It's been a little more than a week since Mystery of the Map Island released to Members on Thursday. It was also the first island in a long time to have a demo for non-Members. The demo is actually of a nice length — you can get as far as rescuing Octavian — so what did you guys all think about the island? Something about it (and OK, the long weekend too) made me want to write a short review. So, here it is!
Quality
The first thing I noticed was the theme music (click here to listen or download). It fades into the background at first, but eventually it grows on you and it's an extremely fitting piece for the "island mystery" sort of theme. (Of course, technically all the islands are "island mysteries" but this Mystery of the Map is even more so — more on that later).
Next striking feature: the map. The map is a magical device that not only shows the current state of the island, but allows you to travel anywhere on it with a single click. The attention to detail and quality is pretty stunning. Objects on the map are constantly moving, making it seem even more realistic.
Some more general quality notes: the animations were fairly good, and there were few bugs. No complaints there.
Story
Frankly, the story didn't make very much sense. Sure, if you've read the graphic novel you can follow along, but its mediocre on its own at best. And not even an island that's based on another story should be like that; look at Nabooti, Big Nate, and Red Dragon. Main complaints:
- Several important plot points seem to happen automatically, and the player feels sort of cheated. For example, the Viking on the beach is guarding the gunpowder at first, but then suddenly goes to sleep later.
- The whole gunpowder scheme didn't make sense either. Why would you needlessly demolish a mountain, create a landslide, and change the course of a river, just to get into the fortress? Aren't we as Poptropicans cleverer than that? The island would have been so much more fun if the way to get in was more creative, e.g. distract the guard with the gunpowder and then sneak in through the door. Well, I'm no good at designing an island, but you get my drift.
- Side note: causing a rockslide is dangerous at best (more likely suicidal) and changing the course of a river will definitely destroy the ecosystem that is living there. Not trying to ruin your fun, but I wonder if they should include this in a children's game.
- You're never given a good motive to find and rescue Oliver, Jorge and Mya. In fact, those characters hardly matter at all to the story, whereas they're supposed to be the stars of the show. Neither did they mention anything about the map. I was honestly sympathizing with Octavian the whole way, since he seemed the most human, realistic character.
In other, slightly more exciting news... The Creators have announced something new, the Poptropica Hall of Fame. Every week, people who have earned medallions are entered into a raffle (the more medallions you have earned, the more raffle entries to your name). Every Friday, some winners are chosen and their avatars will be put into one of 6 islands. So you basically become an NPC in an island quest for that week, as I understand it. Sweet! Start replaying islands and dressing up in your most unique costumes. As always, check out Poptrickia's walkthroughs for straightforward help on Islands.
