by Johnathan Vredeveld

Created on: September 10, 2008   Last Updated: September 17, 2008

1/5

Let me start by saying that you made the right choice in looking at a review prior to buying this game.

Hawaiian Explorer: Lost Island is an "I Spy With My Little Eye" game. You get a list of objects to find on the screen, and you click them as you find them. This game does very little aside from that. There are some small minigames, but they're horrendously boring and nothing about them is explained to you before you start it, meaning the clock is ticking down as you're stuck just trying to figure out what to do.

The storyline is decent at best. Some old man wants to find a secret island in Hawaii, and you're forced to do all the work because he is apparently completely inept. He even makes you go to find his car keys. And while it isn't shown in-game, I'm sure he makes you drive as well.

The music is horrible and repetitive, repeating the same 10-or-so notes over and over until your ears bleed. And it just keeps playing after that. The normal sound effects lack variety as well, using a single sound effect for just about everything that happens in the game. In the very beginning of the game, there is narration... This is terrible as well. To even hear it, you have to turn up the volume, as the music drowns it out so much. Perhaps this is a good thing. You'll want your speakers off for this game.

The graphics... Perhaps the most important part for a game of this genre. And they fall far, far short. Every object you're made to find looks like it was taken by replacing a typical camera lens with a sheet of plastic food wrap. The objects are blurry and nearly indiscernable from one another, and are placed against an equally pathetic background. To top it off, the objects on your list of things to find are often different from what you're actually looking for. The name of the listed item often has multiple meanings. For example, look up "cat" in the dictionary. What you're looking for in the game could be any one of the things listed, EXCEPT for a feline.

The one saving grace of Hawaiian Explorer: Lost Island is... Nothing. There is nothing good about this game. It isn't even worth the time to download the trial version. Stray far, far away from this one, even if you're a fan of the "I Spy" genre.

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