Destination: Treasure Island

High-grade adventure games come out extremely rare, so the arrival of Kheops Studio’s Destination: Treasure Island is cause for celebration. The game is successfully based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic pirate novel.

The story takes place four years after the end of the original story. Jim Hawkins is now the captain and sets off on another treasure hunt, with a group of deadly pirates right behind him hoping to find the treasure themselves. But his way is complicated by a great amount of riddles which he has to solve. 

As to the gameplay itself, it consists primarily of exploration, with a good mixture of inventory and logic puzzles. Occasionally, a puzzle may have more than one solution and it produces the effect of suddenness. You are helped along by Mr. Silver’s inspiring (and often surprisingly helpful) enigmas, which are long riddles written in verse form. But frankly speaking most of the puzzles are based with some minor logic required and rather easy to solve. 

The artwork, as always, is outstanding. The game is bright and vibrant with color throughout. The sun is always bright, the sky is always blue, the water is always clear, and the vegetation is always lush. Still we cannot but note the lack of animations and dialogs. Thus, it makes the game a bit dated.

Overall, Destination: Treasure Island is a wonderful game. The excellent artwork, the somewhat whimsical story line, the good puzzles place the game in a good light. It should be enjoyed by adventure gamers of all ages!

9, October 2009