Mr. Bill's   Adventureland   Review

If you like LucasArts games like Monkey Island or Indiana Jones, you're going to love this little gem. It's sort of a combination between the two, and contains many of the same elements and much of the same kind of humor.

It is 1949 and you play Joe King, pilot for hire with his small private plane the 'Amazon Queen'. The game is a spoof of old timey radio adventure serials, and as it begins we find Joe in one of those typical situations.  It is 11:58 and 36 seconds and counting, Joe and his date are tied up in an abandoned warehouse ("you really know how to show a girl a good time, Joe!"), and a bomb is set to go off at midnight!

Of course they escape, in the nick of time, and immediately set us up for the next 'adventure'. Joe suddenly remembers that he is scheduled to fly the famous movie star, Faye Russell, to a photo shoot in the Amazon jungle the next morning.  But when he arrives at the hotel to pick her up, his arch rival Hans Anderson of Flying Dutchman Airlines locks him in the room.

Displaying some exceptionally creative thinking at this latest development, he does eventually manage to take off with the spoiled Miss Russell in tow, only to have his plane get hit by lightning and crash in the Amazon jungle!  Now he will have to face some horrible challenges to survive:  6 feet tall 'pygmies', beautiful Amazon women (and their happy prisoners!), misguided missionaries, a wisecracking parrot, and of course a mad scientist, who's trying to take over the world by injecting dinosaur DNA into the women.

This is a long, 3rd person, point & click game, with easy to use icons for action, a small inventory, and a brilliant map. The music is upbeat and changes with each location (turn on your speakers and refresh to hear some now).  The graphics are imaginative and colorful, with careful attention to often-hysterical details (Aztec temple statues holding baseball bats!), and the short animated cut scenes used to advance the story are a pure delight to watch.

There are lots of great places to visit and plenty to do when you get there, with a unique challenge in each new location. The puzzles are crazy, absorbing and fun (wearing fake breasts, bartering with a pygmy), and are usually solved by clues you have picked up in conversations and/or with inventory items.  Most are not too difficult, but they do get harder as you go along, and a few will drive you bananas (pun intended)!  But you can't die or go wrong, so try everything.

This game is also a spoof of adventure games in general, so you will visit all sorts of places, from an Amazon day spa to a 24-hour jungle convenience store.  And the broad stereotypical characters are absolutely perfect, from the boyish 'innocent abroad' charm of Joe to the manic evil of Dr. Ironstein, with wonderful offbeat and laid back humorous dialogue (we particularly liked the exchange between Joe and the gorilla!).

It's a great game, an old style adventure that'll give you hours of fun and leave you feeling good. We love it!

Full View Screenshot

Produced (1995) by Interactive Binary Illusions (no longer exists) and published in the United States by Warner Active (no longer exists). Published in Europe by Renegade Software.

Minimum System Requirements: PC Only!

PC: 386 33 MHz; DOS 5.0 or Higher; 4 MB RAM; 582 KB Conventional Memory Available for the Game; CD ROM Drive (2X CD-ROM Drive Recommended); Microsoft CD-ROM Extensions 2.21 or Higher; 640 X 480, 256 Color VGA Graphics Card; Supports SoundBlaster, AdLib and Roland LAPC1 Sound Cards; 1 MB of Free Hard Drive Space for saved Games; Mouse Recommended

Where To Buy This Game:

The best chance for finding this game would be at used software places or auctions or trading sites. Our Places To Buy Games page may be able to assist you in finding a copy of this game.

Walkthroughs or Hints: