Amazing Island

A really great concept, but with little depth to the gameplay

Reviewed by tpofofn on August 02, 2007  |  report this review

Amazing Island has a really great little engine. You get to fully customize a monster. And when I say fully customize, I mean FULLY customize. That means literally drawing all of its body parts and then inflating them to a 3-D form which you can then pimp with all sorts of accessories, like fangs and claws, wings and beaks, geometric shapes, medieval armor, silly hats, gatling guns and missiles, giant drills and saws, little umbrellas and broomsticks, flaming manes and horns, and so on. Then you'll be able to change the color and texture and so on of its skin, with selections including cow spots, a Santa outfit, a pattern called Zigzag that actually moves, a see-through Glass pattern, and a Chameleon pattern that makes your monster nearly invisible. Or, you can of course paint it manually. With this system, the possibilities are limitless. It's especially fun to create Amazing Island doppelgangers of favorites from other games, such as Pokémon. If you don't feel creative, you can use unlockable pre-made monsters, some of which are pretty silly. For example, there's one that's just a floating bucket with a cat inside.

But despite the awesomeness of this crazy premise, once you make there monster, there's very little for it to do. The only quests it can challenge are a series of Olympic-style minigames, which tend to require little more than button-mashing. Completing the events furthers the story and unlocks new options in the monster-making mode. However, the story is really short, with only three levels before the final boss. The second and third levels have branching paths, each of which must be completed separately...but it doesn't change a lot, to tell you the truth, and the first events (before they branch off) are still the same. And like I said, it's mostly just button-mashing.

You can also link up with a GBA to play different games, in the form of some sort of card game. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but if you play it you can earn new accessories to add to your monsters. Unfortunately, it's even more boring than the Gamecube mini games.

It doesn't help either that each monster you make takes up a huge amount of space on the memory card. So unless you have a lot of empty space, you won't be able to save a large number of your creations.

Bottom line: The concept is really cool, but the gameplay doesn't deliver.

Pig Mode

Hint by tpofofn on August 02, 2007  |  report this hint

After you beat the game, you can talk to one of the pigs in one of the shops. It'll say "Oink?" and you'll be prompted yes or no. Answer yes, and you'll turn on the secret Pig Mode that changes bits of each level into pigs. It's pretty funny.