P.I. Chronicles: Skull Island
Ah, the hot, muggy depths of the jungle. The sounds of insects, the smell of decay, the rustle of leaves as unseen creatures move nearby, as you, intrepid explorer, creep closer and closer to... some really goofy looking cannibals with an attitude problem and a professor in a cooking pot. Welcome to P.I. Chronicles: Skull Island, a wickedly fun and tangled escape designed by Masterfool.
The story begins as the aforementioned Professor Hummingway's airplane crash lands on a mysterious island. The next thing you know the hero, Frank Spectre, P.I., is awoken by the professor's daughter. All Frank has to do is find the mysterious island and rescue the professor before the natives serve him for dinner. It all sounds simple, but trust me, it is not. This simple set up disguises a flash point-and-click adventure of epic proportions.
To begin with, there's a surprising amount of territory to cover this moonlit night as you wander around the island. Talk to the natives, pick up everything you can, explore some rather surprising areas, and you may just be able to satisfy the demands of the Chief and rescue the professor. Red arrows will appear to show you which direction you can go, and although the cursor does not change to indicate hot spots, you will notice text appearing when you hover over something that can be examined or picked up. The use of objects or combining of objects from your inventory is accomplished with a strange sort of interface. Pick up an object and you will see the text "use X with" to indicate you've picked it up, then click where you would like it to go and see if you were successful. The inventory area appears to be unlimited which is handy because by the end of the game you will have a lot of things in there. Fortunately you can scroll back and forth to view your items pretty quickly, because you are definitely going to forget that you're carrying something.
You can also interact with the locals, whether they be guards, fishermen, cooks, or the chief himself. Choose the correct dialogue to advance your quest, or you could end up wandering around being very lost in this primitive jungle. Fortunately everyone ends up being helpful in the end, you just need to figure out which questions to ask.
Analysis: P.I. Chronicles: Skull Island is not your average escape game. Granted, you are trying to escape the island in one piece (and, preferably, with the professor in tow), but there's more to it than that. If you solve all of the riddles and please the chief, you may find yourself at game's end with a victory, but a rather low score regarding accomplishments. That is because one of the delights of Skull Island is that it is hiding what amounts to a whole second game within its confines. Take your time and really explore and a wide range of exciting new vistas will open up, taking the story in wild directions that have absolutely nothing to do with your original rescue mission and turning the whole game into a very surreal experience.
The artwork is dark and rather gloomy, as it is night after all. The design of the natives are goofy caricatures, and the goofy design holds true for all of the folks you will meet, be they cannibal or other. Despite the goofiness, you are in for quite a treat as there is a ton of stuff to explore, find, and use. Want to go for every achievement possible? Be prepared to spend quite a bit of time, and you might even want to make use of the nice built in save feature. Even if you ignore all the extras and just go for the main solution, this is not a ten minute puzzle by any means.
P.I. Chronicles: Skull Island is not your average Weekday Escape, but then, sometimes it's nice to change things up a bit. Despite the clunky inventory control the game is amusing, fun, challenging, and will last much longer than the average room escape. Take the chance, explore the jungle (and points beyond), and immerse yourself in one of the more complex and satisfying escape games we've seen this year.
Walkthrough Guide
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Walkthrough:
To save professor:
1. Go north.
2. Take can of paint.
3. Go north.
4. Talk to guard.
5. - What are you doing here?
6. - I really would like to enter your camp.
7. Go east.
8. Take piece of metal.
9. Take first aid kit.
10. Take broken spear (click spear 5x).
11. Go east.
12. Take slingshot.
13. Go east.
14. Take Beries.
15. Go west.
16. Go north 2x.
17. Use piece of metal with hatch.
18. Climb down.
19. Take waterproof marker.
20. Use light switch -> take popcorn.
21. Enter kitchen.
22. Take fridge magnet.
23. Take whisk.
24. Take cereal.
25. Open fridge.
26. Take milk.
27. Take baking butter.
28. Open freezer.
29. Take half-eaten ice cream.
30. Take ice cubes.
31. Open cupboard.
32. Take glass.
33. Take plate.
34. Take bowl.
35. Go back.
36. Climb up.
37. Use rock-hard popcorn with slingshot.
38. Use slingshot with popcorn with mango.
39. Take mango.
40. Go south 2x.
41. Go west 2x.
42. Use broken spear with tree sap.
43. Use fridge magnet with sticky spear.
44. Go east 4x.
45. Use magnet on a stick with hole.
46. Go east.
47. Go north.
48. Use pocket knife on snake.
49. Talk to Joobla.
50. - Actually I do, can you help me get into your camp?
51. Go south.
52. Go west 4x.
53. Take mushrooms.
54. Go west.
55. Talk to cannibal.
56. Use berries with slingshot.
57. Use slingshot with berry with glasses.
58. Use berries with slingshot.
59. Use slingshot with berry with glasses.
60. Use can of paint with bucket.
61. Use magnet on a stick with fishing net.
62. Go east 2x.
63. Use bucket with pond.
64. Use fishing net with pond.
65. Go east.
66. Use cannibal club card with guard.
67. Go north.
68. Take small bowl.
69. Use cereal with small bowl.
70. Use milk with bowl with cereal.
71. Use bucket of water with fire.
72. - Do you have any ideas that might help?
73. Go north.
74. Talk to chieftain.
75. - Yeah, about the professor…
76. - What if I bring you something else to eat?
77. - Alright, guess I don't have much choice anyway.
78. Go south 2x.
79. Go west 3x.
80. Use fishing net on magnet on a stick
81. Use bucket on can of paint.
82. Go east 3x.
83. Go north.
84. Go west.
85. Use waterproof marker on cannibal.
86. Use can of paint on cannibal.
87. Go east.
88. Go south.
89. Go east 3x.
90. Use jump rope on tree.
91. Climb down.
92. take giant egg.
93. Climb up.
94. Go west 4x.
95. Click strange bush.
96. - What are you hunting for?
97. - Pick any response.
98. - Could I have those bananas.
99. Use sunglasses with Pago.
100. Go east 3x.
101. Go north 2x.
102. Climb down.
103. Enter kitchen.
104. Use giant egg with bowl.
105. Use milk with bowl with egg.
106. Use pocket knife with mushrooms.
107. Use chopped mushrooms with bowl with egg and milk.
108. Use whisk with bowl with egg, milk and mushrooms.
109. Use baking butter with frying pan.
110. Click stove controls.
111. Use omelet mix with frying pan.
112. Use plate with frying pan.
113. Click plug.
114. Use milk with blender.
115. Use ice cubes with blender.
116. Use berries with blender.
117. Use bananas with blender.
118. Use pocket knife with mangor.
119. Use bits of mango with blender.
120. Click power button.
121. Use glass with blender.
122. Go Back.
123. Climb up.
124. Go south 2x.
125. Go west 2x.
126. Go north 2x.
127. Use breakfast cereal with chieftain.
128. Use omelet with chieftain.
129. Use half-eaten ice cream with chieftain.
130. Use fruit smoothie with chieftain.
131. *hint* You might want to save here… *hint*
132. Talk to chieftain.
133. - Yes, everything you asked for is here.
100% Completion:
Make sure you *don't* tell the chief that you've brought him everything he asked for. (It's ok to give him the food items as you acquire them, though.)
Also make sure you've exhausted all the conversational possibilities with all of the characters - it'll save you some time if you don't have to keep backtracking.
Go look at the moon and find the phone number. (Hint: telescope + cliff.)
Ask Tony to dial the number.
Go find the spaceship. (Hint: remember where you found the mushrooms?)
Go to the moon. Talk to the shady alien and get the 3-D glasses.
Go inside the restaurant and talk to the astronaut. Make sure he mentions what he needs.
Talk to the restaurant employee and figure out what combination of menu items costs 25 … um, monetary units. (Sorry, forget what they were called.) You'll probably need to talk to him repeatedly. (Hint: fries are bad for you.) (Hint 2: shake it, baby.) (Hint 3: go for plain.)
Go to the bathroom. Examine the graffiti, and check for loose tiles. (Hint: a good pocket knife sure comes in handy.)
Go back outside and ask the shady alien if he has what the astronaut needs.
Back on earth, give the 3-D glasses to Tony, and get the cookbook from the chef. (Not chief.) Also, if you haven't already, go talk to the nearsighted cannibal, then the professor. If you do enough talking, the nearsighted cannibal will go to the beach.
Get into the submarine (if you point to the right place, there will be an arrow above the hatch). Talk to the vendor.
Get the key from the blue plant. (Hint: magnet on stick.)
Go to the right and talk to the shark twice, then help him out. (Hint: told ya a pocket knife is handy.)
Go to the left twice. Answer all the riddles (trust me, they're easy) and get the necklace.
Go back to the surface, then go to the moon. Get the hyperdrive from the shady guy. Use it to get Neil's money. Use that in turn to get a burger and drink.
Use the key on the lockbox and get its contents.
Find a way to give the necklace to the toilet lady. (Hint: don't lie.)
Back on earth, go find the nearsighted guy and give him the shark's tooth. Go back underwater and use the coupon to get the hotdog.
Visit the chief (not chef) and give him all the food items, plus the t-shirt. Check that all of the objectives except the "save the professor" one are completed, then talk to the chief and tell him you're done.
Posted by: chiuni
|
May 19, 2010 8:12 AM