Customer Reviews

Microids: Sinking Island [Old Version]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Praise should be given to Benoit Sokal for developing yet another intriguing and beautifully rendered point-and-click adventure game (like Amerzone, Syberia, and Syberia II). The game is different than his previous ones in that Sinking Island revolves around a murder mystery, making the adventure all the more fun.

The plot centers on a billionaire who is found murdered on his private island, Sagorah in the Maladives (based on the Maldives, I'm assuming). Walter Jones has built a massive Art Deco Revival hotel for the wealthy "jet-set" elites. But it is unfinished and structurally unsound, and there happens to be a powerful hurricane building in the area! Jones has invited his three grandchildren and their spouses/love interests, the hotel's architect, and Jones' personal attorney to the hotel for the weekend. There are also two natives living in a hut on the island. When Jones is found washed up on a rocky beach with his head bashed in, the mystery ensues. You play the part of detective, Jack Norm who is flown out to the island to investigate and as you do you begin to uncover the dark secrets of Jones and the 10 suspects as you question them and pick up clues scattered all about the island.

MAY CONTAIN SLIGHT SPOILERS:

Like most of Sokal's other games, there is a lot of running back and forth through screens that never have anything in them to click on, they are just there to look pretty and add to the atmosphere (which is very well kept, I must say!), which of course adds a lot of wasted time to gameplay. Another disappointment that goes along with this is that there are very few things to click on which is good when you're trying to find clues but not so good when you're wandering around...I mean they could have utilized their space more. The plot is very much like a modernized Agatha Christie-type story that one finds in many TV mystery shows, the only real advancement is having it placed in a sumptuous Art Deco Revival Hotel on a secluded island in the Indian Ocean. The major problem I had with this game was the atrocious final cinematic. The opening was OK, but the ending was just ridiculous at times. Not only did some characters change appearance, but some changed their personality for no apparent reason (right before the ending they were calm, but when you enter the room at the end, they are all of a sudden crazy). Then, I expected that we'd see very cool shots of the beautiful interiors flooding in a "Titanic" fashion, but no, we just see a rather cartoonish-feeling shot of the tower just sliding under the water...I'm unsure how the ocean rose or the island sank enough to consume 22+ stories of building, though. Then, when Jack is explaining everything to the survivors, it sounds like he's an elementary teacher taking questions from his students and explaining the details to their childish minds (not to mention that everyone seemed so unaffected by the calamity, there was nobody crying, or nervous, or anything!)...I don't know that might be a little of an exaggeration, but it just irked me a lot, that ending cinematic! After putting together such a well-crafted game, they almost ruined it with a really dumb ending.

Also, I played the game on an older PC but with a GEforce 5500 FX graphics card and I still had some issues running the game with high graphics quality (probably due to my lower processing speed). So, it should likely work fine on 2.0+ GHZ processors with more than 600 MB of RAM and at least medium-level graphics capabilities (of course you can always lower the level of detail in game, but I feel it detracts from the atmosphere--being that it stops the rain, blowing palm trees, lightning strikes, etc. And it's a DVD-ROM game, so it won't work on regular CD Drives.

So, overall I'd probably give this game a 3.5/5 but I rounded up to 4/5 because I feel the game's pros rather outweighed the cons.

I love adventure games because they make you think and usually have great stories that you can follow along with. In the case with Sinking Island it has a great atmosphere based on a tropical island in the Indian Ocean.

There is a hurricane (cyclone) as they call them in this part of the world brewing nearby which adds to the atmosphere of the game but then comes the story that sinks right into shallow water from the start. I found that the story was strait forward in that you collect clues and question suspects on the island but there was no suspense to be found.

In recent games I have played for example New Life and Darkness Within there is a layer of suspense where you want to find out the next chapter in the story and can't stop playing but this is not the case with Sinking Island. Yes, there is a who done it feel to the story but by the time you reach that conclusion you are bored out of your mind with mindless questioning and clue combinations in your PDA that you really don't care. Actually it's not real hard to figure this out before hand if you pay close attention earlier in the game.

The graphics are good with nice details here and there like swaying palm trees in the wind, crabs on the beach, lightning in the sky, etc. but once you get inside the tower and move aimlessly from floor to floor the game bogs down. Don't get me wrong Sinking Island is a good quality game but it takes more than a good reputation from a well known author who created the well known Siberia series to impress me.

If you like murder mysteries and don't mind many hours of questioning people and clue searching then Sinking Island will be a good choice but if your like me and want more suspense and edge of your seat type of story look else where.

Pros
* nice stormy outdoor environment
* solid voice acting
* good story
* DVD not required after installation
* widescreen-monitor support
* stable
* box said it's a "Psychological Thriller". Well, Gilligan's Island is more thrilling than this game, but that's okay because I play adventure games to relax

Cons
* too much talking overall

* detective asks the same questions to every character yet you can't skip one sentence at a time

* no complete log of conversations so you have to load a previous save if you miss something

* when you load a previous save, the sound is messed up, so you have to restart the game

* mouths don't move

* too much unnecessary walking, especially since there are only a small number of different scenes in the game, so you walk past the same things over and over

* worse, the game will sometimes move you to a different location for no good reason except to artificially prolong the game, then you have to walk back to continue what you were doing. Annoying.

* when start game, can't skip White Bird's advertising, and then it takes a long time to load a previously saved game

* if you walk away from your PC, the game keeps playing (even in "Adventure Mode"), so you must remember to pause it first

* a few locations require pixel hunting because they have no visual clues. This is bad because then you end up feeling that you have to do this at all locations so you don't miss anything

* no cutscenes except for beginning/end of game

* a few obscure puzzles, especially toward end of game, but mostly the game is straigtforward

This could have been another Syberia.

Let's start with the good points.

The game gets off to an impressive start with an action-packed cinematic-quality, opening scene. Within the first few minutes, we are drawn into a totally immersive and stunningly beautiful environment,enhanced by atmospheric, yet unobtrusive music, convincing animation (the palm trees waving in the storm were superb) and totally wonderful visuals - possibly the best Sokal has produced since Syberia.

The Art-Deco interiors represent a cohesive, and very inviting, artistic vision. Sokal is a master of mise-en-scene: his lighting and camera angles contrive to immerse us in the action, even though the viewpoint is third-person throughout. I've always felt that one of the marks of a good Adventure game is the feeling that one would like to actually be there. I would love to have stayed at the Jones Tower.

For the most part, the game is non-linear (though this leads to continuity problems at times).

The puzzles are logical, with plenty of red herrings to confuse the amateur sleuth, but solvable, with a bit of care. I reverted to a walkthrough for one of them, and then felt very sheepish that I hadn't been able to work it out for myself.

The User Interface is enhanced by a Personal Assistant, to help with such routine tasks as fingerprint matching, and breaking the game down into sub-tasks. This seems to be a feature of quite a few games these days. Not a bad idea, since the Adventure model is moving away from strictly Inventory-based puzzles. There are still some
key/screwdriver/blowtorch puzzles for the diehards, though.

The characters are nicely figured, with the usual set of stereotypes one expects in a detective story. Unlike some of Sokal's other work, none of them are caricatures (with the possible exception of the Deceased). Another mark of a good game is the ability to empathise with at least one of the characters, and this is definitely achieved.

However.....

The character animation was a tad eccentric. There was no attempt to animate the lips; the characters attempted to get the message across by a combination of sempahore and grimaces. In long shots, this didn't matter, but all those face-to-face interviews had a surreal quality, reminiscent of Marcel Marceau playing Charades.

The English translation leaves a bit to be desired. In particular, Detective Norm's boss seems to have taken dialog lessons from the great Ed Wood. Add this to the tendency for the characters to insert random stock phrases before and after conversations, and the effect can be unintentionally hilarious.

There are serious continuity problems at times. As with many modern adventure games, conversations are based on clicking thumbnails to discuss topics or items of evidence. There were many occasions where the poor detective, having got a perfectly satisfactory answer to a question from one character, was forced to ask every other character the same question (or even ask the same person the same question, in a slightly different context). This can be tiresome.

The game ends with another impressive cutscene. It's only then that one realises that there have been no others - just two cutscenes in the whole game. Given that the action involves the cataclysmic forces of a typhoon and earthquake, this is somewhat disappointing. I suspect the dead hand of accountancy.

All in all, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this game, and would definitely recommend it.

If you're considering this game, there's a high chance it's because it's from Benoit Sokal, of Syberia fame. Other than being a point-and-click adventure and using the familiar gold-ring cursor, there's little similarities between the two titles. If you haven't played Syberia yet, please stop reading immediately and go purchase the now dirt-cheap 2-pack of Syberia I & II.

Locations: The character on the box cover is outdoors, and two screenshots on the back of the box are also outdoor settings. Don't be fooled. You will spend 98% of your time in a hotel, in rooms that are mostly the same, or generic lounges. The few outdoor locations are completely and permanently closed off to you about a quarter of the way through the game.

Story: The biggest downside here is that it really doesn't matter if you bother to pay attention to the story, because the game doesn't in any way require you to, or reward you for doing so. And it doesn't help that it's so poorly acted. The best voice acting is done by the least interesting characters. The main character's name is Jack Norm. I couldn't tell if this was an intentional attempt to make him seem clever and low-key, but whatever it was it only highlighted his plainness. The inspector uses the same exact kitschy, off-the-cuff phrasing when posing a question to each of 10 suspects. And his forced interactions with his fussy wife via phone add nothing and only serve as a tranquilizer dart to the surly beast of a main story. And periodically the inspector will drop whatever you have him doing, pronounce hunger, and teleport to the dining room to chow on the same poorly-drawn hoagie every time.

Gameplay: The problem is you don't actually solve anything. And there are virtually no puzzles. Your only task is to talk to everyone about everything and find all the pickupable stuff. The actual solving of the crime is done by some kind of crime-solving PDA you carry around. All your statements and evidence are collected there. The computer poses a series of questions about the crime. You collect evidence until it tells you you have enough to answer that question. Then it's a matter of divining the exact right combination of evidence the computer is looking for to support its conclusions. Even after I knew whodunnit, and the game told me I had enough evidence, it took me 30 minutes to figure out exactly what combination of clues the computer was looking for to prove the answer.

Conclusion: Adventure gamers have limited options. If you like mysteries and really need an adeventure fix, this is better than nothing. But I would highly recommend Still Life 2 instead.

This game is sophisticated and well thought out. I liked being able to put the clues together and decide who the murderer was. As usual the graphics were beautiful. It bothered me a bit that the characters mouths did not move during dialogue, but this is fairly minor.

Not a bad game at all--was enjoyable and interesting--kind of like Gabriel Knight 3--definetly get it if you like 3 person adventure games--

The graphics in this game are beautiful and I had no problems with the technical aspects of the game. The story line is good, but I found the endless questioning of the "suspects" tedious and most of the characters weren't very interesting or well developed. If you like Agatha Christie-type games, you will love it. If you like Syberia or Dracula Origin, give it a pass.

I love solving mysteries in games. One of the reasons I love adventure games is because I get solve a mystery or two. This game is set in an exotic location with a murder to solve. I had high hopes, but I was let down.
The game looks amazing. From the outdoor scenery to the indoor style of the hotel, it looks beautiful. What was interesting was the puzzle solving system. I won't go into a large amount of detail, but it breaks the main mystery (a murder) into smaller chunks, making the protagonist have to discover the smaller answers in order to progress to solving the murder. It is a great system, and I really enjoyed it. What hampered the game play for me was the HUGE amount of dialogue, most of which you have to go through, and most of which is uninteresting and not useful.
I don't mind dialogue in adventure games. The Longest Journey, which arguably has the most amount of dialogue in any game, was great. Why? Because the voice acting was amazing, the story was great, and the dialogue mattered. In Sinking Island, I might listen to 10 minutes of dialogue just to get one important clue I have to get to solve one of the mysteries. I understand that much of police work has to do with interviewing suspects, but this game does not make it interesting at all.
This is one of the things I love about adventure gaming: the fact that it reminds me of reading a novel. I have a great main character, good supporting characters, a great conflict, and an interesting story that the protagonist follows. A good adventure game tells you what much of the exposition of a novel does, but does it visually, and with action.
What I'm getting at is the fact that a game has to be exciting, and this one isn't. It has good ideas, but doesn't execute them with any excitement or enthusiasm.

Sinking Island can only be characterized as a disappointment after playing Sokol's other great creation Syberia and then the less enchanting Syberia II.

It's not the fact that its a murder mystery that makes it fall short. And the game has excellent graphics and the sound is pretty good most of the time, but at the end when the plot was really heating up, the sound faltered in spots (I have a high powered gaming machine ~ so this should not have been an issue).

The mystery is set on an ancient island and slight references are made to the mystical ceremonies of the ancient inhabitants and a pyramid is shown in a couple of places. So why didn't the plot delve in any way into the mystical .. Sokol could have have very easily brought any of the ancient mysticism in, with flashbacks, cutaways, references, allusions .. he should have used all of the above. Sokol chose not to go there and we are left with dry toast.

This would have very effectively broken up the tedium of the investigation. Also, the game was all about clues and puzzle solving by matching fingerprints, crime scene items etc. But very little other types of puzzles. Did he not want to overwhelm us?

Bottom line, I kept waiting for 'something else' to happen, to get blown away like I did during the first Syberia, with the automatons and the like. The game took 25 hours, and I'm still waiting. Sokol can, has, and should, do better.