Aye, me maties. I hope ye be ready for a swashbuckling good time. I hope ye wit is sharper than thy sword! You'll be needin' it if ya wish to survive the tail of "The Curse of Monkey Island."

The Curse of Monkey Island is the third in what could only be described as probably one of the best puzzle adventure game series of all time. It has been about five years since the last installment of Monkey Island (Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge). Like the first two, you will be helping our lovable wanna-be pirate hero GuybrushThreepwood defeat his archenemy the evil zombie pirate LeChuck (how many times do we have to kill this guy?). LeChuck is up to his dastardly old schemes again. This time he wants to kidnap and marry Governor Elaine, Guybrush's true love. Of course Guybrush drifts (literally) right into the plot just in time to spoil LeChuck's plans. Guybrush then stumbles across a cursed diamond engagement ring in the -- again dead -- LeChuck's treasure hold. Too bad Guybrush doesn't know it's cursed before he slips it on Elaine's finger and turns her into a solid gold statue! Now, as if this is not bad enough, Guybrush forgets to hide her and she is stolen by a group of mysterious monkey pirates. Now, as Guybrush, you must find your love and get rid of that horrid curse!

The Curse of Monkey Island is divided up into 6 hilarious chapters of animated puzzle solving. For you seasoned adventurers there is a difficult setting with harder puzzles. The game plays much like other Lucas Arts adventure games. Full Throttle comes to mind. You'll want to talk to just about everyone you meet, of course pick up everything that is not nailed down and solve a number of hilarious puzzles. If you do, you will figure out how to lift that evil curse and realize there is a much worse fate to deal with that will require even more brain power and wit.

As I mentioned the gameplay is similar to older Lucas Arts adventure games like Full Throttle. Left clicking will pull up an action menu or "verb coin" that lets you use your hands, examine something, or eat an item. Lucas Arts still has their funny sense of humor that was alive in the first 2 games of the series. Never overlook conversations in The Curse. They are critical and down right hysterical. The game is done with stunning film quality animation and excellent voice-overs. If you're quick you'll even notice some references to Myst, Yoda, and even a William Shatner impression wrapped into the dialogue.

As you play this game, you'll be dazzled with the spectacular, film-quality animation this game offers. In fact it's so good I almost forgot it was a game! Being Lucas Arts the music, of course, is astonishing. If you listen carefully you'll even hear updated versions of the original music score from the Monkey Island games.

The game is packed with puzzles. The puzzles are, for the most part, well integrated into the games underlying story. They are challenging, well designed and logical without being frustrating. When you come across a puzzle you'll usually need to solve it by right clicking to bring up your handy inventory box. Most of the puzzles are solved with items you have in your possession, so it's important to grab everything you can pick up! Some puzzles will require that you combine items within your inventory to make a new item. If it works you'll know and if it doesn't Guybrush will tell you. Go back to places you have already been after significant events unfold in the plot. New items in old spots will become available to you after certain things have happened. Take for example in level 2, the curse gets worse, in the town of Puerto Pollo I could not open a trunk in the theater, but after I visited Danger Cove and came back, wah-lah!, it was open and I could pick up the contents from inside.

Lucas Arts has even thrown in some arcade style action. In the 3rd level, you'll get to try your pirating skills at ship-to-ship combat. This segment proves to be a high point of the game as well as a down right funny one! You will trade memorable insults, (some from the original Monkey Island game) in sword fights. If you get tired of the ship-to-ship combat you can just skip through them. However, you won't be able to skip the sword fights. You will not want to anyway! It's really funny!

The only thing I could find to gripe about was the ending. It was like, "That's it? That's the end?" Also, it was a bit anticlimactic after waiting five years for a sequel. It was just too short. I was able to sail through the game in about 15 hours. Still, if you liked the original Monkey Island games or other Lucas Arts adventure games, like Full Throttle or Sam N Max, then Curse of Monkey Island will satisfy your adventure game needs. Heck, it will even satisfy those of you who don't normally go for the graphic adventure games.