The Good
It really is amazing. Every time a Monkey Island game comes out it manages to top the last title. The story is loads of fun with the same humour and comic charm of the previous MI titles (whoever came up with the hilarious pirate song in the middle of the game deserves an award). Graphically this is about as good as hand drawn 2d art gets. The backgrounds are all lavish cartoon art and the characters are brilliantly designed. Several favorites from the first MI games make a return along with some great new characters like Murray the evil talking skull and the hilarious Captain Blonebeard who runs the local chicken shop. Voice acting is flawless. Everyone has so much character and brings a brilliance to the game that text sentences just can't capture. Music is equally brilliant and never sets a foot wrong. The puzzle difficulty also makes a return so that novices aren't left in the cold.

The Bad
Nothing! well maybe that boat section in the middle of the game. The arcade aspect is a little dull but it can be turned off if you desire.

The Bottom Line
I can barely believe it but I think this is the greatest Monkey Island adventure of them all. Any adventure fan simply must get it with the exception of purists who think that if a game wasn't made when speech was only text then it should be ignored.

The Good
So this is LucasArts's third Monkey Island adventure after six years. It may not be created by Ron Gilbert like the previous Monkey Island games, but LucasArts made sure that all the spirit of these predecessors that made them very popular, exist in the third game. Once again you play Guybrush Threepwood, who places an engagement ring on Elaine Marley's finger, and, unfortunately for him, the ring turns Elaine into a gold statue due to the pirate curse that LeChuck has placed on it. In order to get the real ring, he must travel to another island far away. To make matters worse, LeChuck wants to marry Elaine just to piss Mr. Brush off.

Right at the start of the game, you will notice how Mr. Brush has transformed from a bearded and stubby pirate to a skinny dude who happened to grow overnight. The game is divided into six parts, and gives you the option of playing in either regular mode or Mega-Monkey mode. There really is no different between the two, except that you have to do more shit in Mega-Monkey, and if you happen to choose just the regular mode, certain scenes won't be omitted.

CMI has all the elements that The Secret of Monkey Island had. During the course of the game, you have to get a crew of three pirates to sail the seas with you, prepare to swordfight against some pirates, travel between islands, do a little business with some foreigners, and finally, defeat LeChuck once and for all.

If you have forgotten already, this first game required you to learn fifteen insults to use against Carla, the swordmaster. CMI is no different. There are new insults that you must learn. However, to initiate a swordfight, you do not click on a pirate anywhere on a map, but click on a pirate's ship, do a little combat out in the sea, and board his ship. The point with this particular rant is that there are some arcade sequences in this game, and some of them include using the cannon at the start of the game to sink boats with pirate skeletons on them, and going out to sea and bombing a pirate ship in order to get on-board. These sequences are fun to play.

The game features high-resolution graphics, but because 3D was not popular in the nineties, the graphics are still in 2D, just like the last two games. When I first looked at the graphics, I realized how Disney-like they were. Of course, CMI is not the only game with a Disney-like feel. I can give you a few examples such as Sierra's King's Quest VII and Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail!. The backgrounds and the characters that you interact with are hand-drawn nicely. When you get on-board a pirate ship, and start throwing insults at the pirate, the tone that they use to comeback at you with lines like "Oh, yeah?", "I'm shaking, I'm shaking.", and "I am rubber, you are glue." are the originals from MI1, but they sound great coming from different pirates.

Speaking of characters, some of them from previous games, including the voodoo priestess, Wally, and Stan, are back. Stan is one of the funniest characters in the game, and seems to change professions. First, he was a ship salesman, then he specialized in used coffins, and now, he's an insurance salesman. What is funny about him is that I really have no idea why he waves his arms. A new character that you will meet is Murray, the talking skull. He says nothing sensible but how when he comes back as a normal human, he is going to cause pain and suffering to the good samaritans, and how he wants Mr. Brush to join him.

And what good is CMI without some humor added to the mix? Occasionally, you have to laugh at what characters will do or say, or what appears on screen. I laughed at the way that CMI was written in the form of the THX logo, with the text "The Monkeys are listening" below it. Another example would be when the three pirates suddenly burst into song instead of just doing their jobs, and you have to make them shut up. Minor things include the false ending halfway through the game, and how you can get fooled into thinking that you can use 3D graphics.

Well, after six years, Lucas managed to incorporate the Monkey Island theme into the game, so that MI fans will immediately know that Lucas didn't fool them into thinking that this is actually something else entirely. This theme is also easier to remember. It was likely that fans would be singing the tune just before they decided to buy a MI game. I remember when an old friend from uni sang it when I lent him a copy of Escape from Monkey Island. The theme that plays when you are talking to voodoo priestess and Stan (from Monkey Island 2) is still there, but these are "revved" up.

The interface is pretty simple to use. Point the "X" anywhere until some text at the bottom appears. Right-click the mouse button to bring up a coin with three pictures inside it, allowing you to examine and pick up objects, or talk to characters or use your mouth on something. Pressing [F1] will bring up an open book, which will allow you to adjust several game settings, turn text and voice on or off, and save, load, and quit your game. During the game, pressing [SHIFT-W] will allow you to win the game, but I have no idea why you want to do this.

The Bad
All I can complain about is the ending, which is very short compared to other MI games. Normally, when I finish a game, I tend to sit back and watch the end credits roll by. The end credits in CMI are crap, and I felt that they needed more work. At the start of these credits, you have Murray saying "This is so unfair" and that's it. It wouldn't hurt to have him say different lines every two seconds, and that is what made him funny. The background could have changed so to make it have several other backgrounds rather than the animal skull at the right remaining static.

The Bottom Line
If you have played the previous MI games, my suggestion to you is try to play this one. The third game has much better graphics, and there is some humor and the gameplay that made the other MI games successful.

Rating: ***½

The Good
Curse was the first Monkey Island game not developed by Ron Gilbert. Overall, the new team did a good job filling those very large shoes, most noticeably as far as gameplay mechanics are concerned.

Clearly, much effort has been put into puzzles, that very important cornerstone of adventure game design. There are quite a few mind-benders here; the golden tooth puzzle will probably be forever engraved in my memory - not just because it's tricky, but also because it's brilliantly designed and very amusing. And how can I ever forget the banjo competition? After several futile attempts I finally figured out the solution and couldn't help bursting into laughter.

Is this game still funny? The answer is "sometimes". It does borrow heavily from previous two games - for example, insult fighting is recycled (though now with rhymes) - but there are still bits of fresh, charming humor here. The usage of classic humorous mechanics from the predecessors is nowhere as blatant, as abusive, and - dare I say - as insulting as in the next installment. Even the salesman Stan, who is now being featured for the third time, manages to stay amusing - he now sells coffins, because at least the customers don't come back with complaints...

Veteran Monkey Island players will be delighted to discover the Easter eggs - that scene where you explore a location from the first game displayed with original VGA graphics is very amusing, and so is the brilliant false ending in the middle of the game. And how can you not appreciate a joke hidden in the game's menu options?..

The characters also do not disappoint. There aren't that many old acquaintances, and the game introduces one of the funniest characters of the entire series: the talking skull Murray. Even more forgettable characters are fun to be around thanks to the superb voice acting, which in my opinion contributes quite a lot to the atmosphere.

The Bad
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I felt there was always something dark and slightly deranged in Monkey Island games. Admittedly, I liked the first one more than the second, which had a cynical break-up of a couple, dangerous voodoo rituals, and a spitting contest. But Secret also had unsettling scenes, and the whole premise of a ghost pirate ship lurking beneath a mysterious island was not taken lightly. The third game has lost that particular edge; it's funny, but it's not crazy enough - it's too tame. That's why I still prefer the second game with all its idiosyncrasies.

I have no complaints about the puzzles, but the game's structure is formulaic and not inventive enough. Just like the first installment, it begins with a search for a crew; each potential recruit requires you to undergo a lengthy trial of puzzles until you meet his whimsical requirements and he agrees to accompany you. The plot is also not particularly interesting, and instead of the weird ending of LeChuck's Revenge we are treated to a stereotypical final confrontation adorned with a disappointingly short ending.

I can't say I loved the simplified interface they carried over from Full Throttle. LucasArts' adventures have always been more restrictive than Sierra's, but at least specific verbs enhanced the interaction. Here, it's just basic pointing and clicking.

I think the game's main problem is excess of reverence. The designers clearly tried their very best to capture the elusive, enigmatic spirit of the series, but perhaps they tried a bit too hard, and failed to come up with a strong idea of their own. The game, therefore, feels like a respectfully designed, well-measured, tasteful tribute, but not the grand finale to the series that we were expecting.

The Bottom Line
Perhaps I'm being unfair to this undeniably well-crafted, solid game, but I can't help feeling underwhelmed by its timid adherence to the series' formula and its lack of dark and bizarre imagery that distinguished its predecessors. It's a characteristic example of what people call "good, but not great".