Return To Mysterious IslandJules Verne’s Return To Mysterious Island is the best of old and new. It reminds me of the old point and click games like Kings Quest. Not the early ones that were text based, but the later ones once the computer mouse made it’s debut. I know I’m dating myself here, but at least it isn’t a Zork reference. :) So think of that kind of game, but with incredible 3D photo-realistic 360-degree graphics.

When I say the graphics are incredible, I’m serious. As you explore, you can tilt up and down, as well as rotate in a full circle. It really is an incredible and unique iPhone experience and justifies the 260+ MB download.

Game play as you explore is very simple. If you can go to a different location, an icon shows up. If you can pick it up, an icon shows up. In other words, you don’t wast your time tapping on items that don’t matter. This removes a lot of the frustration from similar and older style games and makes this one more enjoyable.

Another thing that sets this game apart is the fact that as you find and pick things up to add to your inventory, there is an option to combine them in make things that you need.  Finding all the things that you need and figuring out how to combine them is part of the puzzle nature of the game. If you get stuck, you can find one of a number of a walk-through available online to assist you. It would be nice if this was built in to the game, but at least it is available.

My sole concern about the game is that once you finish it, there isn’t much more to do. This limits game play to a single time through. The good news is that it will take many hours to do this. As such, I have to look at this as the amount of entertainment I will get for the cost. If I am going to be willing to pay $10 for a 2-hour movie, that comes our to $5/hour.  So a $5 game that takes 20-hours or so to get through isn’t a bad deal.  In fact, it is 20-times a better deal.  For a movie-quality game, it’s a steal.  So run and get this title before they’ve figured out that it may be under-priced.  I think you’ll have a great time exploring Mysterious Island.