Return to Mysterious Island

It says it's compatible with windows 7 and 8 and it's not! I have had nothing but trouble with this game. It crashes constantly to get anywhere you have to keep saving after every activity. That's not a guarantee that it won't crash before you save. I have done everything including compatibility tests, changing from formats, even went to make it compatible with Vista and XP and it didn't help. But I played the game on my XP eons ago and it worked great and I loved the game, Return to Myst. Island 2 Mina's Fate plays great and it has more challenging puzzles but same sort of theme.

This game is one of a kind, and if that is not enough, it's also excellent! THE MOOD - The setting is beautiful. - The sounds are very atmospheric and combine perfectly with the places and vistas. - The feel of isolation, peace and relaxation are second to none in a game. THE GAMEPLAY - The puzzles are clever from start to finish. Never a puzzle feels "cheap" or stupid. - The item mixing system is very original, funny to play, and it's a vital part to win. - The island is a small (not tiny!) place, full packed with things to do and explore. - Never a place becomes obsolete. Every location is part of a network that is available from start to finish once you open it (Metroidvania style!). - You earn points for everything you can do, and you can do things diferently. These points will unlock you things. STORY - No spoilers - The story is very simple and great because of that. Nice plot twists. You feel you would like to be in Mysterious Island. Get this game and be surprised by how good it is! :)

Return to Mysterious Island is a 3D first person view-point and click, heavily inspired by Myst and other similiar games previously made by the Adventure Company, Cyan and Microids. You manually walk around different levels/scenes as there's no free movement. The story is simple, you're a castaway on an island and you need to get home. Eventually you find references to Captain Nemo and his submarine The Nautilus, as this game is very Jules Vernes-inspired. While the puzzles can be interesting and there's a lot to do, I'd say that this game is okay. It's not particulary long and can be annoying at times (looking at you robots...). With that said, it was always satisfying figuring things out and the pacing is quite good, there's nothing that really drags out. If you are interested in these type of point and click games, get it! Otherwise, there's much better games out there that's similiar to it.

While the graphics are obviously dated, there's so much to love about this game. The puzzle solutions are never too obtuse, there are multiple paths to success for most challenges, the hint system is quite well designed, the story is original enough, and the point system keeps replays viable and interesting. There's no pixel hunting or mind-bending solutions to be found. You might learn a little chemistry, though! If you like point and click adventure games, you can't go wrong here.

This is an adventure game at it's best, lots of puzzles, and several ways to complete the objectives. The 360-degree camera is a very interesting dynamic, compared to the classic still screen. Playing it, the hours flew by!