Treasure Island

Louis Stevenson's classic, Treasure Island, is probably the most famous pirate tale of all time. The protagonist, a boy named Jim Hawkins, acquires a map to an infamous pirate's hoarded treasure, and he and his friends set out to find it. They enlist the help of several sea-faring men, among them a chef by the name of Long John Silver. Of course, things are not as simple as they original seem, and before long, Jim finds himself embroiled in a web of intrigue, deceit, and danger.

This game based on that book has mixed qualities. On one hand, it is rather enjoyably faithful to the book, but on the other hand, there are some scenes that one would not really know the significance of unless he had read the book. The first couple chapters, in particular, seem to have some parts like that. Some of these scenes are optional, though, and it seems that some of the puzzles had multiple solutions, which is always an interesting thing to see in older text games. The puzzles are, for the most part, fair. There are a couple spots in which one might be stuck for a bit but there's nothing that will discourage the persistent. One of my bigger concerns was that the game doesn't successfully present the book's somewhat complex intrigues and manipulations but rather only alludes to them lightly. This, though, is partially remedied by a likeable depiction of Long John Silver.

Overall, there are a lot of nice touches that help one get into the feel of the game, and the internal speaker music isn't half bad, either. I'd recommend this game to anyone who isn't a lousy landlubber. Arr!

Review By HOTUD