Sixty years ago a ship called The Queen Margaret hit a deadly tidal wave killing all aboard. As a journalist hoping to make it big you’re notSixty years ago a ship called The Queen Margaret hit a deadly tidal wave killing all aboard. As a journalist hoping to make it big you’re not too happy to have to cover some mumbo jumbo about ghostly hauntings related to the sunken ship. Arriving on a largely evacuated island (as it was terrorised by supernatural forces) you find out your friend is missing. Worse, there appears to be a link between what happened to sunken ship and a recent shaman’s quest to appease evil spirits. Find the shaman responsible for causing this mess or see civilisation sink to the bottom of the sea just like The Queen Margaret...
It must be said that just when you think developers Five-BN after two previous games in this series weren’t capable of pulling a rabbit out of a hat they actually manage to. To recap the original game The Treasures of Mystery Island (2008) was a repetitive and hilariously embarrassing HOG. The sequel Gates of Fate (2010) improved somewhat; shifting the series into a HOPA in the process yet it was still fairly mediocre. With the third game The Treasures of Mystery Island: The Ghost Ship (2011) not only does Five-BN improve on the previous games but they’ve made a genuinely solid game. To highlight this point the game opens with a professionally animated cutscene showing the fate that befell The Queen Margaret. Ditching Alex and Lisa was a good idea as neither character served any purpose. Instead we follow an unnamed female journalist with aspirations to fame but realises it will come at a price having to investigate an island filled with ghosts belonging to the ship passengers. There’s a shaman to have to deal with yet again. What is it with shamans tampering with nature? You do get to visit the sunken ship of the title later on in the game however you spend most of your time trying to prevent another massive tidal wave by freeing the spirits. Gameplay is still about collecting small pieces of inventory items so they can be used to manipulate objects. The difference this time around is less emphasis on puzzles which after Gates of Fate’s is quite frankly a blessing. Puzzles aren’t the focus and that’s not a bad thing because the sleuthing keeps things going as does the countdown to total destruction via an eclipse. The game works well at creating tension via its countdown and it’s very effective. It’s definitely a race against time although our journalist character still finds time to go through the bureaucracy of getting a ticket to enter a museum. Why??? She might as well barge in there; the fate of the entire island is at stake so who cares about legit admittance? It must also be stated during an apocalypse I never thought I’d have to take a picture of three hat wearing monkeys in a studio. Ultimately Five-BN went a tad crazy with the story including every plot twist they could think of to see what sticks. It ends up confusing the plot at times yet the overall game plays solid and the production values such as music and cutscenes are slick.
It’s something unexpected. I never thought the Mystery Island series would improve to the point they became entertaining yet The Ghost Ship has proven me wrong. This third entry into the series is not just a small improvement over the previous games but a major one. With gorgeous cutscenes and fun gameplay while it lacks originality it’s nevertheless well made enough to stand a chance among its competitors.… Expand
