This game starts on the same beach where Journey to the Moon finishes - although 100 years later and with a totally different story and character. The game's been written by the same Kheops company and has much the same design approach as JttM, but with the graphics and interface tweaked that bit to make them even better - for example, there are more ways to combine and switch around inventory items, and there's a very helpful companion to be befriended. So in general all of my complimentary comments on JttM also apply to RtMI.

One other point, which I'm not sure whether it's a good or bad thing, is that many of the problems have two - sometimes even three - possible solutions. This makes it easier to find solutions, but also means that time can be wasted trying to determine uses for items which no longer have any use in the game as the problem for which they were needed has already been solved in another way.

The mechanical puzzles - activating control panels and suchlike - seemed rather easier than in JttM; whereas the more practical, everyday problems can be somewhat befuddling until considered from the viewpoint of what might be possible in the game world rather than what would make sense in the real world. One small clue (as it took me flipping ages to find them) - there *are* some nails in the cave.

Another enjoyable game from The Adventure Company.

What a fantastic point and click adventure! At least it would have been if it was a whole lot longer!
It's possible to complete this game in not very much time at all (6 hours or so) without solving all the riddles and puzzles which does boost the replayability value but it was annoying to find the game suddenly ending when I knew I still had numerous things to do. It was like reading War and Peace and finding the final page in the middle of chapters two and three. That aside, Return to Mysterious Island is an adventurer's dream. Interact with just about everything in the scenery, combine a myriad of items, create various concoctions to further your quest, it's fun all the way. The puzzles aren't too taxing, because as soon as you find a way to power your mobile phone, you gain access to an online encyclopaedia to tell you what most items in your massive inventory do. You will definitely want to play again and again to gain maximum points and if you follow my example, actually achieve the game's objective, given to you in hints throughout, even though you can finish it without doing anything of the sort.
To sum up, more puzzles than a monkey puzzle tree but waaayyy too forgiving by allowing you to get to the end by bypassing (I hope) the best bits. Worth buying, if you can find it for under a tenner. You can also find this game sold as a pack with "Journey to the Moon", a very similar Jules Verne related adventure, very much worth a click.

This is a fantastic inventory based adventure game. The story's good, the graphics are lovely and the puzzles are spot on (just hard enough to keep you interested while not being so hard that you get a head ache!) The only big let down of this game is that it's way to short. I completed the game in around 3 or 4 hours and it realy did feel as if you'd only just started... I kept expecting the story to explode into a sinister tale of intregue and just at the point when it should have it ended and I was left in disbelief :(
Having said that I would recommend this game to anyone as a very engoyable little adventure.

I really enjoyed this game. The puzzles were logical and varying in difficulty. It was nice to have a companion even if they couldn't speak. Excellent graphics and gameplay. The only problem was the end, and I felt a little disappointed - but only because it ended too quickly. Could have merrily played that for a long time.

This game was highly enjoyable to play - beautiful graphics, inventive system for combining and making items, which kept it very realistic, but it was let down in a few areas. One was the linear nature of the game, it was just too linear. There also were not enough places to go, I was quite disappointed to discover that while I could see other parts of the island, I couldn't get to them. Having to shoot down robots partially ruined the game, I didn't feel it was in the spirit of the genre, or even the setting! It was over before it barely started, and left you feeling like you'd missed out somewhere.

But - it was a good game. The gameplay was excellent, the scenes beautiful and the plot-line good. It was just too short, and too small. I'd have preferred that the developers spent more time making it a bigger game, than releasing it in a platform that could be completed in 4-6 hours.

It is worth playing, but don't settle down for too long.