Download Flight of the Amazon Queen

If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery then Monkey Island sure must be chuffed. Countless adventure games tried to mimic what made it so special and unique yet few really succeeded. Flight of the Amazon Queen was one of them so let's take a look at how close it came to achieving its goal.

You start the game as a freelance pilot called Joe King in need of customers to fly around the world. After escaping certain death in the intro, you're stranded in a hotel room where your first goal is to get out and prevent a rich and famous customer from being stolen away by a Dutch competitor. Tssk, those ruthless Dutchmen eh. When you finally do managed to win her back, you crash in the jungle and have to try and get your plane back in the air. While running around the island, you discover a plot of a mad scientist to take over the world by transforming amazon women into dinosaurs. Yes, don't expect a believable plot from this game but then again, it's hardly expected from a game that takes obvious inspiration from Monkey Island.

In truth, this game has also been influenced by Indiana Jones & Fate of Atlantis which can be witnessed when you take a look at the graphics. They are very colourful yet also quite realistic with the locations being detailed and attractive too. A similar technique of shading has been used as well. But the comedy is definitely geared at fans of Monkey Island: I had to admit I laughed out loud plenty of times. The scene involving a gorilla dressed up in a dinosaur suit had me crying tears of laughter which is a rare thing to happen for me which goes to show that you won't be disappointed in the comedy department.

So that leaves us with what really makes or breaks an adventure game: the puzzles. While the interface can be confusing at first (the icons aren't as straightforward as Monkey Island's verbs), you soon get the hang of it and I must say that the logic behind the puzzles is quite sound. I got stuck several times but with a gentle nudge from the Universal Hint System I always managed to continue without spoiling the game.

Combine all this and you got a quality game. While it may not be a classic in the same league as Monkey Island, it's still more than worth giving a go. Some may find the humour less catching but I guess this is all down to taste. Personally, I loved it and it's a solid 5 out of 5 to me.

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