The Collection Chamber: MYSTERY ISLAND: A RACE AGAINST TIME AND HOT LAVA

Embark on an incredible journey at the amusement park where they decide to take a hot air balloon ride even though there is a storm and the ride is "officially" closed. Take the ride of a lifetime to an uncharted island filled with hungry creatures, mind-bending puzzles, and hidden dangers. On Mysterious Island, lead Will, Lily, and Tomas in search for awesome treasure and then help them escape before the volcano erupts.

~ LaunchBox description

Mysterious Island: A Race Against Time and Hot Lava!, an obscure adventure game by Virgin Sound and Vision (from either 1995 or 1996 depending on the source) tosses a bunch of over-eager teenagers - Will, Lily, and Tomas - into a hot air balloon during a storm and joins them on grand adventure. Predictably, they end up stranded on a jungle island with strange ruins, stranded pirate ships, and a volcano that's about to pop. The only way off? Solve an escalating series of puzzles before you become human fondue.

The action unfolds in the so-called Movie Window, which is your standard interactive adventure game screen. The painterly backgrounds look inviting in VGA, with some nicely animated sprites giving the illusion of a higher budget than it likely had. The entire narrative unfolds through a fully voiced flashback as an older Tomas recounts the perilous journey you're currently playing though. It adds a warm, storybook tone to your quest that will instantly make you question your decision making skills. To me, spending a night in a pirate ship is awesome. To Will, Lily and Tomas, it was anything but.

Below the Movie Window, three trusty icons guide your progress; the knapsack (for all the random junk you'll need later), the diary (Tomas's running log of your steadily worsening vacation), and the map (a doodle of everywhere you've been lost). These tools are straightforward but essential - forgetting an item or retracing your steps wastes precious time. And in this game, time isn't money; it's molten lava.

The contents of your knapsack is your inventory, though few puzzles demand it (left).
Your entire adventure will be summarised in Tomas' diary. It might even include hints (right).

The first big test comes courtesy of a buzzing wasp nest that's decided the mouth of a stone idol is prime real estate. To get past, you play exterminator by rotating a row of skulls until they all face away from the statue, trapping the swarm inside. It's a mildly creepy take on a puzzle you've all likely seen before, and exactly the sort of puzzle that makes you wonder if Indiana Jones ever had to moonlight as an apiarist. It also sets the tone; simple visual logic puzzles with just enough weirdness to keep you grinning.

Of course, it wouldn’t be A Race Against Time and Hot Lava! without, well, lava. One of the best puzzles has you raising stone pillars across a molten river by completing symbol sequences - pick correctly and a bridge rises, pick wrong and you're one wrong click from roasting marshmallows on yourself. Elsewhere, the game mixes things up with a balance puzzle (saving Lily and Tomas by arranging barrels of different weights) and even a rhythm challenge (banging out a tape-recorded tune on tribal drums). Who knew survival required perfect pitch?

The map of the island will fill out as you explore (left).
The lava bridge puzzle. Use pattern recognition to cross (right).

The game's cursor system is old-school but effective. Arrows are for moving, a pointing hand for interaction, and a grabbing hand for anything not nailed down. This makes puzzles like sliding oversized stone teeth into place or lining up rods to form a makeshift bridge feel tactile, even on a mid-90s PC screen. Add in the ever-ticking diary reminding you that the volcano isn't getting any calmer, and you've got a mix of low-pressure puzzle fun with just enough time stress to keep your mouse hand sweaty.

Mysterious Island: A Race Against Time and Lava never achieved the prestige or popularity of a Monkey Island, and that's mainly due to it being aimed towards a younger market. A quick look at a the cover or screenshots makes you think it's closer aligned to Ron Gilbert's other projects at Humongous Entertainment. It may have a simple philosophy of design that's more playful than puzzling, but this is an adventure game through and through. For those willing to dig past the lava flow of obscurity, this is one hidden island worth visiting - just don’t forget your knapsack.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses the DOSBox-X build of DOSBox running Microsoft Windows 3.1 to get the game working on modern systems. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 135Mb. Install Size: 276 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download