Don't let minor details like the dead millionaire in a wheel chair, on the beach, disturb you. Also don't mind the storm, it will pass in a few days. Your visit will unfortunately have to be a short one, since the entire island is sinking into the sea, but three days should be enough for you to visit everything. Oh, and I hope you can cook, because unfortunately all of the staff has been fired recently so you will have to take care of yourself. Have a nice time, Jack.

Welcome to the latest creation of Benoit Sokal, Sinking Island. If you're going to start playing this with high expectations, remembering Syberia and expecting this to be as good, then you're going to be very disappointed. New comers will probably have a good time since this is a game recommended more to those who have never played any other games by Sokal. Let me be honest and tell you that Syberia was a masterpiece and Sinking Island is most certainly not. It's one of those games that you will forget playing in about 3 days, unfortunately.

You fill the shoes of Jack Norm, an inspector sent to the island of Sagorah to investigate the accidental death of Walter Jones. As soon as you arrive on the island, you are taken to see the body, to determine if this is indeed an accident or a murder. Unfortunately, you discover that not everything is as it seems, and you will have to extend your stay for a couple of days. While trying to discover the identity of the murderer, you will meet the entire family of Walter Jones, who are all present on the island. Apparently, Walter invited all of them here to discuss his inheritance and make an announcement. Too bad he didn't get around to that...

As you begin, you have two different game modes to choose from: Adventure and Race against Time. Adventure is your ordinary game, where you can spend hours and hours walking around the island collecting clues and talking to everyone. Race against time is the new game mode that Sinking Island brings, and is based on the fact that the island is indeed sinking and you have a limited time to solve the crime. Since everything will slowly disappear, quick thinking and a keen eye will be required to discover all the clues in time. The game is divided into three days and the areas that are available on day one, for example, will be covered with water on the following day. Even on adventure mode, you will be interrupted by phone calls from your wife or the need to eat something. These occurrences have no influence on the game, other than taking you from where you were and instantly taking you to your room, or the dining hall on the first floor. That means you will have to walk back to the previous area you were visiting. Oh joy!

Since the story line is one of the most important parts of an adventure game, I was certainly expecting more from this game. The character background is very detailed, and you will get to know pretty much everything about all of them through discussions and items discovered in the hotel. Be sure to read all the documents that you find, since that is required to advance in the game as well as helping you understand the suspects' motivations. Something is missing though, and the dialogue system could have been better implemented. As it is now, all you can do is talk to each character about a subject or item, and they will respond. The problem is that every time you ask the question Jack will use exactly the same words and this gets repetitive.

{pagebreak}

Each of the family members has a reason to hate and want to kill Walter Jones, and most of them are not afraid to admit this. Walter Jones' lawyer is also on the island and so is the architect that built the tower, two more people that could have killed the millionaire. Let's not forget the local beauty, Baina, and her father, Kolio. Both of them have a reason to kill Jones as well, with Baina having been left mute after an accident which was Walter Jones' fault, and Kolio being forced to watch his island sinking into the sea because of the heavy tower.

You will have to discuss with all the characters on the island several times, collect their footprints, photograph their hands and take their fingerprints and so on. This means that a lot of walking and backtracking is required. Taking into consideration the fact that you can't right click to instantly reach the edge of the screen and you don't have a map, traveling will become a problem quickly. At first it is nice, as you're admiring the detailed background, but as you progress, you will get tired of this. Some means of instant travel would have been a life saver.

 Since most of your time in the game will be spent traveling from one location to another, talking to the numerous family members, you will need to keep track of all of their statements and all the clues you find. Let me introduce you to the PPA (Personal Police Assistant), your do-it-all tool. This handy little thing (I'm sure all policemen have one lying around somewhere), will note all statements the suspects make and will keep track of all the fingerprints, footprints and clues that you collect. It is even smart enough to tell you the exact location of every suspect, since they have the bad habit of wandering around the hotel, just when you want to question them. You can also use this to compare fingerprints, measure footprints, check fibers and everything that a modern police laboratory can do (but this one is portable and is the size of my cell phone).

The game is fairly easy and can be finished in two or three days. To progress, you need to fill out a puzzle. The pieces of the puzzle are questions referring to your case. As you discover clues, and note statements that can be used to help you complete a piece of the puzzle, a red bar fills up. When you have everything that you need, you must place all the clues, statements and documents, that you think are required to answer the question, in their place. If you are correct, the piece of the puzzle is solved, the question is answered, and you can progress further. You can call it a day after a certain number of pieces of the puzzle are solved. When the entire puzzle is complete, you will have the name of the murderer. Most of the pieces required to solve a puzzle are obtained in the PPA (actually, I'm starting to think I spent more time in the PPA than in the game) and are a simple matter of trial and error.

The backgrounds are very detailed and a real treat for the eye. The atmosphere created on day one, when you're searching for clues on the beach mostly, listening to the roaring wind and walking through the rain is spectacular. The sounds complement the images perfectly and I loved this part of the game. Unfortunately, it all goes downhill from here. The hotel is bleak and the sounds are pretty much missing. I was really disappointed that I couldn't travel to the beach any more. The characters aren't very detailed and the voice acting is pretty poor. The whole "sinking island into the sea" idea could have been used better and the detailed backgrounds combined with a gloomy atmosphere, shady characters, hidden rooms in the tower filled with water, could have created a masterpiece. Unfortunately it seemed more like a cartoon to me. The characters reminded me of certain cartoons, and the voices didn't help at all.

{pagebreak}

Conclusion:

I was certainly expecting more from Sokal and his "Sinking Island", but this is not a bad adventure game, don't get me wrong. It's just ordinary. The "Race against time" game mode is interesting and if you're looking for a challenge be sure to try it. Other than that, the game is easy, traveling is irritating, maneuvering around the hotel is difficult, the characters look like cartoons and the voices chosen don't fit at all. The game has its good parts and is worth finishing, but as it is now, it just seems too... unpolished. Move along, nothing worth remembering here :)

Gameplay: 73

The interesting parts of the game are shadowed by its much more obvious flaws. Everything is too easy, considering you have the all mighty PPA. Nothing is going to rack your brains. Have a finger print and don't know who it belongs to? Use the PPA and find out. Do you have some footprints that are troubling you? Do not worry, the PPA is here. Seriously now, too much of the game revolves around using the PPA and not using your head. The clues are even placed in two different columns so you can't go wrong when comparing something as you always have to compare something from column A with something from column B. Where are the puzzles and mechanical gizmos? Certainly they could have found their place in this weird tower.

Graphics: 74

While everything is nicely done and the colors chosen are appropriate to create a special mood, some of the backgrounds are dull. In comparison with the beach, the hotel lacks life. The areas that you visit have no personality. Nothing to make you stay there for more than is actually required. Detailed backgrounds are not the key to a good game; you have to make them come to life. The characters look like cartoons or dolls that move from place to place.

Sound: 70

The trees swaying in the wind and the lightning bolts that make you want to run for cover are overwhelmed by the silence of the indoor areas. It seems as though everyone is just waiting to die, in their gray rooms, wearing their brown clothes, while listening to the sound of silence. Even the voices are poorly chosen. Especially since you're wondering down those silent halls, you'd expect that meeting someone you can talk to would be refreshing, but only when hearing their voice for the first time do you realize that the halls are actually pleasant.

Multiplayer: n/a

Hardware: 85

Nothing special here, since adventure games usually aren't very demanding when it comes to computing power, so even an old computer will allow you to play this. No notable bugs worth mentioning, and the game creates different saves for each chapter, to help you if you get stuck in the "Race against time" mode.