Sinking Island is White Birds' second game, and a big change from both their own previous game, Paradise, and the Syberia games created under Benoît Sokal's direction at Microïds. Gone are the exotic animals and an atmosphere of fantasy this time around: Sinking Island is a full-fledged murder mystery. I recently had the chance to play some of it during my visit to the company's offices, under the guidance of Michel Bams, White Birds' co-founder and marketing director, and was rather favourably impressed by what I saw.

As Jack Norm, a middle-aged former policeman who now works as a private investigator, you are sent to the tropical island of Sagorah to investigate the death of its owner, Walter Jones. This eccentric billionaire had decided to turn the island into a resort by building a gigantic hotel, decorated in his beloved art-deco style. While he got to see it completed, he unfortunately doesn't have the chance to see it open, as he is found dead after falling from a cliff.

You have to wonder why Jones thought Sagorah was a good idea for a resort, as the weather is absolutely dreadful there. A brownish storm is thundering over it when the game opens on an ominous note, with Norm approaching the island by helicopter as the hotel's massive tower suddenly appears through the clouds and rain. The in-game 2.5D graphics keep the same threatening tone and are richly animated, including palm trees continually swaying in the wind. The inside of the tower is equally dark, artfully decorated but as gloomy as the rest of the island, setting a sombre mood for the game. In case this wasn't depressing enough, you'll quickly learn that the island is soon to become a lost paradise (a recurring theme in Sokal's games), as it is slowly sinking into the sea, crushed under the weight of this absurd tower.

Sinking Island is primarily a detective game, focusing mostly on gathering clues, searching rooms, interrogating suspects and deducing things from those elements. As the game begins, Jones' attorney takes you to the scene of death, immediately adding that he saw someone push his boss over the cliff. Scratches on Jones' face seem to confirm that a fight occurred, and you can take a picture of those for future reference. All the clues you gather (items, photos, statements, documents, etc.) are stored in your PPA (Personal Police Assistant), where they can be reviewed. The PPA also contains continuously-updated files on the game's ten suspects, as well as an interface for matching finger- and foot-prints.

The PPA is also where you'll get to fulfil the twelve "mandates" that track your progress. For instance, the first one requires you to answer the question "was Walter Jones' death an accident?" In order to do so, you must pick the correct clues among those you've gathered. In this case, the game tells you that you need two clues: one statement and one photo. Just find and pick the right ones, and this mandate is fulfilled; you then get assigned the next one(s). The first mandate may seem easy, but with the number of clues constantly rising, and some questions requiring as many as twelve clues of various nature to be answered, you probably shouldn't turn off your brain if you want to unravel the game's plot — which White Birds promises is labyrinthine, with twists, turns and red herrings galore.

While the PPA is an important part of the gameplay, the game has more to offer. It will feature its share of standard adventure puzzles, such as figuring out how to make a fingerprint kit. "We didn't want the game to only take place inside the PPA", comments Michel Bams. "This is, for instance, why we don't want to introduce a map that would allow you to teleport from one location to the next: we're constantly trying to bring the player back to the 'real world', to the locations."

Sinking Island comes with two modes of play: "adventure" and "against the clock", the latter being much harder than the former. This mode adds a strong time pressure to the game: the clock moves in simulated real-time, and events unfold whether you are there or not. For instance, characters may become unavailable at certain times, or vital clues not found early enough may be lost as the island sinks into the sea. Furthermore, your boss will regularly call to check on your progress and may recall you from the island if you've failed to fulfil your mandates by certain times. If that happens, the game automatically returns you to an earlier point in time, from which you still have a chance of completing your goals.



"We want the mode where you're playing against the clock to be challenging," comments Bams, "because we know some adventure gamers demand that. We're still tweaking things, but I don't think anyone will finish the game in that mode without losing a few times. Still, we definitely don't want the gameplay to feel like something out of Oh No! More Lemmings, where you'd have to perform an exact sequence of actions at high speed. The game is very logical, and you can succeed in that mode if you follow your trail. And, before recalling you from the island, your boss will try to nudge you in the right direction. For instance, after the end of your first mandate, the logical step is to try to talk to the person who, according to the attorney, pushed the victim to his death. But if you choose to go sightseeing at random instead, you'll probably run out of time." In the adventure mode, however, the clock just stops moving when you reach a time limit, allowing you to talk to the characters and search for clues at leisure.

I wasn't able to play enough of Sinking Island to form a definitive opinion on it. Still, I left White Birds' offices very eager to play the full game when it gets released. Always a fan of whodunnits, I find the mix of traditional sleuthing and more scientific investigation (introduced by the PPA) very promising, as well as the use of clues to complete the mandates. I hope these mechanics will remain as clever and fun in the long run as they seemed at first. Add to that a strong atmosphere and (hopefully) a plot to match, this could certainly be a winner.

Micro Application plans to release Sinking Island in French-speaking countries in September and in other parts of Europe around the beginning of next year, while MC2-Microïds will be publishing the game in the U.S some time this fall. A DS port is also in the works, though that is much farther off, and shouldn't be expected any earlier than the fourth quarter of 2008.