The Curse of Monkey Island Review

Ah… The Curse of Monkey Island. The third installment in the Monkey Island franchise released in 1997 by LucasArts the game picks up from Monkey Island 2 finding our hero Guybrush Threepwood floating in a bumper car. Scribbling notes in his journal about what happend prior, and about his sweet Elaine. Queue one of the best soundtracks ever created! Lead on by the sounds of steel drums the credits roll before starting the game.

Thus begins the pirate adventure. This classic Point and Click adventure game is the last of the LucasArts games to use the SCUMM engine (players surely remember the SCUMM Bar). You control Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate, on his adventure to save his girlfriend Elaine Marley whom you’ve, by accident, have bestowed a curse upon. As it’s predecessors the game is in 2D, with one major upgrade to the graphics, it being a cartoony artstyle.

The choice of artstyle is still one of the strong points of the game. Even after 25 years the game still looks great and the aging of the game seems less significant. The upgraded artstyle also makes it possible for an expanding on an old-time Point and Click game joke, that of putting quite heavily oversized items into your pocket. One of the first items you pick up in the game is a ships oar, that goes straight into your pocket without a fuzz.

We have already touched upon the the opening soundtrack of the game. As the first song you hear it has to set the mood for the coming game, and boy does it! Throughout the entire game the soundtrack hits spot on. It is so good that I quote often hit it up on Youtube and listen to it while working. It is very unique, fitting and memorable (which is to say for some of the other Monkey Island games as well).

One of the most memorable songs within the game is one where you participate in it – and even controls the lyrics. You, and your gang of viscious pirates, have a sing-off on ship, and you get to choose what is being sung – alike to the good old insult swordfighting. It makes for a memorable and fun addition to the game.

The humour has become a trademark for the Monkey Island series. This third installment very much lives up to that trademark. The game is filled with hilarious moment, throwbacks to the previous games – and even to it’s cousin game Grim Fandango. It brings the humour that only a Point and Click game can provide – and the humour that only LucasArts can create.

When starting up the game you can choose between two difficulties: Standard Mode or Mega Monkey. When playing the game on Standard Mode most of the puzzles are straight forward, with a couple needing some thought processing (or brute forcing). Nothing is too hard, and eventually you will figure it out. If you instead opt for the challenge of Mega Monkey you are in for a treat. If you have played the game on the regular setting before you quickly realize which puzzles sticks out.

Mega Monkey is not for the faint of heart, introducing a lot of new puzzles (or extra steps within the previous puzzles). Some of these puzzles are quite obscure and does not make a whole lot of sense. Regardless it brings something new to the game and is a fun addition if you are used to playing it on Standard Mode.

All in all The Curse of Monkey Island is a fantastic game. It is my personal favorite Point and Click game, and one of my favorite games period. It recently had a rerelease on Steam in 2018 (and very cheap as well) so if you’ve never played it it’s worth it. The gameplay is fun, the story is good, the characters are memorable. It has a banger of a soundtrack, and the graphics are still funny and entertaining 25 years after it’s creation.

The game is a masterpiece, truly one of the greatest!