This has to be one of my favorite games of all time, The Curse of Monkey Island (the third game in the series), and one of the funniest most brilliant point’n’click games by LucasArts. This game was a HUGE improvement over the other games of the series as it was the first to feature full voice acting and had nice cartoonish graphics and cutscenes that really made it stand out from the rest. Of course, as with the other games, what really made it stand out was the humor but I’ll get to that in a bit. This game was published by LucasArts in 1997 for the PC.

Plot:

This game once again centers around Guybrush Threepwood, a wannabe pirate that, after defeating his archrival – the zombie pirate LeChuck – during his quest for the Big Whoop treasure, is left drifting on the sea subject to whatever fate had planned for him. Eventually he drifts back to Monkey Island where his beloved Elaine is trying to fend off an attack by LeChuck who wants to turn her into a zombie and marry her. Fortunately for Elaine, Guybrush defeats LeChuck – again – and proposes to her using a ring he found in LeChuck’s cargo hold but to Guybrush’s surprise the ring is cursed and turns Elaine into a gold statue, and it is up to him to save his fiancée.

Gameplay:

The Curse of Monkey Island is a typical SCUMM point’n’click adventure much like it’s predecessors, Loom, or the Indiana Jones point’n’click games albeit with updated graphics. The mouse is the main asset of the game: you use it to travel from one screen to the other, to pick up, use and combine items, talk and everything else; the keyboard is the secondary asset: you use it to bring up the inventory and pause menu. The awesome thing about The Curse of Monkey Island (besides its controller simplicity), is the puzzling aspect of the game: you will be asked to combine the craziest items into the weirdest things to be able to progress, all in the name of having a good laugh. It will leave you wondering many times “what the hell do I do now?” and most times you’ll find out the answer was ridiculous. Another thing to point out are the sword battles you’ll find; you don’t win them by being faster than your opponent in clicking the mouse… you win by being better at insulting your opponent. Three successful insults and you win.

Characters:

A special thing about this series is its cast of ridiculously funny characters and plot twists and this is the entire essence of this game. You can find a little bit of everything in it: an in-love evil zombie-pirate, a traveling voodoo priestess, retired pirates turned barbers and even (in the picture to the left) vegetarian cannibals who worship a lactose intolerant volcano god. But this is just a taste of what you can expect from this game, you really have to play it to discover all its awesomeness.

Sound:

As I stated before this was the first game of this series to be fully-voiced and the actors are brilliant. They come off exactly as they should, credible but funny. The music for the game is also very appropriate at all times and sets to mood for every screen very well: it’s piratey, exotic and varied.

Conclusion:

The Curse of Monkey Island is one of the best games LucasArts has ever put out on the market. It’s funny, addicting and great to play. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for something new/different from what the market is offering right now and trust me, you won’t regret it.

Score: 10/10

KezraPlanes signing off saying: Play on!