Avast!
Time to set sail on a pirate adventure…and what better adventure
than the one that started them all?

Treasure Island
is the adventure game version of Robert
Louis Stevenson’s classic tale. Here you’ll play the
part of young Jim Hawkins, who acquires a map to Treasure Island from
a drunken patron at the Inn he tends. Unfortunately for you, there
are others looking for the map and treasure as well…namely Long
John Silver and his henchmen. I was very impressed with just how closely
the developers managed to follow the classic storyline and keep it
intact.

A beautiful game,
just begging to be explored…

I
was a bit taken aback by the beauty for the opening screens and attention
to detail. They are all rendered in realtime 3D and the camera pans
through the scenes as you navigate your character in 3rd person. While
I was thrilled with this aspect of the game, I also found it a bit
of a let down. My first reaction was to go into the options and crank
things up.

Quality – low…high….best….BEST
Check!

Resolution – 800×600….1024×768…
1280×1024… 1280×1024 Check!

Wait, that’s it?
What about anti-alias? No option there. Hmmmmm….

So
while we have a game here that has done a great job graphically, we
are left with jagged edges causing those same scenes to suffer by
not being able to view them to their full potential. Why this was
omitted or why the game engine was incapable of doing so seems like
a major oversight. While this might seem like it’s not a big
deal, the jagged edges become glaringly obvious when on the deck of
the ship and having ropes all over the place. The scenes actually
looked pixilated.

Argh…What’s
that you say Flint?

The sound in the game is
high quality orchestral music and the voice acting is professionally
done. Some are a bit over the top, but nothing annoying. There is
quite a bit of dialog in this game, but it never seemed to drag on,
at least not until towards the end of the game.

Too much rum, I
can’t seem to walk straight.

You
navigate thru the scenes by getting some footprint icon and clicking.
The nice things is that you can walk almost everywhere, the not so
nice thing is that you frequently have to take baby steps to get there.
Evidently there are some issues with your character being able to
determine a path to take you where you want to go. Many times I would
click on the other side of the screen only to have to Mr. Hawkins
stop in front of an object along the way because he wasn’t smart
enough to walk around it. For the most part this wasn’t a major
issue, but that was probably because I got used to taking short steps
and guiding him through the scene.

Well puzzle me
timbers

The
puzzles in this game go from completely logical to clueless. Fortunately
the vast majority fell into the logical category. Most are inventory
based with maybe two or three logic-based puzzles. I found them enjoyable
as I managed to make my way to the island, but well, let’s face
it, the entire game is about getting to the island and searching for
the buried treasure! So as the anticipation grows and you finally
get there, you expect to roll up your sleeves and get down to some
serious puzzling. Unfortunately that is not to be, which is probably
the biggest flaw in what is a pretty enjoyable game. Actually, as
the game progressed, I found myself having fewer and fewer puzzles
to solve – all the way to the ending which felt as though I
were being led by the hand to end the game. Disappointing? Yes, very
much so. As with so many adventure games, you can’t help but
feel like most of the effort was put in early on. As you get further
along it seemed like things were rushed to get it out the door.

Seems a cannonball
has ripped thru our waterline…

Glitches.
Having no choice but to CNTL/ALT/DELETE… not cool. Not fun.
It happened to me twice in this game. Once while observing a dice
game, all hotspots seemed to disappear. I couldn’t get out of
the scene or interact with it. Couldn’t even get out to the
menu to try a save. Another time in an abandoned fort, I went to go
upstairs and ended up staring at the rafters. Very strange. No hotspots.
Same routine as before. Cntl/alt/delete time…

We tried to sail
the seven seas, but only managed six

There was so much that
could be great about this game, but it just seemed to keep falling
short. From the graphics being pushed to the edge of perfection, but
coming up short by not having an anti-alias option, to a potential
puzzle-fest searching for buried treasure and never being able to
do so, to great music that stutters during the loading of levels.
So much potential, yet it just seemed to constantly come up short.

I
think the fact that the game still remained an enjoyable experience
despite some frustrating shortcomings is a testament to how much talent
the developers have and just how great they could be if they can tighten
things up. I look forward to whatever they might have in the works
in the future.

System Requirements:

• OS: Windows® 2000/XP
• CPU: 1.4 GHz Pentium®
  3 Processor
• RAM: 256 MB
• Disk Space: 1.5 GB
• CD/DVD-ROM: 16x
• Video Card: 64 MB DirectX®
  9 Compatible Video Card
• Sound: 16-bit DirectX®
  Compatible
• Input: Mouse, Keyboard
  and Speakers