Zoombinis: Island Odyssey Screenshots The Final Say! Gameplay 9.0 Graphics 8.0 Sound 8.0 Value 9.0 Zoombinis: Island Odyssey - reviewed by Andrew B Review Date: 26 December 2002 Review Score: 9/10  Distributor: GameNation

Zoombinis: Island Odyssey is the latest kids educational title from The Learning Company and is aimed at children over the age of eight. Unlike other children's titles, Zoombinis: Island Odyssey is probably the first educational game that includes puzzle reformulation that allows for every game to be different that ensures the longevity of this product for children.  Zoombinis: Island Odyssey Features 7 Perilous Puzzles 3 Levels of Challenge Practice Mode Helpful Puzzle Clues Parent's Guide Puzzle Reformulation - a new game each adventure! Dozens of Thinking Skills such as; Collecting Data, Data Analysis, Decoding Complex Processes, Graphing & Mapping, Logical Reasoning, Modular Arithmetic, Pattern Finding, Problem Solving & Theory Formulation and Testing Dozens of Science Concepts such as Astronomy, Mechanics, Cryptography, Ecology, Genetics & Life Cycles   As with most children game titles, you must first sign in before allowing to start a game and then children are required to create their own unique Zoombinis, a total of twelve Zoombinis. The story behind Zoombinis is for them to return to their homeland and help fix the ecological disaster that was caused by the Bloats. In order to restore this natural habitat, the Zoombinis must solve a variety of puzzles that will each unlock a new area of the game, until they can finally defeat the dreaded and dastardly Bloats.  Zoombinis: Island Odyssey supports a variety of different difficulty levels that range from easy to difficult which is ideal for children of various ages. Children are treated to a variety of different challenges throughout the game, for instance, one puzzles requires children to solve ancient hieroglyphics by matching up symbols on a stone wall in order to open up a doorway to the next level. Other learning activities include solving various time and astronomy puzzles and a variety of other challenges. Unlike other children educational titles, Zoombini tries and succeeds at being more of a game then an educational title but little do children know, this game is teaching them quite a deal of information such as maths without numbers or equations and helping children learning basic problem solving skills that is ideal in today's world of schooling. Graphically, Zoombinis: Island Odyssey is a very impressive game that is unfortunately set at a resolution of 640x480, however the graphics are extremely sharp, colourful and are well animated.

The game reminds me of a children's version of Lemmings meets the Incredible Machine because of the strange looking creatures known as the Zoombinis and the mechanical puzzles in the game. Apart from the great ingame graphics, Zoombinis also supports a variety of impressive looking cinematics between levels and one at the start of the game that tells the tale of the wondrous creatures known as the Zoombini. 

Zoombini: Island Odyssey features some great voice acting that is on par with other children titles. There are variety of different sound effects in the game to keep the kids entertained and the game does not talk down to children but rather at an adult level. The game does support some music but unlike other titles, its not the focus of the game as this game is more a learning tool then a game.

In conclusion Zoombinis: Island Odyssey is a brilliant children's title from GameNation and features some amazing graphics, brilliant puzzles and an overall well presented game. I would highly recommend this game to parents with children around the ages of eight to ten as it greatly increases their learning skills. Highly Recommended!