Why do some people not like Curse? In 1997 those hand drawn graphics were just extraordinary. I don't know how you couldn't help fall in love. Puzzles were difficult but not too much moon logic
Personally I love Curse. I rate it higher than LeChuck's revenge. In that perfect sweet spot of difficult but fair puzzle design, much like the first game.
Curse only dissapointed in the final chapter that felt rushed. Rest felt perfect for a Lucasart adventure game. When it comes to chapter comparison, I'd put the Tales chapter were Guybrush dies as one of the top5 inthe franchise
I also love Curse. After DotT it’s definitely the Lucas Arts adventure I replayed the most. If there’d been a remake of Curse I’d have bought that too and they’d probably even rank equally on my replay quota.
But the thing is, the game isn’t even in need of a remake (besides maybe for compatibility issues with newer (operating) sysytems but luckily there’s always ScummVM for that) and I think that speaks volumes for the game’s timeless quality.
Curse is 21 years old now and yet the visuals still hold up amazingly well today as does the control scheme. The puzzles are challenging yet still logical - something especially the second part lacked sometimes. Voice acting is great, the humor, including an especially welcome return of the insult sword fighting, is at least on par with - if not even funnier than - in the first two parts. The only grievances I have - as others already have mentioned - all have to do with the last chapter: Rushed finale, disappointing final fight and abrupt ending.
For me the worst part in the series will always be
Escape from MI (the fourth) - Another title of the early 2000s "let’s save the genre with 3D" era, but this time with especially, oftentimes infuriatingly, frustrating controls. The puzzle quality - while still having that Lucas Arts ingenuity shining through from time to time - is quite inferior to the first three titles in the series. Often either too easy but a few also pretty hard/illogical.
Tales is a bit underappreciated imo - The 3D control scheme is still annoying at times but solved much more elegantly than in Escape. Puzzles may be a bit easier than for the other titles but it still shows that a lot of Lucas Arts’ employees had been working at Telltale back then. Tales most shines with its story which is the best of all the MI titles imo.
To sum up, for me Curse is the highlight of the series and still holds up best today despite never having gotten (or been in need of) a remake. Escape on the other hand is definitely the low point. For the ranking in between I have a far tougher time. I’ll probably catch some flack for not definitely being able to put
Secret and
Le Chuck’s Revenge above Tales but imo they all have their respective pros and cons.