It has been a long while since I played a Monkey Island game. In fact the last time I played one, I hadn't even started this website yet. The first two were fun, but the second one left me on a rather confusing note and not entirely sure I should continue. Today, I answer that confusion as the dice called game 3 from the depts of my backlog... and I waited WAY too long for it.
Story: If you remember the previous title's ending, it probably left you thinking there wasn't really a way to continue just due to how ambiguous and yet final it felt. It shifted the storyline to something completely different and mundane compared to the swashbuckling pirate story the games were known for. But Lucas Arts found a way! And to this end, we open up with a scene of our hero Guybrush Threepwood floating alone across the ocean in an amusement park bumper car writing about his regrets seeking the legendary treasure of Big Woop. This will literally make no sense unless you finished Monkey Island 2 and will only FULLY make sense if you think back to this moment after finishing this title, but it won't matter too long into the game. Before even the opening cutscene finishes, he manages to drift into the bays of Plunder Island where a pirate raid is going on.
And immediately Guybrush recognizes this to be the same old argument he has seen for the past 2 games: Elain Marley, the love of his life, is under attack by the his nemesis, the zombie-captain LeChuck, who even as he's pelting her fortress with cannon balls, swears his undying (literally) love for her and demands she love him back. And while Guybrush is reassured to know the young lady still loves him too, it is unfortunate she isn't the one who noticed him first. That would be the zombie pirate who promptly fishes him out of the water to "deal with later." And this is where the game starts you.
From this point on, you will play as our hapless hero as he uses his wits (as well as stumbles along half the time) through a comedic adventure which will center around escaping, defeating LeChuck, and perhaps the most disastrous marriage proposals I have ever seen in a video game... resulting in a curse accidently being placed on Elain and leaving Guybrush to spend the rest of the game trying to break it. The way to do so will be made clear early on, so even that won't offer many twists and turns so much as a hairbrained adventure to the various islands in the Caribbean to find what he needs to do so or even gather a pirate crew to commence the adventure. However unless you really stop and think about it, you probably wouldn't notice for just how entertaining this game really is.
As I said, the story really isn't deep or all that involved, but the writing chops Lucas Arts put into just about all their games are here in spades, keeping the game moving and the story entertaining from start to finish. It may not be Shakespeare (and in fact it just might be having fun with that too) but it's old school charm and wit will never stop winning you over from start to finish. This is a title to enjoy.
8/10
Graphics: While this is an older PC game, it is going to be noticed in style more then tech this time, well outside of resolution which is stuck at 640x480, a resolution that was standard for the time as CRT monitors were the normal. The reason for this is that it came out late enough to only have a CD-ROM edition and take full advantage to be done like a Saturday morning cartoon.
To this end you will guide Guybrush through a highly colorful water painted set of islands with everything from an active cove-town to a crypt or active volcano before it's done... and blend the world together despite the diverse locations. It looks simply beautiful.
And the characters who accompany you will also ooze their own charm, drawn in a stylized way that again, you might have expected to see in the 90s on a Saturday morning cartoon special. Everyone is perfectly expressive as to carrying this sugary cereal fueled vibe. The only issue I have is going from the detailed (at least as far as an MS-DOS standard resolution game could go) and realistic/painted look of the previous games to this much more cartoony style is kind of jarring at first. But once you are into the scene, it legitimately melts together perfectly.
And we have not gotten to the new star of the show: this being a CD-ROM based game from the start, included full FMV cutscenes throughout the game, rivalling the animation of those cartoons as well as their style. These moments are absolutely charming and you will absolutely love them.
8/10
Sound: Just as this game is easy on the eyes, it's also going to prove very easy on the ears as well. Everything you hear will sound just right, while not overcrowding the sound-scape as many early windows games seemed to want to do. From your footsteps to the sound of a razor being sharpened on leather in the barbershop, to basically everything. It all sounds exactly as it should, adding to the scene just right.
But this is hardly an achievement, as we have had good sound effects for far longer then this game has been around. Far more impressive is the music of the game, which will simply ooze character, from opening to end credits. And that feel is somewhere between sea shanty and "ye-old port towne" as fits a story about Guybrush Threepwood: Mighty Pirate! If you like the theme this is going for, you will love the music too, and that opening credit will likely both be familiar and stuck in your head well after the end credits roll.
But the real star here are the voices, as these give everyone in the cutscene or game so much character it's absolutely perfect. Guybrush, of course is the main star here as he will narrate everything you look at, and have just about every conversation in the game, both with everyone else, and for your benefit, and the voice actor plays the lovable dork absolutely perfectly. Not that anyone else was slacking off, mind you. Everyone in this game was brilliant with their rolls. But I have to give special attention to a small part that made me absolutely thrilled whenever he showed up: Murray.
Murray is an evil skeleton who after the events of the game opening is now just a skull who claims to be the most evil thing to ever unlive. Without his body, he can really only talk, so talk he does! And his over the top claims to be a horror like no one could imagine... even as he knows right now he's just a skull and can't do much without someone else doing it for him makes for a hilarious combination and I found myself looking to follow EVERY conversation I could, smiling ear to ear the entire time. Sadly he doesn't get seen all that often so I had to enjoy what presence I could here. But with such a great character, I have to say something for the voice actor. Denny Delk, please take a bow for your performance on what is arguably the best character in the franchise so far.
9/10
Gameplay: Like the previous two games in this series, Curse of Monkey Island is a point and click game where you will move Guybrush Threepwood through various locations, solving puzzles on your quest to save Elain from the cursed ring he unwittingly gave her to propose. These puzzles will most of the time take the form of paying attention to the scenarios in front of you, collecting objects, and using said objects in the right way to complete whatever your current goals are, and these will always be pretty obvious and in front of you, even if the puzzles will not be.
Unfortunately sometimes this will, due to the classic issues of the genre, get you stuck where what seems like the obvious answer is not the one the author decided would work, looking for something much more cartoony (aka Moon Logic). It fits the tone and mood of the game, but it can hold you up from time to time. It also doesn't help that the better graphics also lead to an occasion or two of, well I want to call it pixel-hunting, but nothing here is so small you are hunting a single pixels. Rather there are times what you are looking for just fits the scene too well and becomes in that way incredibly easy to miss. Thankfully your cursor will change red when over such things marking that something is there, but what will take some patience at times to stop and see what you stumbled on. But that cursor is going to be the main issue here as the devs decided to try to "simplify" the controls and make the game more instinctive to control. And while they had an innovative solution, it is awkward compared to similar I have seen in other games.
The entire game is controlled by the mouse, well almost. Menus, saves and such are hotkeyed to the F keys on the keyboard, but the game itself is based on the mouse. Left click will move Guybrush where you want him to go and right click will open/close your inventory. This is natural and makes sense. There is even a popup menu to decide what kind of action you want to do in the world based on what part of the mighty pirate will use to interact: hand to physically interact, eyes to look and review, or mouth to talk, blow on, or eat. The problem is where other games would include moving on this menu, Curse of Monkey Island does not.
Rather clicking will ALWAYS move Guybrush around whether you wish to interact or not. To do that, you need to hold down that left mouse button for a second. It's not bad, but it feels that little bit off waiting for the option to act on whatever you are looking to act on. It's not bad and nothing requires precision timing so it will not get in the way, but it will feel strange when the clock is ticking in any given way.
Nor is any situation "lethal." This is one of those games where you there is no way to get Guybrush killed so you are free to explore and experiment with anything you think will work or even just think might be funny. (In fact I HIGHLY recommend these actions because often the devs considered what you are and right or wrong you will likely be rewarded.)
9/10
Bugs: This is yet another game that had absolutely zero issues running. The most I can say is the game closed out after end credits and a stinger rather then return to a title screen. It ran absolutely perfectly.
Digital Rights Management: No matter where you get this game, it runs DRM free
Source: PC Gaming Wiki
Score: Lucas Arts was at one time considered the absolute master of point & click games and after putting my mouse down for the last time, I can say this is one more game that defends that claim. It's fun, funny, and despite some hang-ups along the way, an entertaining romp the entire time. The only real issue I can say about it is that it had an experimental interface that works, but could have worked that much better... and if that's all I can say against it then clearly I just played something truly special.
9/10
System Requirements:
- Anything 1.8 Ghz or faster
- 2 GB RAM
- Any graphic card capable of using DirectX 9.0c
- Windows 10
- 1.2 GB Hard Drive space
System Specs:
- Ryzen 7 (5700X) 3.4 Ghz
- 32 GB RAM
- AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (8 GB VRAM)
- Windows 11 (64 Bit)
No comments:
Post a Comment