When you’re using the PPA, the game is paused, and thank Heaven for small mercies. When you start a new game, you’re given the choice of standard adventure mode or “Race Against Time” mode. If you choose standard, then things will remain static for as long as you need to put your case together, at which time the storyline will suddenly lurch forward to the next beat. On the other hand, “Race Against Time” doesn’t care if you’ve got a handle on your investigation or not, because eventually the darn island will sink into sea and that will be that. It’s an accelerated real-time schedule tracked by an onscreen clock, with several game minutes counting for each real one, and it’s very possible to miss a vital piece of evidence one day that’s no longer going to be there the next. It definitely adds an aura of excitement and danger to the otherwise dry task of walking from place to place and chatting with people, but since many adventure game fans choose this genre to avoid that kind of anxiety, I’m not sure how many will want to make use of it. The time limits are ample enough if you can avoid any major stumbling blocks, but you do risk being forced to start over from a manual saved game or a long-previous autosave if time runs out. Fortunately, once you fulfill each day’s requirement within the allotted time, it instantly becomes night and Norm goes off to bed.

The controls are somewhat standard for a third-person point-and-click adventure. You use the mouse to direct Norm around each screen, double-clicking to run, and a smart cursor shows when you can interact with something. There’s no real “Look” function, so you can forget about listening to Norm pontificate about his surroundings; the man’s all business. You can talk to people, “interact,” take a photograph, change screens, or move in for a closer look. There are a few inventory items, but virtually every item is used only once and then vanishes. Figuring out your mandates is about all that’s “puzzling” about Sinking Island, though the most hair-pulling moments will be from the pixel hunts. Given that the majority of the screens contain zero points of interaction, finding the tiny drawer (somehow different from all the other drawers) or the spot of ground (which looks identical to ground on either side of it) you need to examine can be a chore.

At least the big empty environments are nice to look at. If you’re not playing in “Race Against Time,” you’ll surely want to stop and admire the roses. You can imagine the beaches would be a paradise if they weren’t constantly wind-swept and rained upon, and the disturbingly large tower at the center of it all has a charming art deco style that would be inviting if it weren’t so eerily desolate. The soft piano music is pleasant but rarely used, and the sound effects are effective, if a bit understated. With large, barren screens that tend to dwarf the characters, and the constant sound of pounding rain whenever you step outside, the atmosphere is one of isolation and lurking doom, and it works.

The voice acting can be good, but suffers from the usual dry line reading you find too often in adventure games these days. Peculiarly, Norm sounds like he has two different voice actors portraying him, but since the credits only list seven total actors without saying who plays who, I can’t prove it. As most of the characters are American, including Norm, you’d think the voice actors would’ve spoken up at some point to help Americanize some of the bizarre things they’re expected to say. Could no one point out that people in the States don’t say things like “Wake up, my fellow”? While occasional head-scratchers in the dialogue are one thing, some of the language in the evidence and ancillary material is mind-numbingly awful. Here’s an actual word-for-word quote from what’s supposed to be a clipping out of the Washington Post: “Rocking the dinosaur boat to avoid bad surprises, this is the first order from the candidate who believes that nothing is every really earned in politics…” If you know any French, you might want to consider trying out the original European release instead of wading through this mess.

Events take place over three days, with twelve mandates to solve, and all told it will likely take between 10 to 12 hours to play, even when you’re Racing Against Time, unless you find yourself continually replaying sections. The mandate system makes it easy to feel like you’re always busy doing something, and since you’re rarely wandering around lost, the time you spend in-game will fly by pretty quickly. Investigating can undoubtedly be a lot of fun, and the graphical style is a treat to behold, though the overall experience is dampened by a predictable story, some annoying pixel hunts, and a very poor English localization. All in all, then, Sinking Island is a solid diversion for mystery fans, though it’s got too many holes in it to stay afloat in your consciousness for long.