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.