Sometimes it's enough to just be good, instead of reinventing the wheel. Monkey 2 arguably suffered from being overambitious, slowly falling apart as you got further along in your hunt for the treasure map. Curse of Monkey Island drops the dead weight and just lets the game flow. Great puzzles with great writing. The art style is gorgeous and for the first time that these characters have gotten voices: It's a killer cast. Its only real flaw is the last section, which turns in an endless Dialogue Tree slog.