The Curse of Monkey Island

"Funny, silly and Threepwood - must be Monkey Island then..."

Being the third in the Monkey Island series, there is a lot of improvements and additions. Curse Of Monkey Island now boasts an upheaval in graphics and sound with 2D bigger and better colourful laytex, voice acting and an actual soundtrack. Dominic Armato now brings a whole new lease of profound popularity towards the ever lovable character Guybrush Threepwood with his great comical timing and his own personal sketch and flavour of portraying the hopeless wannabe pirate. He's not the only one though. In fact, each trademark character is given a new sense of realism, that includes LeChuck, played by Earl Boen. The effect is large. Those who thought LeChuck was mildly funny in the previous games will be suprised at how great the character now serves as a comical lead on par with the "hero" of the game.

As always, Monkey Island never strays from the typical ludicrism of storyline and ideas it has conveyed in the past. Fundamentally, the grins are more apparent than laughs, but the actual gags that do make you laugh seem to mimic post humour of the Monty Python series. You could call this game childishly mature. And the reason for that oxymoron would be that some ideas are executed and considered to be thought of childish but expressed maturely, elaborating that only sophisticated and individual sense of humours will actually act up to the jokes. The game could be ironic like the past games also, for a island(s), should I say, there is no issues other than slapstick humour and crazy one liners that are addressed. So you could call this the safest pirate zone you'll ever see, of course there is the occasional threat but the life of Guybrush Threepwood is always in safe hands in terms of mortality but humiliation?. That's another matter altogether isn't it?.

And when I mention irony, you'll find a scene where the pirates actually won't let Guybrush walk the plank, and occupate every choice he can make in the oh so many ways to die - sorry - be humiliated. All for our benefit.

Curse Of Monkey Island begins with Guybrush floating in the sea in a dogem car, writing a letter to his beloved Elaine Marley, the governor of Monkey Island. Typical humour soon follows as he lists the things he yearns for, only for them to pass him by without him noticing. Not in stitches yet I know but it does redeem itself. However, Guybrush soon floats into a battle zone between Elaine Marley and LeChuck's undead army. Graphics and sound may have changed but LeChuck's feelings hasn't and yes, he is still chasing after the affections of Elaine, who finds it with no difficulty firing a shotgun at him. Guybrush is captured and placed in a vault with Wally, the little guy from the previous game whose monocle was stolen by none other than Mr Threepwood himself. And if you thought karma didn't exist then there is a hard job explaining why Wally is pointing a gun at him.

The humour throughout is certainly commendable. With support characters ranging from a evil, demonic and foolishly eerie spoken skeleton skull (Murray) who has been struck with the unfortune of being foiled by Guybrush (by shooting him with a cannon, dismembering his body), but would like to take over the world with him anyway and the Welsh ghost boatman with no sense of direction - the script remains strong and potent in highlights, making the script even more memorable to the first games. Like Rincewind from Mortality Bytes, Guybrush is deemed to being reckoned as the buffoon and fool - all amassed to create immense empathy and laughter on the same side. The humour can be intellectual enough to enter the matrimony of cult classics such as The Life Of Brian but then renders itself into the more ridiculous, obvious sights of Carry On and other has been sitcoms. To be frank, the humour isn't hip or cool. It's more morbid and more shy from the smoking pot, falling out of windows, getting drunk or even just having a good old fart once and a while. It's just not that kind of game, but if it was, wouldn't it be funnier than Beavis And Butthead?.

One of the most radical things about the environment of the gameplay in Curse Of Monkey Island is the operational panel. It's farewell to the usual list of talk to, look at, walk to, push, pull, use etc and in with clicking and holding with a gold coing showing a choice of examine, talk to, push/pull/use. Your inventory is now held in a treasure chest. Not a moving one like in Mortality Bytes, not even a bouncing one or a treasure chest on skates. Just a screen showing the inside of the chest with all your items in there. Clicking and holding onto them brings up the same operational option box as it does in the environment of locations and people. And you can combine items, well, you have to I'm afraid.

The dialogue is ever strong and ever self reductive in the land of Guybrush Threepwood saying he's a mighty pirate once again - only for the 1001th person on the hearing end to say in the 2000 ways "Ha, yeah right!". There is a sense of both silliness and self dependence in Armato's voice that can both be teased and tease say you choose a stupid course of action (which is again ironic considering half of the content in the game). But there is also connotations to certain lingo's, accents and nationalities with the scenario characters such as the Texan ghost bride and Rottingham, the French snob and part time enemy.

Guybrush's traverse of the islands is celebrated in exotic bright 2D graphics, complimenting facial feautues and body movements. The Carribean has never looked so beautiful - in a game that is. As you'd expect, being that if you've actually been or live in the Carribean, the locations are mostly sand ridden glorious beaches, immaculate seas and er, grassy knolls. Meaning very bright colours for the most part and even in the more slightly sinister locations you've got the colours looking like watercolours - it's another feel good attribute.

As for appearances, they converse a lot don't they?. One glance at Guybrush's stick thin but conveniently rectangle head and you basically sum the guy up - hopeless. Really, if Guybrush was a brute of Norgweigan wood and drank Jack Daniels casually - the whole inability of using your brain and banal items would seem pointless. Likewise to add to statement, the Voodoo Lady has suddenly habitated on her own home charms, now she has a reason to never get up from the chair because she's obese and has her chair installed on a home made lift. The tweak of Elaine's usual fierce and sassy eye expressions would soon offer a more two faced side as she glares into Guybrushes eyes, basically summing up she loves him with his warts and all - until she punches him of course. The best moderation has to be LeChuck, who now has a firebeard, making him seem to possess some evil powers with comical taste instead of an actual scary ghoul entity.

If anything that Curse Of Monkey Island glorifies in is that the mini games are actual essentials to the gameplay - unlike those of other games. And to boot, they're even fun. Will you ever come across a game with Insult Sword Fighting?. A game where to win you have to match your opponent's insult with a rhyming insult?. Such would be: 'You look like a monkey in a negligee' to the answer 'I look that much like your fiancee?'. Other than that you have the guitar duel, where you match your opponents guitar notes then play them yourself. The whole concept bases itself on the element of suprise in the sense your status while playing is on a scale from "Is he?." - "What?!." - "Yeah right" - "He is!" - "That's smart". It always plays on what you don't expect and turns it around into a situation you're prepared for. I know no other game that focuses on the silly humour that we all sometimes need in our everyday lives.

Most people would testify that the voice acting is one of the contenders for bringing the Monkey Island series to the land of cult status. Dominic Armato has definetly gained legions of fans since taking on the wunderkind of Guybrush. What is most appreciative is the music on the same level, which is ethnic enough to make you feel as if you are indeed travelling in the land of the Carribean. There is nice Jamacain timpani music throughout, instilling the trademark in the whole course of the game. The variations are nice also, serving as good chill out music. While you eat your snack with the game on, relaxing your brain from a cantankerous character, fumigating a puzzle or a wandering scenario you're stuck on, you could eat say, a packet of crisps with the music on and feel a million miles away from home. Yes, the music is definetly another great weapon the game serves.

For those who may have thought the days of Monkey Island were over by mere cult status - prepare to eat your words as the game ventures onwards to greater heights with bigger budgets and more publicity for it's expanding company. Curse Of Monkey Island is a perfect example of what and how prime time adventure games should be and what it takes to humour the average fan. With great humour, nice bright graphics, wonderful music, hilarious acting and bizarrely excellent charaters - Curse Of Monkey Island is by far the strongest game in the series and possibly the strongest title in the license of LucasArts. You would be a doody head to pass this game up.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/14/04, Updated 07/30/04