fov

Very entertaining review! I hadn't heard too much about the game until this point so reading Jack's take on it really piqued my interest.

I'm not normally into (or very good at) the first-person node based games... I get lonely and I have a terrible sense of direction. I can't keep track of where I came from or where I'm going. Just curious if Jack (or others who have played this) find the navigation in this game to be better than in other node-based games, or if I would probably have the same problems that I've had in games like Riven.

-emily

EasilyConfused

I don't know about RMI--I didn't find navigating Kheops' last game, The Egyptian Prophecy, too hard, although I know what you mean about node-based games. But I don't have a totally screwed up sense of direction, I just get freaked when the visuals look the same in every direction, so if they don't (like a big volcano in the middle of the island, a sea on the other side) I'm okay. Maybe you too? I don't know. BTW, that room you were talking about getting confused in in Riven IS really confusing, because of the specific layout of the room--I can't even describe it in words because I could never visualize it, but it's not (always) as bad in other parts of the game.

(Flashback to undersea segment of Amerzone where I thought I was really drowning because I couldn't find what I needed to . . . realistic air-pump noise coming through hose making hissing sounds . . . lost . . . ack.) Okay maybe I do have a bad sense of direction.

Anyway, I thought it was a really good and entertaining review. The other reviews I've read just talked about the inventory system, so I didn't know there were non-inventory puzzles in the game. Very helpful, thanks!

Jackal

RMI is very forgiving in that area, Emily. The nodes move you forward in bite-sized (whoops - more food imagery!) steps, so you never get twisted around and discombobulated. And each location is fairly small and easy to distinguish from the others. So you won't find yourself getting lost no matter how terrible your sense of direction is.

Legolas813

in case you all are interested, Gamespot just reviewed RTMI (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure...nd/review.html)......they gave it a 7.3

kwbridge

Emily - I'm not a fan of first person node based games either. It isn't so much because I feel lost I just prefer 3rd person games. So, I don't know why I even bought Return to Mysterious Island. But other than it being too short it was so much fun. I loved the inventory system and the fact that you could make different objects and that there was often more than one solution to a puzzle. It was kind of a rush when you would finally figure out what the 5 objects were to make another object and what to use it for.

I saw the Gamespot review and was really surprised - that's one of the best reviews for a non-Myst/Syberia adventure game in quite some time. The reviewer, however, could learn a lot from our illustrious editor

Mattsius

Suck-up.

Jackal

Don't mind Mattsius, Kim. He's just miffed because his plans for AG domination went pfffffffft. Now he has to start all over again.

As for Gamespot, I've been interested to see some mainstream reviews for this game. The trend is to give the 3/P story-driven games consistently higher scores, so I've wondered how this one would go over. So far, so (pretty) good.

kwbridge

That's right

No really - read both reviews and you'll see what I mean. Jack's is interesting and funny while the other is just blah - even though that is a really good Gamespot score for a 1st person adventure game.

Mattsius

Or did they?