Every Lucasarts Adventure Game: Ranked Worst To Best

The Curse of Monkey Island is an astonishingly produced adventure game from top to bottom. The puzzles are both appropriately thematic and devious without ever becoming frustratingly opaque. The animation, though it suffers today from a native 1997 resolution, has the charm and vivacity to rival the best Disney efforts. The writing, even without the collective pen of Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer, doesn't grasp for wit, with Dominic Amato's interpretation as Guybrush allaying IndyIV-inspired fears of the series' first step into the talkies. There's even an utterly phenomenal musical interlude, with gaming's best ever scurvy-related punchline.

So what's the problem? Simple: Curse of Monkey Island, nominally or not, just isn't Monkey Island. The departure of creator Ron Gilbert following the second title meant that, whilst in more than capable hands, the third game has a completely different tone, more fantasy parody than mordant satire. And that's without mentioning the terrible, terrible things it does to help explain Monkey Island 2's controversial ending.

Does this make it a bad game? No. But for Monkey Island die-hards, it's still a tough vichyssoise to swallow.

That song though...