In the last couple of months adventure games have been popping out like mushrooms after rain. Microids is one the developing teams we have to thank for this fact. They are also the developers of the adventure detective game Sinking Island.
In this game, you take the role of police inspector Jack Norm and try to collect as much evidence as possible about a brutal murder. There are no puzzles and mind games, just factography and solving the murder of Walter Jones, an eccentric multimillionaire who built a huge hotel on a Pacific island called Sagorah. You arrive to the scene of the crime by helicopter to find old Jones dead, lying near his wheelchair on the coast of the island. There are about ten suspects on this lonely island. The game was obviously inspired by an Agatha Christie novel.
There are two modes in the game: the classic adventure mode, and the "Race against time" mode. I recommend finishing the game in the classic mode before starting the race against time. Another novelty is the PPA (Personal Police Assistant) in which you store all the evidence and conversations with the suspects. The first stage of the game is finding out if the death of Walter Jones was an accident or a murder. Your PPA piles up with information and evidence after taking photos of the scene of the crime and after talking with people on the island. You can then put all the evidence and conversations you think are important to figuring out if the case was an accident or a murder together and find out if they will lead to the solution by clicking OK. When you solve the first question, you progress bar moves. That gives you the feeling of opening up a new chapter in a crime novel. The atmosphere in the game is great, but the graphics could have been better. The 3D modeled characters on a 2D background are not a very good solution, and the movement and camera can be annoying at times. The sound and the voice acting are great, though.
Although this game has it's bugs and although it could have been a lot better considering that it came out of Microids studios, I would recommend giving it a chance, but only if you are a real adventure game fan.
