March 12, 2008 - Let's get this out of the way straight off: There is nothing blissful about Bliss Island.
It conjures no feelings of relaxation or nirvana. Neither does it have
anything to do with Ms. Bliss from the early years of Saved by the
Bell. The sad reality is that Bliss Island is a collection of
mini-games that range from piss poor to being competitive with free
internet flash games. Save your 400 Microsoft Points (US $5); this one
isn't worth your time or money.

The single-player game takes you on an "adventure" through a series of
seven mini-games broken into stages, complete with a text intro and
some budget fireworks at the end of each of the three levels of
difficulty. If you want, you can also tackle the games individually in
a challenge mode. The hook that binds each mini-game together is the
Zwooph, a mythical creature that shoots puffs of air to make clouds.
Each game uses this air jet concept and some simple physics to create
puzzles and basic platforming gameplay.



The mini-games are about as basic as you can get. In fact, you can find
better alternatives to every one of them on the web for free. One
involves directing balls of fruit into a creature's mouth. It's about
as exciting as it sounds. Another is a simple race where slamming on
the A button to boost continuously through gates is as deep as the game
gets. There are two platforming levels, one a timed vertical climb and
the other a top-down affair. The latter also has the added bonus of a
ridiculously annoying camera, somehow.

The list is rounded out with a billiards game (knock like-colored balls
into one another), a take on Space Invaders that involves boosting
around to take out oncoming bricks of the same color and Cave
Adventures. This last one is the most interesting, but it isn't much
more than a more complex version of everyone's favorite helicopter flash game.
If each mini-game were as interesting as Cave Adventures, there might
be something worth looking at here. Instead, it's a single bright spot
in an ill-conceived package.


Cave Adventure is the best of the bunch.

In
terms of fun, there's not much here and the presentation and graphics
are on par with the gameplay. The artwork on the menus and loading
screens is worse than Saturday morning cartoons from the 1980s and
there's absolutely nothing done in the game that looks like it is
taking advantage of the Xbox 360 hardware. The gameplay doesn't even
run in true HD -- Bliss Island puts a border around the edges. It's
just as well. The low-res textures would look even worse without the
borders. The sound effects and music are as cookie-cutter as they come.

Bliss Island is ostensibly aimed at the casual market with its bright
visuals and simple design, but even that target is missed thanks to
aggravating levels of difficultly in the latter stages. There is a
challenge here for those willing to take it. Playing through the
adventure will probably take you four or five hours on the first try,
longer if you want to win all of the medals and achievements.

There's also a two-player adversarial mode with three game types, one
of which doesn't have a corollary in the single player game. There's a
soccer game, a race to collect fruit and a multiplayer version of the
Brick Invaders game. Winning nets you the praise we all crave with a
nice "Level Complete" message to signify your success. Alright! Oddly,
Bliss Island doesn't support any same-screen multiplayer so you'll have
to hop onto Xbox Live to find an opponent. Closing Comments
If Bliss Island were a website of free flash games, it would be worthwhile as a distraction. Paying for it is not a good idea.
IGN Ratings for Bliss Island (X360)





RatingDescription

out of 10
3.0	Presentation The menu art is bad. The adventure mode is not an adventure.
4.5	Graphics The game area in Bliss Island is bordered to make up for the low-resolution. It also doesn't look as attractive as the title sounds.
4.0	Sound Very little work was done to make this game aurally pleasing.
3.0	Gameplay Outside of the Cave Adventures mini-game, there isn't anything to like.
2.0	Lasting Appeal Nope.
3.5 Bad	OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average