The Curse of Monkey Island

The Good
Well, I am a huge Monkey Island fan. On that level, this game sated my appetite immediately. Michael Land, LucasArts' lead music composer, has created a soundtrack worthy of being sold on CD. The voice acting is exceptional, particularly Dominic Armato as Guybrush. The graphics have a retro, 2-D feel, while still seeming cutting-edge; it's hard to tell when this game was made just by looking at it. In short, this game succeeds on all levels a game should succeed on.

The Bad
The only gripe I have with this game is that one of the puzzles was extremely difficult, to the point that if I weren't such an avid adventure game fan, I'd probably have stopped playing. One puzzle involves not only chewing gum and blowing a bubble, but inhaling helium first, so that the bubble will rise like a balloon. Without any previous hints at it, or help from walkthroughs, I can't imagine anyone who solved that puzzle on their own.

The Bottom Line
If you haven't played an adventure game, this is the one for you. If you haven't played one since the age of Maniac Mansion and Space Quest, this is the one for you. And even if you've played this game four time through already, this is still the one for you. A masterpiece on all accounts.