Customer Reviews

Zoombinis Island Odyssey

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Me (14) and my sister (10) bought the Logical Journey of the Zombinis maybe 4 years ago and it was sooo much fun. Im sick of all these bad reviews beause they are all lies. when my sister was five and we had this game she was not completely confused like some other people are from other reviews. and people say that it is the same logic over and over, NOT TRUE, it is soo different and each level of difficulty makes the puzzle much different. This game takes you though an arcane island filled with different adventures to save the zoombinis, from pizza making to mud throwing, its all fun. My sister and i used to play it 24/7. We had no clue it was even educational and my parents were so happy when they saw us getting further and further into the game. I have to say, we cut down on the playing a little bit because it got kind of boring if you play it every day. Even i am still challenged by this amazing game.I just got a new labtop, i tried zombinis on it and it didnt work :( but it worked on my sisters so we still got to play. I heard just weeks ago that not one but two sequels to the zombinis are out!! i cant wait to buy them. This game really works on any type of computer except mine ( a compaq windows xp presario 2100). THIS GAME REALLY IS AMAZING!!!!

Although Zoombinis Mountain Rescue works fine on MacOS X (Panther), neither of the other two Zoombini adventures (Island Odyssey and Maths Journey) work on either my iMac or my eMac - they either crash after the opening video or don't run at all. Island Odyssey claims to be X compatible. Maths Journey ought to run under Classic. The Reader Rabbit CDs work fine under Classic.

Tech support don't bother to reply or say they don't support it any more.

As one of the biggest Zoombinis fans on the planet, I was really excited to find out that The Learning Company was making a third Zoombinis title, though not as surprised as when I had found out about the second. This game has fewer puzzles than the first two, but includes science, while the others were just math and logic. There are seven different puzzles, each with three levels of difficulty. Once you perfectly beat a puzzle on one level three times, you are upgraded to the next skill level for that puzzle. Unlike the first two, however, you are able to step down from a higher level if it is too hard, then go back up any time. This makes it so that you are not afraid to do well. There are two puzzles based on games from "Logical Journey", as happened to several in the sequel, "Mountain Rescue." The plot this time involves returning to the homeland, which the Bloats, mean Viking-type creatures, have evacuated after chasing you out (at the beginning of the first game, Logical Journey). They have left the environment a mess, so the Zoombinis must return to save the creatures living there. This game was much easier than the others, and only took me five days to beat (at one to two hours per day), whereas I would have to play for five days straight to beat the first game, requiring you to keep playing harder puzzles and get about three times the Zoombinis through nearly twice as many puzzles. The graphics have, once again, been upgraded, making older computers unable to play it (though newer computers have trouble playing the original editions of the first game). The puzzles involve absolutely nothing dealing with the Zoombinis' physical features, unlike the predecessors, mainly based around their traits. This means that you can make all 240 Zoombinis exactly the same, which is humorous, but confusing. The puzzles are all based on the Zerbles' bodily characteristics, the flower types, or some other thing of nature. This new science concept makes up the other five puzzles, of which my favorite is the "Planetarium". In the planetarium, you must put in coins to make the earth revolve an hour at a time. The sun must also be aligned to hatch cocoons at certain angles. In the higher levels, you have to deal with dollar bills, which make up days, and the cocoons can only hatch in certain lunar phases. Some of the other fun and educational puzzles cover Venn diagramming (overlapping circles), dominating genes in reproduction, synchronizing mechanics, and decoding symbols by identifying patterns. The ending isn't too exciting, just a congratulation message from the narrator. The graphics present a new idea about Zoombinis- their genders are now apparently determined by their eyes, not their hair, as in games one and two. This means that boys can have a ponytail, which is more popular today than when the first game premiered. It also means that girls can be bald, which looks awfully strange. Previously boys always had at least some little hairs on their heads. Despite all of the large changes, "Zoombinis Island Odyssey" remains similar to the first and is almost as much fun, integrating even more educational value. If you liked this game, try the first two, "Logical Journey" and "Mountain Rescue."

The kids picked it up in no time (ages 9 & 6.) Me, I couldn't figure it out but at least they enjoyed it. However they beat it in one day.

My son & I love Zoombinis Logical Adventure. Zoombinis Island Odyssey has not been so well received. It's much shorter & not as creative as the first. If this had been our first Zoombinis game I would have not bought another.

The challenges within the game are good to a waste of time. There are none that are truly spectacular like the Pizza / Arno challenge and the Fleens / Tree challenge of the Logical Journey.

We play many adult and child board and online games and I am not aware of a game that is more mentally stimulating while being fun for a child. My daughter has been playing this since she turned 4 and continues to ask for this series two years later. I am not sure that one needs to have all of the games from the series, since many of the puzzles are based on the same type of logic, but I feel that every child should own a copy of one. Since the puzzles offer four levels of difficulty, most of them would be challenging for the average adult. The great replay value will help boost a child's analytical skills to a point that many of their school tasks become trivial.
Yes, there seem to be a puzzle or two here and there that are confusing and I haven't figured out if the logic is "what it should be", but may be I just don't have that type of logic yet...

The software was fine, however, it was short. My son went through it in less than two weeks. You can repeat the program by entering a new name. He liked it.

I grew up on the original "zoombini's the logical journey" and i love this game. Its very addictive. But I thought for sure I could beat it now, Im an adult! C'mon! But nope.. this game is beyond my brain! Very good for childrens' and adults' minds

My son was VERY disappointed with the Island Odyssey game. He has played both the Logical Journey and the Mountain Rescue and loved them, so I thought buying the third one was a good idea. Instead, it was a WASTE of my money. It brought him to tears because it was so difficult too quickly - unlike the other versions that gradually get harder. If you're looking to buy a Zoombinis game - don't buy this one, buy either Logical Journey or Mountain Rescue instead.

Thought this would be a good game/learning program for my children, WRONG. Will not work. My PC runs XP and is newer.