Return to Mysterious Island
…To an Excellent Adventure Game
Return to Mysterious Island assumes that the island was never destroyed as described in Jules Verne’s novel. Many years after the departure of the original castaways, the island is still uncharted and seemingly uninhabited. On an ambitious journey to sail around the world, Mina is caught in a storm and gets stranded on the island. The game starts as Mina wakes up on the shore of the island. She is determined to get away, but first she will have to overcome the island and unlock its mysteries. Walking on the footsteps of the original castaways, it is up to the players to help Mina survive and understand Captain Nemo’s home.
Return to Mysterious Island makes a great sequel to the Jules Verne classic. Fans of the novel will be thrilled to explore famous locations from the book, like the Granite House and the windmill, not to mention the legendary submarine Nautilus. With her resourcefulness, resolve, and scientific aptitude, Mina could have easily been the protagonist in a Jules Verne novel. Mina even heals and tames a monkey like the characters in the novel. However, the game can easily appeal to those who know nothing about the story behind it. Return to Mysterious Island is about a young woman’s will to survive in a hostile environment. It is an adventure about overcoming challenges and finding the hope to carry on in a most unlikely place.
The Adventure Company delivers a very successful game with Return to Mysterious Island. The pre-rendered graphics are very impressive and inspiring. The island is full of interesting details and visual appeal. The music is pleasant and appropriate for the theme of the game. The mouse-based interface is simple and intuitive. The first-person view will be familiar to the players of games like Myst, The Crystal Key, or Atlantis: The Lost Tales. The puzzles are intelligent, fairly rich in variety, and fit logically into the story.
At the beginning of the game, Mina is weakened and hungry after her ordeals in the sea. Thus, the first task of the game is to help Mina regain her strength. The simple challenge of finding food and starting a fire on a deserted island is enough to reveal the beauty of Return to Mysterious Island. The players will have to be creative and make use of the objects along the beach to help Mina recover her energy. Once Mina is strong enough to explore the island, the players will be able to visit the locations from the novel, unravel the history of the island, and understand its inner workings. Creative thinking and careful observation will be required at every step. Players will have to reinvent simple tools and make use of the inventions of Captain Nemo and the five castaways to overcome the game’s challenges.
One of the most interesting features of Return to Mysterious Island is its approach to puzzle solutions. Many of the inventory-based puzzles in the game have more than one solution. Different item combinations can be used to create the same object. For instance, the player is not limited to the specific branch of a specific tree to create a fishing pole. This makes the item-related puzzles in Return to Mysterious Island far more logical than many other adventure games. Furthermore, the ability to use multiple items for the same purpose increases the likelihood of players finding the items they need to complete the game. However, this puzzle structure also means that players are likely to end up with a number of items they will never use throughout the game...........