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!