Anyone who enjoyed – and misses – the lively inventiveness
of the classic Humongous characters Putt Putt, Spy Fox & Freddie
Fish need look no further than developer Rebelmind’s Great
Journey for what may be the next big thing in children’s adventure
games.

Granted there are no talking cars, fish or foxes anywhere in sight
and the main characters are a young boy (or girl, depending on your
choice at the beginning of the game) and a boat captain but the same
spirit of childlike wonder and adventure permeates Great Journey as does any good adventure worth its salt.

Great Journey is an ecological
themed game (I hear you out there saying ‘yuck, education’, but it’s not that bad,
really) about a 10-year old boy who receives a post-card from his
friend in Antarctica with a plea for help. Apparently, something
bad is going on in his land – an unknown individual is secretly
throwing out garbage onto the clean, white snow and the friend asks
Tony for his help in uncovering the identity of this mysterious character
before the snow melts. Before long, Tony and the captain set sail
around the world (okay, I gotta ask – where are this kid’s
parents?) and, of course, solve numerous problems and overcome many
obstacles along the way.

Just Adventure was invited to play an exclusive 3-level demo and
was impressed by the easy intertwining of inventory based puzzles
and arcade sequences. The puzzles require some thought but are easily
solved and if the player is hopelessly stuck there is a built-in
hint system that, rather than providing the solution, prods them
in the right direction. The arcade sequences are not your typical
reflex-based situations but instead involve ecological based themes
such as photographing whales or collecting garbage from an ocean
port. The graphics are colorful and vibrant and add immensely to
the overall feeling of pure fun.

While the subject matter
may not initially seem to lend itself to a ‘fun’ atmosphere, Great
Journey does a commendable
job of immersing the player into believable children’s game
world and if you manage to pick up a little ecological education
along the way, well, as Martha Stewart would say, “That’s
a good thing.”