Return To Mysterious Island

List Price: $19.99 Discount Price: $12.60

Features:

• Take on the role of Mina and explore an unchartered island
• Numerous tactile, inventory, and environmental puzzles to solve
• Many inventory items to collect, from basic items to modern technologies
• Beautifully created, lush tropical island setting; built-in hint system
• For players age 13 or older

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Good graphics, bad play [Posted on 2006-05-05]
I borrowed this game from my sister and pretty much did it all in a few hours. Thus, first off, this game is short, it is a series of actions you must figure out and complete in a semi-certain order. Not a lot of room for independence or exploration. This game also is limited - it takes place on a small island with too few screens. Finally, I couldn't even finish it, because at the very end (I won't spoil!) it was basically impossible for me to be fast enough to do one of the required tasks. So I stopped and uninstalled.

Great graphics, but probably not worth the money. I think this is a Myst wanna-be.

Great fun! [Posted on 2007-03-20]
I'm an adventure game junkie. I didn't know exactly what to expect with RTMI, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised from the start.

The game has many variants in play options, so the replay value is high. As a matter of fact, as soon as I finished it the first time I started over again just so that I could try some other approaches to problem solving (and trying to maximize my bonus points).

The inventory system is great - which is important in this game as you'll be spending quite a bit of time there. The obvious puzzle style puzzles were engaging, although not difficult. The true challenge in this game is simply being as resourceful as possible.

Well rendered, lovely to look at and easy to move around in, my only complaint is that the game does seem short. (Of course, I always feel that way about really fun games!) That's truly offset by the fact that you can play it differently time and time again, however.

Smart game [Posted on 2007-06-28]
Return to Mysterious is a definite step up in quality gameplay from others I've recently finished--the action is totally non-linear (everything takes place on a small island) and there are multiple ways to solve every puzzle. Players can earn points for creativity and style, which makes the game replayable if you want to shoot for a higher score.



The reason for my deducting a star is because 99% of the solutions are based on finding and combining (and recombining) inventory items in novel ways to "build" something. OK, that's fine for a few puzzles and I appreciate the amount of thought the developers put into the game, but after a while it began to feel like a long (very long) IQ test. I don't care how gunpowder is made, I don't know how to make cakes out of birds eggs.



I was almost happy to see a slider puzzle.

A Decent Game But That Is All [Posted on 2007-07-02]
You know the drill. Alone on an island, you search for/find/collect/combine/make things. That is the essence of the game. The challenge is to use your ingenuity to cope with your present circumstance. There are only two action sequences in the game. Both are arcade games. The first sequence you can and should ignore. It is a tedious waste of time. There is another way. The second sequence is essential to the game.

As you would expect, this is an inventory game. When I finished the game, I had over 50 items in inventory. This is due to the fact that redundancy is built into the game. At the beginning of the game, the screen displays a "health meter." You must find water and sufficient food to restore you to full health. You will have no problem finding more than enough food. What is left over remains in inventory. If you are dilligent in finding things, you will have enough items in inventory to solve several problems in more than one way. When the problem is solved, the other items remain in inventory. I never found a way to organize the inventory. There are simply too many items, and you are always discovering new ones.

This is not a puzzle game. Rather, there are problems to be solved. There is only one puzzle during the game. You can obviate solving this puzzle with your inventory. The important puzzles are stacked at the end of the game. There is redundancy here also.

The graphics are quite good and sufficiently detailed that it is not difficult to find things. I can remember only two instances where pixel hunting was required.

Those of you who are scientifically challenged will find a few rough patches. Scientific purists, on the other hand, will object to several features in the game such as a Maple tree in Fall color on an island with Palm trees.

All in all, "Return To Mysterious Island" is a game that will keep you interested, but it is not a game that you simply must keep playing.

Your Standard adventure game [Posted on 2007-10-22]
It worked on my notebook, despite its 32MB graphics card, so that was nice.
The game did indeed have an island, and I suppose you could call it mysterious. It also had monkeys which is always a plus in my book, and a female lead character (another plus). The story line was pretty good, but there was a bit of "hunt and click".
So, if you're looking for a standard computer game (first person like Myst), this one is fair.

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