The Curse of Monkey Island

"An excellent game in the Monkey Island series"

The Curse of Monkey Island is the third installment in the superb Monkey Island series of games. The plot for this game involves a mysterious diamond ring that Guybrush finds in the cargo hold of the evil pirate LeChuck's ship. Unknown to him however, is that the ring is cursed and transforms whoever wears it into a solid gold statue. So when he gives the ring to his girlfriend Elaine, having her turn into a statue is only the start of his problems. Guybrush must journey to Blood Island to find the only other ring that can cure Elaine, but according to the fortune teller, that is also the place where Guybrush will die.

It's not often that an adventure game has great graphics, but the Curse of Monkey Island really does have some of the best graphics I have ever seen in an adventure game. There is so much attention to detail in every single one of the rooms, and the animation sequences (such as at the beginning of the game), are superbly animated and funny. It has all the excellent recorded speech that you would expect to find in an adventure game. The speech is well-suited to the game, as it seems to fit the characters perfectly. From the enthusiastic salesman Stan to the humorous voices of the pirates on the ocean in part three, the sounds, including the various sound effects, are all done to a high standard.

The control is different from the first two games where there were a list of command icons at the bottom of the screen, which were used to interact with objects in the top of the screen. Instead, CoMI uses a full screen mode with one of the simplest control interfaces yet seen in a Monkey Island game: The mouse is moved around the screen until it is highlighted, then the mouse button is held down which brings up a small menu listing commands such as pick up and talk. Very similar to a command interface seen in another LucasArts game called Full Throttle, and though it takes some time to get used to, it definitely works well here.

This game is one of the funniest, most enjoyable adventure games on the PC. Everything seems to be so worked on. The puzzles are great, the sound is brilliant, the graphics really do look very nice, and the game really does seem to pull you along right from the beginning. My only gripe with the game is the puzzles. In some cases, they just seem a bit too vague, and there are not enough hints given as to what you are meant to do next. However, if you can get around some of the puzzles, you will find yourself playing a very enjoyable, very fun game.

Well, the first thing that you may find out about this game when you start playing it, is that you have two modes: Easy and hard. This is good, as having two modes of gameplay make the game last twice as long as normal. However, apart from a few puzzles, there is hardly any difference between easy and hard. The game itself won't take long to complete, even on hard mode. This is a shame, as the previous two Monkey Island games take a very long time to complete. However, this is always a good game to come back too, because there are so many hidden jokes and little secrets to find. The Curse of Monkey Island is a great game, but has its flaws. The game is very short, but tries to overcome this problem by having two modes of play, which unfortunately are not that different from each other. The ending could have been worked on, as after such a great introduction, the ending just seems a little disappointing. Other than these small flaws, it really is a great game, containing all the brilliant comedy seen so frequently in the first two games.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/10/00, Updated 07/18/05