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Adventure Island
Reviewed by PeKENyo

      "Adventure Island"-- This game brings back annoying memories. Although it's a rip-off of Wonder Boy it is a fun game for some time. Not every video game character can claim to ride a skateboard while chucking axes at snails while hopping over rocks (and one of my former roommates said I was cruel for accidentally stepping on a snail)! The game kind of reminds me of those few trapped in the Malaysian waters in the new game show Survivor.

With that, here are a few basic rules of survival on Adventure Island:

      1.) Fruit replenishes depleting life.
      2.) If all your life depletes over time, you die.
      3.) If you touch a snail, you die.
      4.) If you miss jumping on a cloud -- guess what, you die.
      5.) Finally, have an ax and skateboard.

      As you can see, there isn't much to the game. "Adventure Island" will entertain a player for some time, and then it simply becomes boring. The problem with the game is that there are first not enough backdrops to entertain a player for the amount of levels the game covers. Sure, one can change the backdrop to a different color to produce morning woods and night woods, but after a while it gets old -- even when the only change to a level is that it becomes more and more difficult.

      Second, a good game needs a lot of various items or very few items -- not few items that are repeated every two seconds like, of all things, FRUIT!!! Besides this, all one player has is a skateboard, an ax, a fireball weapon to collect. There are not too many different enemies -- the most annoying thing is that when one hits a rock they lose a skateboard (cus' we all want to keep on riding the skateboard)!

Third, and capitalized: THIS GAME NEEDS HELP!!!

Overall, the game needs some extra spice -- maybe throw in a Godzilla here and there.