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TROPiX: Your Island Getaway

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Developer: Robot Super Brain Publisher: Robot Super Brain Genre: Puzzle & Casual > General Released: Apr 14, 2006 Players: 1 Download Purchase

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The mini-game affair was competently crowned to Nintendo after they released yearly renditions of Mario Party. If it wasn't by Nintendo, a quality variety game was tough to find. That is, until Robot Super Brain managed to create a family friendly, objective-oriented series of mini-games. There's all sorts of playable mini's that range from bowling, tree hoping and para-sailing, to sudoku, word games, and skill tests. There's a total of eleven different mini-games in all, and five of them have to be unlocked by completing different islands with the monkey protagonist.

When players start the game, they're on an empty beach. Options to shop, travel and play mini-games are available. Shopping allows players to buy items that fit into three different categories for the monkey: Comfort, Fun and Food. Buying drinks, banana trees, or a mini-bar will add to the monkey's food. Hats, fishing rods, and other miscellaneous items fall into the category of fun. Lastly, chairs, trees, flowers and items of relaxation will boost the monkey's comfort. Buying items isn't a cheap affair, however. So players must acquire money by completing available mini-games. Every time players win a level in a selected mini-game they receive money according to their efforts. After acquiring enough money and purchasing enough items to get the monkey's three stats up, they'll complete that part of the island. There are five islands in total, and each scenario must be decorated to move on.

Once an island has been completed a new mini-game will open up. Basically this repeats; players will keep playing different mini-games to earn money to buy new islands. After completing an island, players can go back and sell some of their stuff to earn extra cash. Or...if players really dig their island makeover they can take a photograph within the game and send the picture as a postcard through the e-mail. It's quite innovative and seemingly fun.

All of the mini-games are played using the mouse. This control scheme is not only effective, but it's perfectly suited for every available mini-game, including the platform games. Most of the mini-games are puzzle oriented: The betting game is more about eye-skills, the Zuma-like game is just that, sudoku explains itself, the word game is about finding words from scattered letters, and there's a bejeweled clone. Even so, if you find platforming and puzzles too difficult, there's a simple card game, and a bowling mini-game. Mostly, there's at least one mini-game that should appeal to just about any player.

It seems, though, that jungle-hopping is the main mode of the game, as it features a small story told through cut-scenes. The jungle-hopping is more of a game in itself, and plays out like a computer version of the SNES smash-hit Donkey Kong Country. The latter levels have some fast-paced, well-rounded segments that are as easy as they are fun.

If the game was missing anything though, it would be music. The easy-on-the-eyes scenery and enjoyable gameplay (mostly the para-sailing and platform games) really needed some kind of music to heighten the experience. There are, in the place of music, some ambient jungle sounds and simple effects during most of the mini-games. And for the bowling mini-game, the ambiance works better in place of music.

Graphics:
The background visuals are definitely worth noting first. Some of the sunsets and water effects were amazing. Some of the trails and feigned-volumetric water movements (like on the para-sailing stage) gave the game a very nice touch of visual detail.

Sound:
What sound is present in the game matches the beach atmosphere and jungle surroundings. However, there's no music. It's not terribly important, but it really would have heightened the experience.

Gameplay:
Every mini-game works exceptionally well. It's also surprising how effective the mouse is for every single game. From bowling to platforming, the developers managed to keep everything fun enough within the gameplay, to appeal to all sorts of gamers.

Concept:
Well, everything else about this game is good–with the exception of not having music–and it's all thanks to a solid concept with the game's design. Each mini-game is effective–even those that are based on other casual and platform games–they manage to retain their own level of originality. I was especially impressed with the jungle hopping mini-game.

Value:
Each mini-game has more depth than some people might think. Most times mini-games are short trials that are repeatable every time around. But some stages seem to have more levels than a lot of single-player standalone games. There's enough replay value and content in Tropix to ensure that this will likely be an active game in any gamer's collection.

Recommendation:
There aren't many games out there with competent mini-games crammed into one legitimately solid package. The jungle-hopping is uber-fun and there's enough content to keep any puzzle, platform, mini-game loving gamer busy for a long time. This game is definitely worth buying.