Somewhere out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, far removed from regular shipping lanes, is an island. It is no ordinary island mind you, it is an Enchanted Island! We’ve moved on from Sorcerer’s Castle Adventure to yet another offering from Greg Hassett. This is not a huge improvement over his prior adventure though it is an improvement.
There is still the obligatory maze that we have to traverse, and eleven different treasures to collect and deposit on a beach, but at least there are now a few puzzles which have to solved. The types of puzzles which exist in this game are not diverse but instead all of the same variety. Every treasure is guarded by some kind of creature or obstacle and you have to figure out what each guardian requires or how to remove the obstacle so that you can obtain the treasure.
Most of what you need to remove the guardians or obstacles can be accomplished through trial and error. Some of the solutions are a bit obtuse or just make no sense at all but fortunately the game’s responses help you by giving you blatant clues. Examples are: When you go to THROW anything in the game you receive the response “Sorry Charlie I can only throw the ball”. You will find a glass globe in the game so it is obvious you’ll want to throw it. If it is not in the game’s responses you’ll quite literally find notes which read; HOLY SMOKES A TIGER! BARBS LIKE BAN…(the ink on the rest of the note is too faded to read) but the clues are so blatant I think you’ll have no problem figuring everything out. There is a bit of magic in the game that you can use but be aware that your magic word will not function properly unless you have the RUBY in your possession.
The eleven treasures that you need to find consist of the following:
- jewel encrusted coconut
- enormous emerald
- gold ring
- mammoth ruby
- gold chain
- silver key
- rare spices
- cuban cigars
- golden feather
- priceless giraffe skin
- golden antlers
There really is no plot or story here. It’s a simple treasure hunt with lock & key type puzzles. The island isn’t enchanted but rather a bit flaky and yet I still enjoyed this offering more than I did Hassett’s Sorcerer’s Island Adventure. There was just enough to do here and puzzle through to mildly hold your interest to completion. Remember that young Hassett was only 13 or 14 at the time of writing this so you’ll have to excuse the spelling errors and zany ecosystem but it’s a better offering than his previous one.
I played Enchanted Island on a TRS-80 emulator and spent roughly three hours with the game.