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Information About

The Curse Of Monkey Island




  developer LucasArts
  publisher LucasArts
  designer Jonathan Ackley <br /> Larry Ahern
  engine SCUMM
  released 1997
  genre Adventure Game
  modes Single Player
  ratings ESRB : Everyone (6+)
  platforms Windows
  media CD (2)
  requirements 90MHz processor, 16MB RAM , PCI graphics card, DirectX 50
  input Mouse
  preceded By LeChuck's Revenge
  followed By Escape From Monkey Island


''The Curse of Monkey Island'' ('''''CMI''''') is the third game in the ''''. ''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.


STORY


After the vague and surrealistic ending of ''Monkey Island 2'', Guybrush Threepwood is unexplainably found in 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 but his boat is capsized and he escapes.

He then reunites with his love, Elaine Marley and officially proposes to her, offering (unbeknownst to him) a cursed ring he found in LeChuck's hold. Elaine then turns into a Gold Statue . Guybrush must then retrieve the statue (which is stolen almost immediately) and turn her back.

The Voodoo Lady tells Guybrush that he must travel to Blood Island to find a certain other ring to dispel the spell. Guybrush will meet the legendary family of Goodsoups, become a part of it and their dead ancestors, meet once again the Vegetarian Cannibals and finally beat LeChuck, who in the meantime gathered victims to join his undead army, once and for all.


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 . The movie was cancelled in the very early stages of development. They published the artwork on their site .


REACTIONS

Like the earlier ''Monkey Island games'', ''CMI'' received nearly uniform positive reviews in the press. 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

  • Adventure Game of the Year, '' Computer Gaming World '' and '' PC Gamer '' magazines

  • Special Achievement in Art Direction, ''Computer Gaming World'' magazine



TRIVIA

  • ''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, although the required data files for the game are not freely distributable).

  • In that game, Guybrush introduces a deathly fear of Porcelain . This is said by the developers to be a reference to a fight in the first game, '' The Secret Of Monkey Island '' in which he gets hit in the head with a vase. However, in that fight, it is in fact Guybrush who hits his enemy over the head, not vice versa.

  • A Storyboard of the full ending sequence has been circulating the internet, explaining what happened in the abrupt ending, which was not possible to make it to the finished product.



REFERENCES