Reader reviews for Minute of Islands

I really wanted to like this game more. Great drawings, solid and fitting soundtrack, the setting got potential too. Alas, the lame, monotonous gameplay, consisting of simple platforming that feels and controls rather lethargic and a few easy puzzles, left me pretty bored. Also it’s told in a pseudo-melancholic/nostalgic tone that absolutely didn’t click with me, probably because you never get any chance to relate with the characters or story at all. It stays way too shallow; you start as a stranger in a strange world, meet a few strangers along the way, and leave as a stranger.

Read the review »

Time Played: 2-5 hours
Difficulty: Easy

A nice platformer that took 6 hours to finish.

It has gorgeous graphics but mediocre platforming. Also it is not challenging and doesnt have puzzles except one close to the end.

The story is interesting although i didnt really understand how the ending message was connected with the rest of the game.

My opinion about the game is positive, its just a little pricy atm at 20 euros for the content it provides. But i dont mind supporting that kind of games.

Read the review »

Time Played: 5-10 hours
Difficulty: Easy

I played Minute of Islands straight after reading a raving 5-star review. And since the game was developed by the guys behind the Inner World series which I enjoyed (especially the second game), I was expecting nothing more than a masterpiece. Talk about overrating. I actually managed to finish only 2 out of 4 levels and watched the rest at Youtube on quick speed. For starters, it’s not an adventure, but a very uninspired, casual platformer with few basic and repetative puzzles thrown in. It’s VERY linear and EXTREMELY boring.

Each level basically plays like this: you slowly cross the central island to your boat and head for some other island; on your way you experience a sick dream after entering a yellow fog where you collect several floating creatures in the right order (which counts for a puzzle), then arrive to your destination and start looking for 2 or 3 switches you have to activate. But you can’t just explore the island the way you want - you have to follow one predetermined path and reach the switches in one predetermined order. Most of the time you just climb ledges, up and down, back and forth. There are invisible walls everywhere, so you can’t, for example, jump off a high ledge to get to the point - you slowly climb from one ledge to another. And this is all you do. Sometimes you pull levers that manipulate elevators or open doors just before you. Sometimes you push crates or alike to free your path. Sometimes you look for a key to unlock a door. A very basic platformer stuff.

You can also “collect memories” on your way which are also represented by 10-12 floating creatures. After you catch one, a monotonous voice which belongs to the narrator (there is no other voiceover in the game) reads 2-3 sentences, something like “Mo used to play with her sister in this hole. Those were the days”, and that’s all you get. All this time you have to stand still and listen to this dull, pointless “storytelling”. When you are finally done at the island, you have to make all the long way back to your boat and return to the previous island where you have to wake up one of the four sleeping giants by… reaching and activating another 2 or 3 power sources. Only this time instead of colorful islands you jump through some grey undeground maze - again, very linear and repetative, with constant backtracking and zero fun.

The whole game makes up for 5-6 hours, I tried to give it a chance and wasted around 3 hours on it, and those were some of the longest hours of my life. Yes, Minute looks pretty in Adventure Time’s sort of way, but that’s obvioulsy not enough. I enjoy a good platromer just like I enjoy a good adventure, but this one is neither. The devs should finally understand one simple thing: you don’t make an adventure game by simply stripping a platformer or an FPS off all the shooting and death encounters. You also have to ADD something, like Lair of the Clockwork God did. This empty game just tries your patience.

Read the review »

Time Played: 2-5 hours
Difficulty: Very Easy