Therefore if you don’t like bowling for bottles, you can instead opt to stack varyingly-shaped stones on turtles’ backs, enjoy match-three mindbenders, blow pirates out of the water with rapid cannon fire or try full-fledged time management simulations.Īll can be tackled to the extent you personally desire, and at one’s own pace, with the ability to ping-pong between different, yet equally satisfying play styles perhaps the title’s most compelling highlight. How to earn those precious bucks? By choosing from a variety of different games to play including “Water Words” or “Cascade,” with featured selections running the entire gamut of action- and puzzle-themed offerings. Naturally, these collectible goodies – including tiki torches, flowers, sand castles and fruity drinks as well as kites and soccer balls (which characters can actually interact with between missions) – all require spare cash to purchase. To achieve these goals, however, you must first fill a quest meter, which can be built up by acquiring objects in three categories: Food, fun and comfort. All have a core objective, be it building a raft to explore exotic locales finding a way to fend off troublemaking swashbucklers or searching off-shore for unique artifacts.

– from which to begin embarking on adventures. From a high-level standpoint, you’re basically provided a static location – Shipwreck Shoal, Mermaid’s Palace, Danger Island, etc. Thankfully, you’re free to tackle the saga at your leisure, optionally choosing which challenge to pursue next, with each awarding the precious sand dollars that count towards overall advancement.īut let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.

Which just so happens to be particularly convenient, considering the whopper of a world – divided into individual isles and multiple activities, accessible from a gorgeous map screen – that the tale is set in. Like all characters, objects and backgrounds in the game, they’re surprisingly well-animated, to the extent that it actually makes you want to keep playing to see what happens next. Stunning and lengthy cut-scenes are included for those who’d like to follow the overarching tale, as a monkey and his animal pals attempt to keep a treasure map out of the hands of dastardly pirates. Specifically targeting this audience, this strikingly personable and catchy adventure, which fuses enjoyable mini-games around fully customizable, island-themed level hubs, is sure to strike a chord with the kid in all of us. Popular wisdom holds that the biggest audience for casual games is women aged 40 and up, but the creators of Tropix 2 were wise to not overlook another obvious fan base: Younger players, sure to be drawn to the vibrant graphics and simple play mechanics.