Ah Time Tangled Island. This brings me back.
……..
GET IT?!? BECAUSE TIME TRAVEL.
………..
IT’S A JOK-Never mind.
And he never finds his way back. The end.
Anyway, Time Tangled Island! Previously called Time Twisted Island, as I learned from the gladiator standing on top of the roof of a tourism center (wow that seems a lot less reliable a source when I say it out loud), this was one of the earliest islands in Poptropica history. I played this all the way back in 2009, so it really brings back a lot of memories.
And seeing as how Time Tangled Island is one of the islands 0f the month for January, I figured I might as well do a review on it.
Since this isn’t a Halloween thing, I won’t be sticking to the formula of the Halloween reviews. Instead I’m going to divide this review into three sections.
Plot, where I’ll examine the storyline of the island, Gameplay, where I’ll look through all the minigames and puzzles and such, and lastly Aesthetics, where I’ll discuss the design aspects of the island.
Got it? Good. Let’s get started!
Ah Time Tangled Island. This brings me ba-whoa. Deja vu.
Plot
What else is new.
OK, so the plot is fairly simple. The scientist Professor Pendulum has created a time machine and left it in the hands of his two assistants. But a malfunction has caused important artifacts from ancient history to be transported to the wrong time periods. It’s up to the player to find these artifacts and return them to their rightful place in history before it somehow causes the end of the world.
If only I had a sign of what to do-oh yeah that’ll do.
And yeah. That’s about it. Like I said, the plot’s pretty simple, but given that this was the third ever island released, it’s hard for me to be mad about it. The two islands released before this (Early Poptropica and Shark Tooth) were just as simplistic. That was just typical of Poptropica islands at the time.
Gameplay
The gameplay in this island is almost as simple as the plot. I’ll give it credit for including the addition of the time travel watch. That’s a neat change in formula, and it allows the player access to many different locations.
Wibbly wobbly timey wimey.
But aside from that, it’s pretty much just a series of fetch quests. Get the artifact from time period X and return it to time period Y. Get the artifact from time period Y and return it to time period Z. And so on and so forth. It’s arguably even simpler than Early Poptropica or Shark Tooth because there isn’t even really a linear sequence of events. Most of the artifacts can be returned in any order.
This certainly is puzzling. It’ll be a while before I can piece together the solution. THIRD PUZZLE PUN.
Occasionally they’ll throw in a few puzzles that you’ll need to complete in order to get the artifacts, and some artifacts can only be accessed after getting certain items but most of it is pretty basic for Poptropica.
Again, I can’t really fault this island for it because it was one of the first islands. Even though we consider all this stuff to be basic NOW, this was actually one of the islands that made this stuff basic to begin with.
Aesthetics
Now let’s get to the design aspect. This island is REALLY cool looking. The whole time travel aspect lends itself to many creative possibilities. Unlike the past two, the player isn’t restricted to one island.
Nice temple. But Mythology Island’s got a better one.
Over the course of this quest the player visits a bunch of different locations and people and items from a multitude of time periods. You can go from meeting oracles in Ancient Greece to dressing like vikings to witnessing the construction of The Great Wall of China and it’s just AMAZING!
Nice Thomas Edison. But Mystery Train Island’s got a better one.
And of course, I can’t review a post-beta island without mentioning the soundtrack. Every time period has its own music that perfectly fits the environment. The mere fact that they managed to give each time period its own background music is pretty impressive.
Nice Himalayan mountain peak. But Cryptids Island’s got a better one.
And give the island credit where it’s due, this is something that had never been done before in Poptropica. Sure, Early Poptropica Island had diverse environments but up until this island, nothing of this scale had been done before. RESPECT.
Someone get me Svadilfari, I’m about to play the ULTIMATE game of Whack-A-Mole.
Notes
- I especially love the design of the good future. It’s really creative, and I used to go back to that place all the time just to admire the design. Now with the cool soundtrack, it’s even BETTER.
- EXPLODING CRAB
- The Viking Costume easter egg is pretty cool.
- EXPLODING CRAB
- The Glider and the Aztec Warrior Mask used to be two of my favorite wearable items.
- Ah Time Tangled Island. This brings me-OK something weird’s definitely going on here.
- EXPLODING CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAB.
Conclusion
This island is simple. It’s very very simple. But as I’ve said time and again in this review, that’s because it was one of the earliest. It happened while Poptropica was still finding its feet. Aside from the time-travel watch, the gameplay’s pretty standard for a Poptropica island, but that’s because it was one of the islands that SET that standard.
PORCUPINE FRIEND.
And, I have to appreciate this island purely based on the incredible creativity and effort that went into designing all the different time periods and environments.
Also bonus points for the exploding crab.
So that was my review for Time Tangled Island! Did you guys like it? Tell me what island you guys want me to review next!
Ah Time Tangled Island. This bri-AGH MAKE IT STOP!!!
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