Return To Mysterious Island

Rating:
Summary: Fine game, what there is of it
Review: A sweet and engaging little game, with just enough challenge to keep your brain working and some cool places to explore. If the plot is a little far-fetched, well, that's a computer game, right? Graphics are excellent, and the music is lovely; acting and writing both work very well. Puzzles are of the constructing-a-battery-out-of-lemon-juice variety. There are very few timed puzzles, and those aren't difficult, even for fumble-fingered players like me. No violence or anything else objectionable, but some of the puzzles might be a little challenging for kids under 12 or so.

The only real drawback to the game is its brevity. This is one of the fastest games I've played in a long time. There are multiple routes to reach the end, but that doesn't increase playability to the point where you'll want to play the game more than about twice. It's a shame, because the environment is so attractive and the characters so much fun that I wanted to explore it more.

Going to keep my eyes on these guys and see what they come up with next!

Rating:
Summary: Unique, fun, and short.
Review: This game starts you off on a remote island where you are lost. You have to eat, which is a puzzle in itself. Then you explore the island, trying to find a way home. Most of the puzzles in this game are logical, except 2 or 3 which involve you tinkering with it until you get it. I had to look at a walkthrough for 1 such puzzle, because the clue they gave didn't make sense.

The graphics are beautiful - and they are not still shots like in many other adventure games. Each shot has something moving in it -- anything from a butterfly to a monkey hurling rocks at you.

A couple of scenes involve your quick thinking. Hang around too long and you're dead. But rest assured, if you die, it resets to just before that scene (so no worries if you forgot to save).

Another great thing about this game is that there are multiple ways to do almost every puzzle. You can assemble things and make different chemicals, weapons, foods, etc. It's nice to have some flexibility in the game, especially if you didn't find an object that's needed to make something.

The ending is quick and sudden, but exactly what I expected. The surprises came in the middle of the game. The game is based on a Jules Verne novel -- but don't expect the same quality of story line. It's good, but not a classic novel by any means.

The real downfall of this game is the length. It is considerably shorter than many other adventure games - even shorter than Syberia. Still, the price tag makes up for that fact. The game's price debuted at a mere $20 list, whereas other games are $40+.

For this price, you might as well pick it up and play this good, though short game.

Rating:
Summary: If you liked the book this may be for you
Review: This more of a fan work then a fully dedicated game, If you've read Mysterious island this is kinda neat because you get to see a lot of the locations on the island (although they are far closer together then you would think :). But as a stand alone game, not so great, it's mostly just fan work.

Rating:
Summary: Great Game, But Extremely Short!
Review: This was the shortest game I have ever played! The ending came abruptly and was unexpected. It was sort of like, "Oh? Is that all?"

The graphics in the game are absolutely gorgeous! The sound effects are minimal, but what exists are great.

The game is very inventory-heavy. This is the first game I've played that is like this. Many inventory items can be combined to make other items. Some combinations involve combining six or more items! For all the combining I did in the game, I used very little of the resulting items.

The game did crash my system a couple of times -- I don't know why. I am running Windows XP on a one-year old computer with 160 GB hard drive, 256 MB video card, and 512 MB RAM.

The puzzles ranged from easy to hard. Nothing really new or ground-breaking in the puzzles.

There were several parts of the island that were "dead ends" -- you couldn't explore them at all. Also, the cell phone/PDA feature that is built into the game was hardly utilized at all.
With all of these "unused" features combined with the game's extreme shortness, I feel the manufacturer might have had more planned for this game but cut it short in the end.

The abrupt ending combined with all of the unused inventory items, all the unused combined inventory items, and the unexplorable areas made this game a sort of letdown. That's why I only gave it three stars.