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Destination: Treasure Island

Score: 78%
ESRB: Everyone
Publisher: The Adventure Company
Developer: Nobilis
Media: CD/2
Players: 1
Genre: Adventure

Graphics & Sound:

Destination: Treasure Island has some pretty fair visuals. When compared to other games of this genre, the graphics don't stand out to be top notch, but they aren't bad either.

There isn't anything particularly bad about this game's graphics, but there aren't any areas that really made me stand up and take notice. Everything from the sandy beaches to the jungles and huts come through very clearly and really help to sell the feel of the game, but unless you are sitting there staring at them, the images themselves aren't all that memorable.

Audio is very much in the same boat. Sound effects and music get the job done, but like the graphics, aren't all that noticeable once you shut the game off. At least the game's voicework isn't horrid. There are a few parts that seemed a bit clippy, but overall the work is solid.


Gameplay:

Destination: Treasure Island is an point-and-click adventure taking place after the events of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson book, Treasure Island. Your story will take you through a deserted island in search of a buried treasure. You play Jim Hawkins as he learns of the death of Long John Silver and finds out he is the heir to the old pirate's fortune, if he can find it, that is.

As any adventure gamer would expect, the game's story is sprinkled with tons of puzzles that you need to complete in order to progress. But this game also has a re-occurring mini-game type of puzzle that adds a nice twist to the game, knot tying.

As you progress through the game, you have to learn to tie different types of knots. You are presented with an image of the final knot and the current state of the knot. Next to the current picture, you are given a choice of the next step. Once you have completed the knot, it appears in a particular section of your inventory to be used whenever you think it's appropriate. This was an interesting aspect because not only is it something different that fits really well into the story, but you can make these knots in real life.


Difficulty:

Destination: Treasure Island is pretty tough at times, but there are far more puzzles that you can plow through than will keep you busy. I found that most of the major story-advancing ones were a little tough to get through and required some more thought than most of the events in the game, but there were a few parts of the game that left me stumped for quite a while.

Basically, most gamers who have been playing these types of games for a while won't have that much trouble getting through this game, but other players, who aren't quite as experienced, might find aspects of this game to be a bit tougher.


Game Mechanics:

Destination: Treasure Island is the epitome of point-and-click adventures. There is very little complexity in the control scheme, and very little needed. You use the mouse to move your view around in the 3D world, click on the objects you want to interact with or to go into certain directions and mess with the objects in your inventory. One of my favorite aspects of this genre has always been its simple controls and Treasure Island fits that to a tee.

As I mentioned in the Gameplay section, the most interesting aspect of this game has to be the knot tying challenges because of its possible real-world application and how well it fits into the premise of the story. Though this isn't really a major aspect of the overall game, when it came up, I was always pleased because it wasn't the type of thing I had seen in the dozens of other adventure titles I've played.

When it comes down to it, Destination: Treasure Island has a pretty good story (extending a classic tale), but everything else about the game is pretty average. Ultimately, this game is only for existing Adventure fans that are looking for another story to go through, but probably not for the average gamer.


-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications
AKA Chris Meyer

Minimum System Requirements:



Windows 2000/XP/Vista, 800 MHz Pentium 3, 64 MB, 1.3 GB Disk Space, DirectX compatible sound, 16x CD/DVD-ROM, 64 MB DirextX 9 Compatible Video Card, DirectX 9.0c
 

Test System:



Alienware Aurora m9700 Laptop, Windows XP Professional, AMD Turion 64 Mobile 2.41 GHz, 2 GB Ram, Duel NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS 256MB Video Cards, DirectX 9.0c

Windows ThreadSpace: Hyperbol Sony PlayStation 2 SingStar Amped

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated