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The Curse of Monkey Island (CMI) is the third game in the Monkey Island series of computer adventure games by LucasArts, following the successful games The Secret of Monkey Island and LeChuck's Revenge. CMI is the twelfth and last game to use the SCUMM engine, which was extensively upgraded for its last outing, before being replaced by the GrimE engine for the next game in the series, Escape from Monkey Island. CMI is the first Monkey Island game to be voiced, and has a graphic style more cartoon-ish than the earlier games.

In the opening and closing credits the game is dedicated to Brett Barret, a programmer of the first two games.

Story

After the vague and surrealistic ending of Monkey Island 2, Guybrush Threepwood is unexplainably found on the sea, after an undefined adventure he had, and his escape from the Big Whoop where he was trapped for five years (mirroring the real-time interval between the two games). He eventually approaches Plunder Island and is recaptured by LeChuck. While seeking a way out, Guybrush causes LeChuck to blast himself to smithereens (though he does return later), finds a diamond ring in LeChuck's treasure hold, and escapes the ship whilst sinking it.

He then reunites with his love, Elaine Marley and officially proposes to her, offering her the diamond ring he found on LeChuck's ship. Unbeknownst to him is the fact that the ring is cursed -- Elaine gets turned into a gold statue as soon as she puts it on. Guybrush must then retrieve the statue (which is stolen almost immediately) and return her to human form.

The Voodoo Lady tells Guybrush that he must travel to Blood Island to find a certain uncursed diamond ring to break the spell. Guybrush will meet the legendary Goodsoup family, fiddle with its lineage, meet once again the vegetarian Cannibals and finally beat LeChuck, who was gathering victims to join his undead army in the meantime.

Details

Ron Gilbert parted ways with the series after Monkey Island 2, and the new project leaders and designers were Jonathan Ackley and Larry Ahern. Voice actor Dominic Armato provided the voice of Guybrush Threepwood. The game was released on CD-ROM in 1997. It was later included on a CD-ROM compilation of Monkey Island games, bundled with The Secret of Monkey Island and LeChuck's Revenge.

After 'CMI' shipped, a Monkey Island movie was in the works. This was only brought to light when Tony Stacchi, a concept artist for the project, sent his work to The Scumm Bar, a Monkey Island fansite. The movie was cancelled in the very early stages of development. They published the artwork on their site. Note that despite the name, this movie was not to be based on 'CMI' but rather on original material that was inspired by the entire Monkey Island series.

Reactions

Like the earlier Monkey Island games, CMI received nearly uniform positive reviews in the press. GameSpot praised the graphics style for making the game "as much fun to watch as it is to play", JustAdventure emphasized that the "music is the best I've ever heard in a game; it never stops and it's never annoying; it's always a joy". . The Adventure Classic Gaming review addressed plot criticism, saying "some [..." target="_blank" >* may criticize the numerous farfetched plot twists in this game", while "some may just call it creative writing!" , and Adrenaline Vault likened CMI to the adventure genre as a whole, saying: "The twin vitals of an adventure game are a good plot coupled with strong dialogue. This game has both, in spades."

On the other hand, AdventureGamers, though citing the graphic style's "refusal to take itself seriously" was adding "immensely to the game's charm", found the secondary characters "criminally underdeveloped" and the ending "an anticlimax, leaving the player thinking he could have done so much more, if only the game’s programmers had let him", the abrupt ending also a criticism voiced in the favourable reviews of GameSpot and JustAdventure. Also, PC Zone described that due to the introduction of cartoon-ish graphics "for Monkey devotees of the first two titles something tiny and almost intangible has been lost", while still scoring the game a 92/100 praising the voiceover work and humour of the game.

Awards

Trivia

  • Crew member and skilled musician Edward Van Helgen is named after the Van Halen lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen.
  • The Puerto Pollo hairdressers is called "The Barbery Coast", a pun on the Barbary Coast (the northwest coast of Africa) and presumably a reference to the Barbary pirates.
  • CMI leaves a gap in the series for Mac users since it was never released for that platform (the free software ScummVM interpreter supports CMI on the Macintosh, provided that the interested mac user has the PC software).
  • In the game, Guybrush has a deathly fear of porcelain. Bill Tiller, CMI lead artist, has revealed that "it is just a joke. It means nothing. Why would anyone be afraid of porcelain?"
  • A storyboard of a sequence between the two final chapters has been circulating the Internet, explaining what happened before Guybrush enters the Rollercoaster of Death; due to time constraints, this scene did not make it to the finished product. The storyboard can be seen here.

Cast

References

External links

1997 computer and video games | Monkey Island series | ScummVM supported games | Windows games | Piracy computer and video games

The Curse of Monkey Island | The Curse of Monkey Island | The Curse of Monkey Island | Monkey Island | The Curse of Monkey Island

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "The Curse of Monkey Island".

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