Clarification on Sinking Island.

I've read many questions regarding the gameplay of this game.
Having played and finished the french version, I deemed it ok to explain a few things here w/o spoiling any of the story.

The game came as a dvd, in french, I didn't see any language option, but I am certain it will come out in English.
The game gives you the option to play it as a regular adventure game or as against the clock game.

The early scenario was that the island was slowly sinking and it is still true with the story.
The story is divided into 3 days all starting at 8am and ending around 10pm with Jack Norm. Every day will bring a new set of visuals that show the degradation of the hotel and the island due the storm that hit the chain of islands.

Jack is being monitored by his superior who constantly calls him on the phone and gives him time deadlines to find such and such crime or ID such and such suspects,...
The game is divided into 13 mini quests and every time you collect items talk to people, a meter indicates how close you are to solving one of the question. When this is done, you have to use the documents, pictures, clues, dialogues,... (there are fingerprint-item match puzzle a la Agatha Christie in it) to reassemble the clues until you get it right.

If you spend too much time looking around, the chief of police will call you again and remind you of how much time you have left ... if you fail, you are dismissed of the case.
I found it very challenging as you want to save your game very often and also save it when you think you are doing ok. There is a lot of running and you cannot skip scenes so you can easily lose a lot of time running all around the island and the hotel.

One thing I found very annoying was the many conversation Jack was having with his wife, forcing him to retreat in his room and preventing you from continuing your investigation, thus spending a lot of time running back to the old spot.
This would not influence the game in the regular advanture setting but in the against the clock mode, every minute counts.

The game isn't impossible. But I had to reload many many times because of the deadline and being unable to finish the objectives.

Another point ... the french version had an anti piracy protection and I found it very hard to start the disc verification process on numerous occasions.

Feel free to ask me any other questions.

Cheers.

Thanks Belgar

For writing about your opinion's on the game...I for one absolutely dislike anything timed

Can you play this game without the times version? I think I read you have two options of game play..

Thanks

Thank heaven you can choose the non timed version. This is on my list, thanks for the info, Belgar

Hello Belgar just woundered have you got a copy in English dont know if you have noticed the thread about Sinking Island below this but one or two of us cant wait to try this game .Nice to hear about the game though ta

I have tried the demo (german?) for Sinking Island. I really like the look of this game. The beautifull art deco setting seems like a perfect way to contrast with a twist a apocalyptic gameplay e.g. the Island is Sinking very fast.

My only complaint was that the demo was way too short, but as an appetizer it really looks great. And plays well, too

/Karsten

From your above description it sounds almost like you are describing one of those 'Casual Games' - yet I thought it was being advertised as a full blown Adventure Game....I'm confused.
Love, Betty Lou

I don't think you could even remotely view this as a casual game BL.

Sue

It is not a casual game, it is full blow point and click adventure game. I just mentioned the art deco settings it litterally blew me away and opened my eyes to the this form of architecture. Think 1930's and early 1940's architecture.

It also struck me hos much discrepancu that were between the art deco settings in the game and the horror of knowing that this beautifull place will sink into the ocean.

Oh, and yes, there are plenty of puzzles in this game...

/Karsten

BL, I'm not sure if you have ever played a Casual Game but you can read a fairly accurate description Here.

Perhaps this will help your impression of what a Casual Game is.

Ana

Thank you for the comments. I confirm it is full blown point and click game only like Sokal can make them.

You can indeed choose which mode you would like. I chose the against the clock, I figured if I played it the regular way the other mode would be kinda pointless.

One thing I did not mention. Be ready for a lot and I mean a lot of dialogues. Anybody who played the Hercule Poirot games will know what I mean.
In essence and to prevent the time cheat, you cannot skip any dialogues, and some might seem to drag on and on.
The story is very deep and the atmosphere is indeed very art-déco and I can tell you that the storyline is filled with suprises and every characters will have you either love/hate them. All are filled with personnal history and rich backgrounds.

As for the clue/quest system.
It is simple yet can be complicated.
As mentioned, you gather clues, items, prints, dialogues froma ll suspects,... you can work on 1 to 3 mini quest at a time, but usually solve them in a certain order, in order to progress in the story.
The pda is separated in categories.
A clue is solved by trying to figure out the answer to the question.

For example "who stood there last night?" to succeed you might be required 3 dialogues, 2 items, 2 prints that would let the pda decide that you have enough info to solve the question. The difficulty comes from matching all of them with the dozens of dialogues, objects,... in your inventory and get a succesful match from the pda. You really play the detective as you have to put yourself in his position by assuming who, what, when,... the question should be answered.

This system is what I was talking about in regards with the lenghty dialogues. Every mini quest solved will have you run back all over the hotel to dialogue again and again with the possible suspects.

Thanks Again, Belgar

I think I will give a whirl...

Apparently the game uses Starforce which throughout the years had destroyed many DVD/CD drives including my brother's. Splinter Cell had it and destroyed my brother's drive. Terrible copy protection program. Looks like i won't be buying this if it's also included on the English version.