Haven’t completed your epic journey yet? Check out our Greek Sea Odyssey Island Guide!
Hello, Poptropicans!
With the recent release of Poptropica Worlds’ third island adventure, Greek Sea Odyssey, we wanted to share what we thought of it and, in the comments, open the discussion to all of you as well. So here it is: our comprehensive review of Greek Sea Odyssey Island! We’ll cover story, mechanics, visuals, and more. Let’s set sail!
Be warned: This review contains spoilers!
Storyline & Characters
Let’s begin with a quick overview of the island: You arrive in Athens to discover that the tyrannical god, Zeus, won’t leave the citizens alone as they try to develop the world’s first democracy right here in ancient Greece. Athena, the goddess of wisdom, embarks you on a journey by sending you on a sea voyage, alongside Theseus, to collect three sacred items to topple Zeus.
Undoubtedly, we collect all three of the sacred items and get to encounter many cool Greek mythological figures along the way, like Daedalus as Disastrous Daddy, Dionysius as Drunken Party Ruiner, and Hippolyta as I’ve-Had-Enough Matriarch — all new to Poptropica! Though each character (and creatures like the Cyclops and Gryphon) brought something unique to the adventure, the most interesting character was probably Icarus, who was given a modern spin as emo teenager mixed with his mythological roots of hardcore harp, all while sulking at his petty father.
Meeting lots of new characters was a plus. The premise was also interesting, and well executed: a sea odyssey in search of powerful items inspired by several Greek tales. And, it took a different turn from what we were expecting (we had speculated a remake for Mythology Island from Poptropica Original)—but a good one.
Gameplay
Greek Sea Odyssey seemed a little short, with less challenging tasks in comparison to islands from Poptropica Original, a lament voiced by many players in the community. (An example of a less challenging task would be the rock-paper-scissors game with Cyclops, who’s daft enough to have only one move! But maybe that’s just his character. One part that could’ve been difficult, the Gryphon chase, allows you to skip over the challenge if you fall too many times and just choose to “go ahead” in the game.)
On the one hand, it’s kind of nice to have the difficulty toned down, since challenging puzzles could get frustrating on Poptropica Original. On the other hand, the challenge aspect now feels almost too dialed back, leaving us with not much to test our wits or maneuvering abilities. Even in the ending, it wasn’t too hard to skip over some orbs, and once we got to the top, Zeus relinquished his throne without another duel—not even with words (well, there was a little exchange, but nothing dependent on the player).
For the amount of time it took to wait for this new island release (over 7 months since 24 Carrot Island, and 4 months if we’re counting Dr. Hare’s Revenge), we were expecting to have a greater adventure to go on—and for it to end with a more climactic boss battle than it did.
There’s also been some funny business at the final showdown with Zeus. When players were struck by one of the electric orbs, it was like a never-ending death strike that took you all the way down to the bottom, forcing you to start over. We’re not sure if this is a glitch or not, but it’s not exactly a fun challenge either way.
On a more positive note, the audio experience of the adventure, engineered by Creator Kyle Fox, was well-crafted. Not only was there ambient music that matched moods at various scenes, but even down in the Minotaur’s labyrinth as we plodded through sludge to get to the Cyclops, we could hear the effects of our footsteps sloshing their way through. Now that’s attention to detail!
Visuals
The different scenes in this island are absolutely captivating. From the details in the Minotaur’s labyrinth to the stunning background scenery, you can tell that a lot of thought and work went into every visual. The Athena statue in the Parthenon was especially breathtaking! Check out some of the designs in the gallery below.
Whether you noticed them or not, there were numerous cultural references and interactive bits throughout the island. Some of these include Wonder Woman’s cameo in Themiscyra, The Bolt sword from Legendary Swords in the labyrinth, the unicorn in the bushes, and probably the most notable, the Sound of Silence song reference from Snakehead. Many Poptropicans found these quite enjoyable — we did too!
Verdict
All things considered—from the unique storyline mashing many Greek legends, to well-crafted characters, to not-so-challenging puzzles, to gorgeous Grecian scenes with witty references—our final rating for Greek Sea Odyssey is…
The wait for this island was excruciating for many players, especially since we barely saw any sneak peeks for what was to come (too little, to be honest).
We were pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t simply a remake of the popular Mythology Island on Poptropica Original, but rather a whole new story with lots of new faces along the way. Greek Sea Odyssey turned out to be a wonderful ride, albeit on the short end compared to other Poptropica islands (though about the same length as other Worlds islands, so this may be a pattern that sticks around). The challenges could have been amped up a notch or two as well. On the whole, though, there’s lots to love.
With its interweaving of Greek legends, fun details, excellent audio/visuals, and more, we’ve decided to award Greek Sea Odyssey 4/5 Grecian urns. Here’s to more odysseys in the near future for Poptropica!
Thanks for reading our review of Greek Sea Odyssey Island! How do you think this adventure compared to its sort-of prequel, Mythology Island? Do you agree with our verdict? Share your opinions in the comments below!
– the PHB team –
🏝 Poptropica Help Blog 🗺 
Great post!
Nice review! I’d rate this island a 4 out of 5 too, but for different reasons.
I actually didn’t like the characters in this island too much, the main reason for that is just how modern they seem. I just can’t picture Greeks saying stuff like “earth is dumb” and “oh it’s the coolest”, and the emo Icarus was kinda weird in my opinion. I suppose there was some of that in Mythology Island too, but a lot less, so it felt more Greek. This is just my opinion though.
I actually liked a lot of the challenges on this island, especially the labyrinth, which is probably the best part of the island and, in my opinion, the best challenge in all of Poptropica Worlds. I didn’t notice that it let you skip the griffin game so that is kind of disappointing. But if there is one thing that would’ve made this island 100% better it would be if there was some sort of fight between you and Zeus in the end (like the one with the clouds!)
I really liked the visuals too.
So yeah, that’s what I thought about the island 😀
This island didn’t give me a good impression when I first played it, especially with some odd programing:
– In the construction site, the statues (most noticeable; the top one) have very slow gravity physics. I guess it’s to allow the player to act while it’s falling, but it is just so off.
– The guy who you travel with (forgot his name), when you first see him, I suppose he is trying to stop the ship from leaking, but they really could have chosen or make a new animation for that because it looks so weird. (No I am not going to point out that the ship isn’t deep enough to leak, nor how the guy was able to fix the leak with uncut lumber).
– Lastly, those electro balls Zues rolls down have very questionable knock-back physics. (BTW, I’d wish they bring back those action stuff (ZAP, OUCH, STING), but that’s just a thing I hope they bring back into the game in general).
I could have mention the fact that you had to knock out a cow for its horn, but if they are ok with having zomberries, sword fighting, gambling, and a kiss scene, I don’t see how almost murdering a cow could be any weirder for an E rated game. 😐
Aside that, I’ll give this 2 and a half Grecian urns out of 5. But I respect your opinion PHB team. 🙂
Why am I a game rating?
Pottery?
Nah, you said it was rated E.
😝LOL
Oh! I see what you did there. 😶
XD I’m such a weirdo
I love you’re guys’ Reviews. For me, this island was a little short and less challenging. A tiny bit of a challenge would’ve made the island better.
The griffin chase was like Flappy Bird and the Zeus battle was like Donkey Kong! And Wonder Woman was in there!
So there’s this thing called outfit of the week of which is this thing where they feature outfits for people to wear, and give instructions on where to find the outfit parts…
Aren’t they kinda too late, in a way?…
https://poptropi.ca/pop-plus/costumes/
Just sayin’…
I actually really liked a lot of the easter eggs and interactive elements! Plus, the audio and visuals were great as always! I even thought a lot of the characters and silly references were pretty funny. But I have to agree with the lacking areas of game play. I’d like to see more puzzles and mind challenges, as I recognize Poptropica’s controls limit any detailed action games (and with the lag I face when trying to run the game, any more movement based stuff might kill my computer). The overall story, while having good elements, seemed less about exploring and figuring things out on your own and more about a short, linear path with a few minigames.
Of which, ironically, is the main point of Greek Sea ODYSSEY island. :I
the Creators are reading too much Land of Stories an Authors Odyssey Confirmed.
I would’ve rated it 2/5 because it really disappointed me. I’ve been obsessed with the website for years, so I thought it was ridiculous how long I had to wait for a boring island. It was waaay too short and I hated the quests thing because it took all of the fun out of solving puzzles and figuring out what to do. Nice review, I like how you highlighted the lack of a final battle and related to how short it was 🙂
Honestly, although the visuals and the references were nice, I found the island to be pretty lacklustre. Way too short, way too easy, and I didn’t really enjoy the story all that much. It was just a fetch quest, and although those can be fun, with the right challenges set up before every item you need to find, it just felt like you were taken from place to place, told to get something, and then taken away. Without the control over where you go, it just felt like you were led by the hand through each challenge, and rarely did a past puzzle or location relate to the next, with the only exception being using the lyre with the snake. For me, the only saving grace was the snake itself (I don’t know why but I quite liked him) and the Amazon island, mostly because that island had the best dialogue, actually making me laugh out loud for the first time in a Poptropica worlds island.
I think one of the main reasons we are all so disappointed with this island is that we are doomed to compare it to Mythology island, one of the best islands on Poptropica original. It was things like the reuse of the “Simon says” game and the labyrinth that made it hard not to compare the two, and although I know they were references it just works against them it just makes me want to go back and play Mythology island. Maybe I will after this.
Ok, that was a lot of negativity, but it isn’t the worst island they’ve ever made. I’d probably give it a 3/5, as I did enjoy playing it, but not as much as I would have hoped.
I thought the dialogue was kind of too modern or too cheesey, but the glitches and inconsistanties got most of the negative apeal on me.