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| | Publisher: PlayFirst  Genre: Puzzle & Trivia | | | Min OS X: 10.4 CPU: G4 @ 800 MHz Hard Disk: 21 MB Graphics: 800x600 |
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The Mystery of Shark Island is a very pretty game. I was initially quite taken with its beautiful visage of a shell-strewn beach and its relaxing oceanic soundscape.The Mystery is a matching game in which you have to pick shells washed up on the beach by the waves to match. You earn points by successfully matching the shells within a time limit, which is represented in the game by waves. If you don’t match all the pieces in time, then a wave rushes in and washes away the current pieces. In addition to matching shells, you also must locate bits of broken sculptures that you later reassemble. You use the sculptures and keys that you win through your success to unlock doors that allow you to move from one island to the next along an archipelago of islands that look on your map like the outline of a shark. Along the way, you also get a few power ups, such as a high powered brush to remove sand from buried shells, wind to blow debris off the shells, and extra time to work. An article about computer puzzle games in Wikipedia reveals what The Mystery is and is not.
"[The] computer puzzle game is a genre of computer games that emphasize puzzle solving," says the article. "The types of puzzles involved can involve logic, strategy, pattern recognition, sequence solving, word completion or, in some cases, just pure luck."
However, The Mystery does not neatly fit the puzzle genre because, in addition to matching the bits of beach debris, you also learn a little more of the game’s story as you go — and that’s the Mystery of the game. So it’s a bit like peeling an onion and collecting junk at the same time.You see, you begin The Mystery after you have been shipwrecked on a deserted island. You learn in a series of dialog boxes that you’re an oldish man who finds himself on a desolate beach with basically nothing else to do but collect various brightly colored pieces of flotsam and jetsam. Strangely, as you collect more and more junk, you begin to feel better. Your aches and pains improve and soon you lose the need for your glasses. And as you feel better, you begin to hear voices, the sounds of children playing in the distance. Hmm, perhaps all this time alone in the sun is driving you insane? I’ll let you find the mystery out for yourself. In addition to the story mode, the game also offers an Arcade mode. In Arcade, you have no story, but just collect shells as fast as you can. If you choose to play Arcade mode before trying your hand at Story mode, you may find it to be quite difficult. However, if you learn the necessary skills while solving the great mystery, you will have an easier time coping with the demands of the Arcade. Some may find The Mystery to be an accessible and painless way to pass the time. However, others may view the game as too easy, repetitive and somewhat pointless. My kids (10, 13 and 18) complained that the Story mode started too easy. Personally, I didn’t mind the easy beginning. The game proved quite addictive, and my 10- and 13-year-old daughters spent a weekend taking turns playing until they had completely run through all the levels to find out how the story turned out. Near the end, they were hard pressed to find the required pieces within the allotted time, but they were driven on with curiosity to know how it all turns out. And this is the one weakness of The Mystery — replay value. Once you have completed all the levels and learned the story, it’s hard to get excited about playing it again. Nevertheless, PlayFirst has tried to address this issue with not only a local high scores list, but also a global scores list. The global list records your scores on the Internet so you can complete with players all over the world. Overall, The Mystery of Shark Island is an enjoyable little game. It’s a pretty and challenging way to pretend you’re on the beach. Pros • Interesting matching game
• Engaging storyline
• Beautiful graphics
• Pretty soundtrack and effects
• Global high scores adds replay valueCons • Repetitious game play can become dull
• Arcade mode skill level starts a too hard
• Once mystery solved replay value decreased
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