The third instalment of this popular episodic game continues the story established in the previous two chapters. Lair of the Leviathan manages to keep the series from getting stale by making some key changes, while still retaining the trademark wit and charm of the Monkey Island franchise.
Story
Rating 
In the previous instalment, our pirate hero Guybrush Threepwood survived the Siege of Spinner Cay only to have his ship swallowed whole by a giant manatee. Chapter three picks up in the stomach of the sea creature as Guybrush must find a way to escape and continue his search for the voodoo pox curing La Esponga Grande.
Lair of the Leviathan mixes things up a bit by largely leaving the supporting cast of the first two games behind in order to focus on some new characters. Pirate hunter and Guybrush fangirl Morgan LeFlay plays a major role, as does the crazed explorer Coronado De Cava, who until this point had been alluded to but was never seen.
LeFlay is probably the funniest new character introduced so far, and while De Cava is a little more generic they both enhance the plot. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for De Cava’s rather one dimensional crew, but despite that the new faces and expanded role for LeFlay make for a great change in the story’s pace. Also of note is the script, which makes the game the wittiest of the first three chapters. The change in setting and characters, along with the sharper jokes, makes this chapter’s story stand out from its predecessors.
Gameplay
Rating 
Unsurprisingly, no major changes to the gameplay have been made, so you’ll continue to point and click your way through a series of puzzles. However, the puzzles are a little cleverer this time around, with pretty much all of them having a logical answer if you think things through. This is a small but notable step up from the occasionally obtuse puzzles of the previous chapters.
The other big change is the removal of the (relatively) large and maze like jungle environments. Not having to navigate through these makes the game flow more smoothly, and again while not a huge change it’s a little improvement that makes this chapter feel more complete.
Finally, while most puzzles are still solved through manipulating the environment with items, there is an influx in puzzles that are solved through dialogue trees. While generally both hilarious and not too tough to figure out, they can get repetitive to go through time after time if you’re taking the wrong approach. Still, they’re great for mixing up the gameplay a bit and giving players a different kind of puzzle to solve. So while no major gameplay changes have been made, small improvements here and there are noticeable.
