Chillingo / Tetraedge recently released an iPhone port of the well reviewed island adventure Jules Verne’s Return to Mysterious Island [App Store], based on the 1874 novel by the noted French science fiction author.
While not a first-person adventure in the strictest sense of the term, the game features point to point “motion" with a look-anywhere view mechanic reminiscent of Zork Nemesis and Myst III: Exile. In fact, the swipe-to-view control offers smoother view motion than either of the aforementioned PC classics. When examining the surroundings in a given position, key items are marked with either an arrow for the option of moving to the designated location or a gear-wheel which indicates that action of some sort can be carried out on the object in question. Well integrated into the surrounding view are animated sequences (birds flying above a cliff, crabs crawling about the sand, etc.) that add to the game’s overall sense of setting.
Certain marked items can be picked up and added to the inventory straight away, while others require a key item to be equipped (held in hand) to successfully negotiate (example: a vine can be cut and obtained only if a knife is held in hand). Adding greatly to the compexitiy of the game is the need to combine certain items in order to get a task done. I don’t want to give away any specifics to spoil the challenge but, for example, one might need to combine a rubber cord with a forked twig to form a slingshot in order to defend against an aggressive island animal. And such combinations are, often, not particularly obvious.
The iPhone version, weighing in at just under 300 MB, is a somewhat cut-down version of the 1 GB PC original. As such, some of the story elements have been omitted, along with certain other details such as ambient island sounds (wave lapping on the shore, birds chirping, etc.). But the core gameplay elements are certainly represented.
I greatly enjoyed adventures of this sort on the PC through the years and am very pleased to see the genre so well represented on the iPhone platform. Return to Mysterious Island is a well-evolved take on the formula. The island game world is rich with detail and draws the player into the game world with ease. It’s a welcome alternative to so many pick-up action / adventure titles in the App Store.
If there’s an adventurer buried somewhere inside you, Return to Mysterious Island is a game not to be missed.
[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]
App Store Link: Return to Mysterious Island, $4.99
