Category: PHB Quickie

PHB Quickie, Survival Island

PHB Quickie: “Survival: Distress Signal” Overview

HPuterpop

Hi Gs,

Episode 3 came fairly quickly after episode 2 of Survival, but the release date was delayed by a day so they could fix bugs — this is the first time that had ever happened, too. So, did the extra day pay off, or was the episode a wreck? Let’s find out! You can check out the last two overviews for Survival here, or view the PHB’s full guide (with pictures) for Survival here.

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The most noteworthy thing about this episode is the environment, and everything that makes it up. The soundtrack surprised me, and even though I had already heard it, it really contributed to the environment. The sounds were also very nicely put together, and everything was brought to a new level of eerie this time around.

The layout of the island was quite different than the past episodes, and it was built to a grander scale. Everything was fine tuned, and attention to detail was a big factor in the island.

In my past overview, I mentioned the continuity between the episodes, and here it just shows even more, and perhaps a little more subtly. You find a manifest, which is a catalog for the cargo/passengers on a plane or ship. On the manifest is listed the various items that you have been collecting throughout the adventure — meaning that someone had passed through everywhere you had been!

I was surprised to find that when playing it I felt that it was pretty educational, more so than usual, and more obvious. To assemble the radio, you have to find zinc and copper, and while you find the zinc in an old box, the copper is found by searching through a collector coin bag. You may know that they stopped making pennies copper in 1982 — so you have to find the one from 1981 — genius!

As for the story, right around now does the story really pick up. We learn that a passenger of a Mews Airline plane, Max McGullicutty, has been stranded on the island. We don’t meet him, but on the manifest is a small note saying “Don’t trust MVB”. MVB stands for Myron Van Buren, and from our speculation about him, it seems like he’s going to be the antagonist of the adventure.

The Survival series seems to get better every episode — I rate this episode 5 out of 5 stars. 🙂

-HPuterpop

PHB Quickie, Reviews, Survival Island

PHB Quickie: “Survival: Hook, Line, and Sinker” Overview

HPuterpop

Hi Gs,

Survival Episode 2: Hook, Line, & Sinker is now my favorite episode out of the two (3’s overview later :P). It has an awesome atmosphere, an interactive environment, and ominous story development that we’ll talk about later. You can check out the last overview for Survival here, or view the PHB’s Guide for both episode 1 and 2 of Survival!

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There’s definitely a difference between the two episodes, but the one thing I like best about this one is the correlation. It really makes the environment different from the last episode, yet seamless and politically correct. I know, you’re probably asking When has Poptropica ever been politically correct, but to my surprise, it’s being just that! The episode starts with you climbing down the same cliff that you could jump off of in the first episode. The log that you could push off the cliff in the first episode is awaiting you at the bottom.

There’s also a new layer of interactivity that has been sort of dying off over the years. When I say interactivity, I mean a clickable adventure, with animations when you click stuff. Compared to other recent islands, this one has a surprisingly higher amount. And by the way, this type of clickable idea was inspired by Humongous Entertainment, an old game making company which helped foster my love of Poptropica. In fact, Poptropica is sort of following in that company’s footsteps in a lot of ways.

As for the soundtrack, again, Jeff Heim is amazing, but other than that the tracks are sort of following in the episode’s footsteps. These episodes are entirely experimental, and I don’t expect too many of them to be released, or for islands to become extinct — remember Arabian Nights Island, scheduled to come out later this year?

The story isn’t revealed completely, it just teases the viewer — in the awesome outro scene for the island, a camera hidden in the trees zooms out, and a silhouetted figure is shown watching you and the rest of the island from a panel of screens. From here, we already know what the plot is, but I really like how unique the story telling in this island is — MA doesn’t have cut scenes, and Survival is one of the first to use them as a main part of the game play.

Anyway, that’s just my Bitcoin. 😉 I rate this episode 4.5 out of 5 — not only does it have an awesome story, but it also has continuity that surprised me.

-HPuterpop

New Islands, PHB Quickie, Reviews, Survival Island

Survival Island: Episode 1 Overview

HPuterpop

(¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.-> Hi Gs, <-.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯)

First off, the first thing you’re going to notice is the wind sound effect. It is stinking annoying. Second, the island is horrible if you’re writing a guide, because if you’re idle too long, your Poptropican freezes to death. But those are just my little pet peeves, let’s get on with the good stuff! 😆

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First, we are confronted with some new interface icons. There’s a thermometer and a flag on the bottom of the screen, and plus a fire symbol when you have enough materials to make a fire. The thermometer is to keep your temperature up, and the flag is to determine the wind direction and speed. The last time we had special icons like this was the cell phone on Night Watch Island.

The story, as of now, is pretty vague: build a fire. At the end of the island, there is a hint that someone else is on the island, but that doesn’t really make up for the lazy story that they made. Islands aren’t supposed to be like this.

I do have to say that after all the episodes have come out, this island is going to be colossal.

They tried something new here, and that is that they made it harder by deceiving you. There are multiple things that you could do, although there is only one real path to take. The Handbook suggests that you can cut some grass to burn, and you leave a wedge stuck inside a tree. Some suspicious rats sleep inside a tree, and the Wet Kindling is never used once in the island. Are these possibilities for future episodes? It seems unlikely, though possible.

Those are my thoughts on Episode 1 (Crash Landing) of Survival Island. What do you think about the island? Tell me in the comments. 😀

-HPuterpop