Jump Start Escape From Adventure Island Review

The lovely, soon to be three, Lia was a little young for Jump Start Escape From Adventure Island (recommended for ages 5-9), but being the trooper that she is gave it a valiant effort, often imitating her pappy’s movements with the Wii remote.

We decided to play in Adventure Mode (there is also a Practice Mode that allows you to play individual games) and our first step was to create a character. In deference to my younger partner, we chose to play as a girl. The premise is that a storm has damaged your blimp and necessitated an emergency landing on Adventure Island. Sand dollars are needed to trade for new helium tanks and can be obtained by playing games and completing levels. As with Pet Rescue, navigation is a breeze with the control pad used to walk around, the A button to speak to characters and the B trigger to jump and, when pressed twice, stomp on the ground.

The game begins at the Island Hub where you visit the Tree House, practice your flying skills with a Jet Pack, participate in an Egg Push to return Dodo eggs to their nest, search for missing objects in the Goon Lagoon or show off your dance moves in the Foot Frenzy rhythm game. The other half of the game is accessible when you ride the slide to the Scuba Hub (lots of fun!).

The Scuba Hub takes place under the sea where you can visit the Manta Ray to swim and avoid mines, return pearls to their oysters in the Pearl Push, roll around the sea floor in Bubble Trouble, search for missing objects in the Secret Caverns or put on a Fashion Show. A quick ride in the sub returns you to the Island Hub.

Both areas are plagued by Punk Punks – pesky fur balls – that can be squashed and learning activities adeptly disguised as gameplay. Using the jet pack, for example, requires the player to fly through correct vocabulary answers while zapping mines and incorrect answers. While Lia attempted this game, it was much too complicated for her age. Ditto for riding the manta ray through rings with the correct answers to math problems.

She was much more successful at pearl and egg pushing, both of which were played on the easiest level, and Bubble Trouble which required waving the remote to roll a bubble around the ocean floor in search of letters. She really enjoyed the Fashion Show the most, though I took the liberty of navigating through the menus for her. Once an appropriate outfit has been chosen, you can then strut down the catwalk and strike a pose for the judges. Too funny.

Like all of the Jump Start products, Escape From Adventure Island is a quality product that would be a welcome addition to any family’s library of Wii games. The developers respect their young audience and know how to appeal to them without ‘talking down’ to them. Adventure Island is a brightly colored world that we’ll surely visit again in the near future.

Jump Start graciously provided Just Adventure with a prerelease copy of Escape From Adventure Island for the purposes of this review.