Released in 1997, The Curse of Monkey Island is the third game in the point-and-click adventure series. Unlike the first two games, this one has not been given a special edition with new graphics and sound. To be fair, it is probably the game that least needed it out of the original trilogy.
How to Download The Curse of Monkey Island
To download the game, click on the Download button at the end of the review. Check out also our reviews of the remastered versions of the first two games in the series: The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition and Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: Le Chuck’s Revenge.
The Program Review
Once again, the story is about the greatest pirate on the high seas, Guybrush Threepwood. Guybrush gave his love, Elaine an engagement ring, but it turns out it had a curse on it! In order to break this curse, he may have to die! What is cool about the story is that while LeChuck is back, he also has many other enemies to deal with in this game too.
The writing and the storytelling in the game are fantastic. You would think that by the third game, things would have started to get a bit old, but that is not the case at all. I think the story this time around has a bit more of an “epic” feel to it and it still manages to maintain the humor and weirdness from the other games.
While this game has not been given the special edition treatment like the two Monkey Island games that came before it. I feel that the reason for this is that The Curse of Monkey Island was a much more technically advanced game than the original two. The game already had more of an animated movie look to it and featured full voice acting.
I do not think the game looks bad at all, which is great considering it is over 20 years old at this point. The voice acting is fantastic, but it is not as crystal clear as the two special editions that came before it, but that is to be expected. Once again, it features a stellar soundtrack with music that is very fitting to the stuff that is happening on screen.
The gameplay has not been changed a great deal from the first two Monkey Island games. You still control Guybrush as you move around each screen, looking for items, solving puzzles, and talking to people. The game is a great deal of fun and some of the puzzles really will make you scratch your head.
While the core gameplay has not changed, they did introduce a verb coin. This verb coin has a hand, a parrot, and a skull on it and this is what you use when you interact with items. The hand is the interactive icon, the parrot was the command icon and the skull was used for examining things.
For me personally, the second game in the original trilogy will always be my favorite of the three. However, The Curse of Monkey Island is a damn fine game and one that has aged incredibly well. So well that they clearly feel it does not need the same kind of fresh coat of paint as the two that came before it.
