Jack Keane
This game is not to be consumed in one sitting!
Take time to enjoy one insane episode after another.
The tale begins with Captain Jack Keane, in an attempt to avoid two thugs
who want to collect on a loan, taking on an assignment to deliver a British
agent to an island somewhere in the Indian Ocean.
There he is to foil a plot to wipe out tea plantations and thereby save the
Queen and the Empire from going without a cup of tea.
And so he goes from frying-pan to fire.
You have to love a game that has a character who loses his clothes,
pretends to be a bride, fights off anacondas, crazed monkeys, and killer plants;
faces down an Indian "Godfather"; unites two lovers using Indian love poems;
and whose skills go from plumber, matchmaker, to mutant plant biologist.
The game is so dense with puzzles that you can hardly move without picking
up some seeming irrelevant object, combining things to make objects which will
allow you to fetch yet other objects - a little like endless Rube Goldberg puzzles.
Midway through, the game gets a little tedious.
Why is it that practically every adventure game uses oleaginous substances on rusty things?
But hang on - something unexpected will happen.
The characters that populate Jack's adventure keep the story churning:
pompous British Secret Agent Montgomery, more of a hindrance than a help;
Amanda who plays Annie Oakley to Jack's Gaylord Treep (Monkey Island);
Shari, the distraught bride; twisted Dr. T with his hench-lady housekeeper, Miss Gristle;
Murphy, his old baby sitter, which leads to the first episode I have seen,
where a character reverts to himself as a young child - and has to solve puzzles.
Doing funny is hard, and while there are only a few instances where you laugh out
loud (the 419 scam in Victorian dress), there are many situations that will bring an appreciative chuckle.
Reviewed by: Editor - 05/08
Ages: Teen
Fun Factor: Funny, funny, funny.
Female Factor: Amanda - an Annie Oakley character.
Player Friendly: Helpful "To Do" list and the X key shows active spots on the screen.