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Unique, fun, and short.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 81 / 81
Date: November 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

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.

Fine game, what there is of it

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 71 / 73
Date: December 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

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!

Great Game, But Extremely Short!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: January 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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.

If you liked the book this may be for you

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: February 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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.

I never got to see the ending!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 9
Date: February 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

If you're into storylines, this isn't for you. It's too much about heavy thinking, building things and using your inventory than providing you with an indepth plot and some good characters. I enjoyed the graphics, but it wasn't as good as most out there. I spent about 2 weeks on and off with this game, and when I finally got to the end movie, there was a glitch and all I got was a black screen. It's pretty obvious what happens so I didn't bother to replay it, plus I wasn't into it enough to care what happened. Too much brain work involved.

Really fun game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: March 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I liked this game a lot. It was fun to find and combine inventory items to make new items. The game was easy enough to play and the puzzles related to the game and were fun. I didn't give it 5 stars because it was just too short. I finished the game in about 6 hours. I would have liked to have had another 10+ hours of game play. The graphics are great and the story is really fun.

best game of the year

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: May 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I fiund this game to be very good, with logical solutions to the puzzles, except for one at the 215 point level (searching for what to do next was tough). My taste ruhs to the "Monkey Island" kind of game.

This game is laborious

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 12
Date: May 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I've been playing adventure games for several years and always seem to have trouble with games from the Adventure Company. The inventory acquisition logic leaves a whole lot to be desired. Initially it was quite entertaining. But then the game designers' logic took a wild turn and I now find myself GUESSING as to what the game designer wants me to do next rather than thinking about what the next step should be following in logical sequence. More specifically:

1. Pixel hunting. It does not make a game more interesting if the item you require only shows up if you slooooooooowly move your mouse around the screen. Of course, if what you need is logical and you know you are looking for it, it is no longer a pixel hunt. There is no logic for when and where to obtain items.

2. The acquisition and combination and use logic sucks. I am always worried that I combined something into another item and cannot dismantle it if I need an item used to build it. Do I keep pixel hunting for an unknown item? Do I move on to something else? Do I give up?

I would classify this game as frustrating and laborious. I have none of these questions or problems when I play a game from any other publisher/designer so I am having a difficult time understanding why.

I don't like puzzles either. I'm sure there are puzzles ahead for me but I don't really believe I am going to get that far. So, I don't really care if you buy this game or not.

Drawback

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: July 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

the real drawback are the controls. they are very uncomfortable and slow. this is not an addictive game either.

Good introduction to adventure games

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Return to Mysterious Island was a good starter game. My experience with adventure games was very minimal and this game was really easy to learn... and the story line was interesting. Its from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.... Capt. Nemo was stranded on an island where his ghost still haunts and the main character for this game has to find his body, and put his spirit at rest. You get to run alllll over the island looking for clues and tools. The more creative you get with the tools you find, the more points you gain.

If you're a seasoned gamer, I wouldn't recommend this.

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