The Curse of Monkey Island

"Still going strong."

This game is great. Now, the original creator, Ron Gilbert, may of left LucasArts, but the people that made this have managed to capture Rons sense of humour well, and it feels like a true Monkey Island game. Also the last SCUMM game, COMI is really good at sending good old SCUMM off. It just seems people didn't want to play 2D point and click adventure games in 1997 (I know I did). Still, they made it all in 2D (they had a joke on the menu saying "enable super great 3D" and if you clicked on it, it would say "we were only joking"). It had all the Monkey Island humour, the difficulty was just right. What a great send off for SCUMM.

The story starts out with Guybrush floating along the sea, in a bumper car, most probably from the Carnival of the Damned. He has been trapped for 6 years or so (its equal to the amount of years between MI2 and MI3s release). There he is, thinking its all going to end, and we even see that he is in the middle of the sea. And luckily, out of no where, Plunder Island comes up. And who else would be there? Elaine and LeChuck having a fierce battle. Guybrush gets captured, but manages to escape and proposes to Elaine, and places a GIANT diamond ring he stole from LeChucks hold. The only problem is, its cursed, and turns Elaine into a solid gold statue. Its time for YOU to bring her back to normal!

The interface has changed yet again, going back to the good old Full Throttle interface. The FT interface was simple, you had nothing on screen but your character and all the objects/world around you. If you could interact with a particular object, you would press the left mouse button and hold it down, a small skull appears with some options on it. The interface changed for The Dig, but it returns for MI3. Hold down the left mouse button, and a gold coin comes up, you can interact with your hand (push, pull, that sort of thing) or examine, or talk (or even bite things). Its pretty simple, and the things you do with these 3 basic commands will change for the different items. You can then press the right mouse button to bring up your inventory, a chest. Then just click on the item, bring it out of the chest, and then use it. Simple interface, makes this game good, and easy to play.

Again, as with Monkey Island 2, you can select a difficulty. If your a first time LucasArts adventure game player, I suggest the easy mode, as some puzzles may get to you. Hardcore players, go for Hard mode. This is good, because you have more to play for, something that MI4 lacked in, difficulty select. Personally I chose hard on my first play through, but still, for other players, this could be a god send. If you have completed it on Easy, chances are, you will own it on Hard. Hard is more or less the same, but some things you will have to do some things BEFORE it so you can do it. I just confused myself. Basically, on Easy, there is a jawbreaker just lying on the floor for you. On Hard, you must push this guy a couple of times to get him to cough it up. Thats the only change for hard (meaning you will have more things like that, but nothing completely different).

The locations, and puzzles in MI3 are pretty varied, fun, and pretty cool. The game is split into 6 parts, each one has a different location each time. The first part your on LeChucks ship, then your on Plunder Island, and the list goes on for the rest of the locations. And yes, you DO go to Monkey Island, although I don't think there is a Monkey Island game you DONT go to Monkey Island (yes, you do go in MI2). Of course, Plunder and Blood Island are the hardest parts, as they offer a whole island to explore, with many puzzles to do. You will have to complete other puzzles to do the next ones for example. These are also more or less, the best parts of the game. Although Ron isn't making the game, it still feels like it.

Graphically, MI3 doesn't have the best graphics ever, going for the 2D look yet again. This isn't necessarily bad though, as the cartoon sytle graphics work pretty well, and we still have great animations and facial expressions. The game does include 3D models in it though, like Full Throttle and The Dig did. LeChucks pirate ship is 3D for example, once it capsizes. The music is fairly decent, and is composed by the same guy, so it is pretty similar style to the old MI music. It also fits with the game well, and the sound effects are pretty decent too. The voice acting is good, although Guybrush, a mighty pirate, surely doesn't have an American accent?

PROS:

Great fun to play.
Pretty cool locations and graphics.
Difficulty select!
Insult sword fighting is back!

CONS:

Not THAT long.
Hard isn't that hard if you complete Easy.

THE RATINGS:
Graphics: 7.9/10
Audio: 9.0/10
Game Play: 8.9/10
Life Span: 7.5/10
Difficulty: 8.7/10
Multiplayer: N/A
Overall: 9.5/10

My Two Pence

Classic Monkey Island then? Well, more or less, at least the insult sword fighting is back. Great fun through out, funny, good puzzles, not too hard, but a bit short, this is more or less classic Monkey Island. Not quite the best one in the series, but great none the less, and a good send off for SCUMM.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/09/06