Crusoe

I'm sure most people are familiar with the story of the shipwrecked Robinson Crusoe. For those that aren't, just think of the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks and then dial it back a few centuries. The tale is presented here with a very well-written story and some pretty fabulous artwork that really brings the 17th century setting to life.

Robinson Crusoe was raised in York. Instead of going into the merchant business like his father, he wanted to explore. This desire ultimately led him astray when his ship was taken by a huge storm on the way to Africa. He awoke shipwrecked on a remote island. The rest of his story is up to you.

Searching

When you first gain control of our hero, he has climbed aboard his destroyed vessel and is searching through the wreckage. Here, you must find eight hand held weapons, which consist of an assortment of blades, guns, and even a hatchet. You're on a mysterious island, so who knows what sort of danger you may find yourself in?

After you find all of the weapons on the ship, you're then given another list of items to track down, in the same setting. These items don't seem to have a bearing on the story, but it's fun regardless.

Items written in blue require extra steps to acquire. For example, in order to collect a black seagull, you must first dirty a stick by cleaning out a cannon, and then use the dusty stick to dirty the seagull. It's certainly not very nice, but it gets the job done.

A Way Home

Once you complete these first few segments, then you begin on a much bigger goal - building a ship. You find blueprints in the captain's journal and set out salvaging materials from your wrecked vessel.

After each level, you can head back to the beach and click the "update" button, which will continue construction on your boat with new materials you've gathered. It's fun watching the ship build before your very eyes. You can even wait until you've completed a few stages to see an even bigger leap in construction!

Hints

Like all games in this genre, you have hints at your disposal for those hard-to-find items. You start off with five, and using one will narrow in on an object from your list. To gather more, look for inscriptions or numbers hidden around each environment. In one stage, I found "Defoe", the author of the original Robinson Crusoe, formed out of cobwebs! It was really exciting and makes me wonder what other little easter eggs the game has in store.

High Adventure

I'm a sucker for old fashioned adventures, so I was immediately drawn into Robinson Crusoe. It provides some solid hidden objects fun and building your ship (or rather, watching it being built), is a lot more enjoyable than I would've thought. If you're any sort of fan of 17th century high adventure, which I'm sure many of you are, then Robinson Crusoe is absolutely worth your time.