The Curse of Monkey Island™

The need for strange work arounds and 3rd party programs are over, The Curse of Monkey Island is here for everyone to enjoy! Unlike most fans of the series this was the first game I played. For whatever reason, my family's Windows 95 computer was not a fan of the floppy disc versions of The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. However, when we upgraded to Windows 98, this game was one of the first ones we picked up and thankfully, the game worked! After experiencing the King's and Space Quest series, The Curse of Monkey Island delivers a well polished, memorable point-and-click experience that sticks with you long after the credits roll. No spoilers in this review but the overall gameplay, sound design, visual style, humor and voice acting are all top notch. Dominic Armato is perfectly cast as the bumbling but every lovable Guybrush, Alexandra Boyd brings strength and intensity to Elaine, Earl Bowen's sinister yet hilarious LeChuck, Denny Delk steals the show as the indomitable Murray, the late Alan Young as Pirate Barber Haggis McMutton, and many more. If this is your first time playing or you played it multiple times back in 1997 when it was first released, do yourself a favor and pick up this game, you won't be disappointed. " HA HAH! Taste cold steel feeble cannon-restraint rope!"

... that was the thought when I saw the intro for the first time. The trailer and the demo already made sure, I counted the days to it's release and when the music started ... wow. Monkey Island 3 was a bit of a culture shock after a decade of low resolution point & click adventures. Not all people liked the new look of Guybrush, but his voiceover made up for any downsides. Monkey Island is - simply put - one of the best point & click adventures of all time. There are aspects I like more in the previous games (like the duelling and what the heck are the sea battles for?), but there is hardly any game out there that can compete against this games's wit, humor and riddle design. Of course there are harder games, but in my opinion this game got the balance just right. As a sidenote: The german verion of the game misses the pirate song, it seems they were not able to translate it properly, what a loss.

I picked this up the second it hit the store. It runs in ScummVM which is a handy little program that allows us to play a number of older titles. I love everything about this game. The story, the exploring, the easter eggs, the characters... just everything. I know that there were a few purists that were pretty upset about the game being upgraded from the older graphics style in the first two games to a brighter, more cartoony version with voice acting, but it was worth the change imho. They stayed true to the formula of what works for the Monkey Island series which is being a game that doesn't take itself too seriously. And for a goofball like me, that's just perfect. Curse of Money Island is arguably the best in the entire series for me. Game on! <3

My first game in Monkey Island series, it's still as good as I remember it. Simply stunning animation & graphics, simple UI, great story, and humor. Oh yeah, and Murray :)