The Curse of Monkey Island™

Curse is quite simply a gem of a game from the golden years of point-and-click adventures. Unlike the earlier Monkey Island games, which aged a bit badly and needed the remasters, and unlike Grim Fandango which perhaps aged a bit too due to early 3D graphic tech being used (although that game is still and always will be a looker), Curse of Monkey Island never needed a remaster, because it looks as jaw-droppingly wonderful in 2018 as it did 20 years ago. It did, however, need a re-release, because it was bit of a nightmare for a novice PC user to get this thing to run on a new system (using ScummVM emulation). The hand drawn animation, combined with a superb ambient soundtrack and some of the best voice acting ever seen in a video game (in my humble opinion), combine to make an utterly unforgettable game. Every character is fleshed out, every location is unique and the overall experience is simply wonderful. It's not a title that holds your hand. Yes, some puzzles are challenging in that the solution seems quite random, but there's always a semblance of logic to them if you think outside the box a bit and assume the game is going to quirky in how it progresses the narrative. This is the game that the likes of Deponia etc. draw 90% of their inspiration from. It's an instant buy for me and I'd strongly recommend it to others. All nostalgic bias aside, I played this through again just six months ago and it's just as stunning as it ever was. One of my top three games of all time - grab it!

The writing in this game is excellent: like one of those sophisticated but also goofy cartoons from an earlier time. This is the kind of comedy where a character will one moment get clonked on the head for a pratfall...and later have an involved discussion with a voodoo priestess about an affordable mortgage. Kids and adults I can see loving this game, although kids will find some of these puzzles very obscure and difficult. But there's no hardcore violence, sensuality, swearing...just good clean high brow/low brow fun. FAIR WARNING: this is a sequel! There's quite a few references to previous Monkey Island games here, although nothing you outright HAVE to know to play thankfully. The first character you meet your character will recognize even if you, as a first time player, do not. Two levels of difficulty are presented at the start and the second level puts extra layers on already fairly involved puzzles. In the lower difficulty some objects are just lying around to be picked up and used, but on the higher difficulty there are other puzzles you have to do to get those items in the first place. Graphics are very pretty: done in a painterly animated movie style. The cutscenes are smooth and energetic and both they and the in game graphics also involve some CGI elements woven seamlessly into the aesthetic. Exploring is half the game so it's a good thing it's half the fun. Memorable music, memorable characters. It was a blast to play in the past and just as good to come back to.

This game is a masterpiece, one of the only dozen or so really worthwile PC games in the history of gaming. For years I have yearned for a digital release featuring the original english voiceacting, since in the olden days we Germans only got the german dub. Sadly the sound quality of this port is sub-par, with stuttering issues. And being only a ScummVM-rip, it lacks the handdrawn menu screen of the original, instead we have an ass-ugly ScummVM menu

I am so excited for this to be avaiable on GOG! I still have my original disk for this game but, getting this game to work got harder and harder the older it got and it really bummed me out and now, we have a version that is just as simple as downloading and hitting play. This is a special game to me because, I played this game all the way through with my Dad, so it finally being available on GOG is fantastic, an instant purchase for me. I enjoyed the other Monkey Islands enough but, this is MY Monkey Island game, the incredible voice acting, music, and hand drawn animations always stuck with me. The fact that this game is a comedy with great writing and jokes just makes it something I loved playing over and over as a kid, and I'm excited to do so now, once again. As far as a 90s adventure game, this game had fair puzzles that were still fun to solve. They also give you lots of niceties like shortcuts around an area, double click skipping into other areas, you don't have to repeatedly die and reload, its really incredible, I just feel like the people who made this game only cared about making sure you were having fun, because, they totally did while making the game. I don't think I've bought a game nearly as fast as I have The Curse of Monkey Island, I highly recommend it to everyone, I can't think of any good reasons to dislike this game other than personal taste. Thank you people at GOG for making it available, thank you everyone at LucasArts who made this game, I really miss you and thanks to everyone who cares about making sure these amazing video games are here for new generations to enjoy. Cheers.

The first in the series with voice over. The first in the series to have a musical score with live instruments. The first in the series to be 640x480. You're essentially playing a cartoon. The hilarious writing, the unique art style, the wonderful music, it all works. The 3rd act is a little weak. And there are some die-hard fans who still prefer Ron Gilberts original take on Monkey Island. But there's so much to love here. It's one of LucasArts' best. One of my favorites.