Whenever I close my eyes and think of an Amazing Island, I picture a tropical place with alcohol and beautiful people dancing all around me, feeding me grapes and fanning me with giant palm leaves. When the people of Sega think of an Amazing Island; they think of 11 year old children and monsters. The game that’s risen from the ashes of such visions, Amazing Island, is an odd journey to an odd island with odd people, all for a really odd purpose. Synopsis: This game is weird. Sega brings you into the shoes of an eleven year old child who is trying to save the race of Maboo’s who live in a picture book. You’re not alone, however. Through the Maboo’s technology, you get to make a monster companion to assist you. So, is this trip to this Amazing Island worth it? Well, for some it might be. One way or another, anybody who visits Amazing Island is left with a fuzzy feeling in the pit of their stomach.

Features

• The single most innovatively detailed monster/character creation system ever seen in a console video game. Period.
  
• Approximately thirty mini-games to test your creations
  
• Tons of collectable items for boosting your monsters stats and appearance
  
• GBA Connectivity allows you to play a card battle game for items and treasure
  
• Multiplayer action allows for all players to bring their own monster into the battle

Gameplay
As was mentioned above, the main character in the game is your 11 year old “alter-ego” whom gets sucked into a picture book and becomes the savior of the tribe of Maboo. Apparently, the Maboo people were a happy people until the Black Evil appeared and started corrupting the Maboo people. Being the only human to have visited Amazing Island for many years, you’ve undertaken the task to essentially save Amazing Island from utter corruption. Doing so requires you to find a monster buddy and take him through a series of trials that will ultimately lead up to an encounter with one of the Black Evil baddies.

Need a monster buddy? No worries, because the Maboo are specialists at making monsters. By answering a simple series of deep, philosophical questions, the Maboo witch doctor will create the perfect monster for you. Then, after the body has been brought to life, you get to accessorize the little beast with as much silly stuff as you can get your hands on. If you want a monster with a soccer ball on his head (I know I did!) then feel free to make a monster with a soccer ball on his head. Initially you may or may not have a soccer ball to choose from, however through participating and winning in various mini-games you’ll earn a plethora of items for full customization.


Battle evil in a variety of mini-games
Let’s skip the monster creation for a moment and move onto what should be the meat and bones of the game, the story mode and gameplay itself. Once you’re done playing with your monster and making him the Bon Jovi of the monster isle, you take him to a launch pad where you’re whisked away to partake in several minigames. Unfortunately, it seems like the focus was placed so squarely on monster creation that the gameplay suffers. While a few of the minigames have their amusing charm to them, the majority of them require you to spastically hit the A or B buttons. Sure, there’s a lot of variety as to the reason you’re spastically hitting the buttons. In one game it’s so you can run down a ramp and launch yourself into the water, while in another game its launching basketballs into a hoop as fast as humanly (monsterly?) possible. There are also games that require a lot of timing. Games like one game that requires you to launch yourself into the air on a rickety catapult by throwing a boulder on the opposite end. You have to time the power of the throw, the angle, when your little creature should jump, and then you just watch. Ooooo….Aaaaah….and so forth. In the end, a lot of the minigames simply lack the depth that would appeal to many hardcore gamers out there. There are 30 minigames to unlock and compete in, many of which do require a pretty high degree of skill, but none of them are really very entertaining.