Mysterious Journey II is a sequel to Mysterious Journey: Schizm In this adventure game by Dreamcatcher, the hero (there’s almost always a hero) is a young man named Sen who, according to the story, wakes up from his assigned cryogenic sleeper pod on board a space station that is orbiting his formerly lush, green planet, which has now turned into a barren world. A hologram recording from his former friend was left to play at the precise time he wakes up. This was two hundred years earlier and he has been imprisoned in his sleep pod since then. The hologram of his friend informs him that he is to blame for the desolation below, and that now he is to be punished further for his crime. The abandoned station is not only his prison, but it will fall from orbit in 16 days and he will die. The hook to the story is the glitch that Sen can remember nothing about this and he is bewildered.

Just about the time the last phase of his sentence is to be announced, the floating hologram robot orb is hit with a laser beam. The ship has been disabled and the remaining functional parts of the spaceship have been rendered inoperable. You (as Sen) now must find a way out of the doomed space vehicle and get down to the planet below before time runs out on you. The character Sen, interestingly named, it seems has committed the ultimate sin by becoming a traitor to his people, or has he?

Once you escape the doomed vessel, your goal is to make it back to the planet, which at one time was a productive and prosperous world. Then, an alien spaceship entered its planetary system, creating fear and havoc among the tribes on the planet. Some factions wanted to contact the aliens and other factions were opposed to doing this. A destructive global war soon followed and only a single valley remains intact. Sen needs to get to the valley and discover the truth. Are the people left on the planet his people or are they his enemies or worse yet, they might even be aliens? What has transpired in the ensuing two hundred plus years? Once on the planet, this game asks you to play the role of Sen as he attempts find his way in this strange new world that he once called home. You need to discover and master the 'Chameleon' technology, which will let you impersonate feuding tribe members he finds and travel safely among them. Once I started playing the game, I was determined to discover the truth about what really happened. In other words, the game story kind of hooked me, which is what I like when I play games on the computer. I like to be challenged to think and solve problems, both the typical game kind of puzzle-solving challenges and the overall, figure out the solution to the story.

The games 3D graphics were fantastic. The graphics rendering had minimal waiting to render episodes on my computer, which is a fairly typical home computer, not a tricked out, top of the line gaming computer. I mentioned earlier that I am not a frequent gamer but I have enjoyed playing this game and plan to continue trying to conquer it. My biggest drawback is time and games do take some time, but the ones that make you think and challenge your brain keep you sharp. Mysterious Journey II fits this category.

The game requires Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, a Pentium III 800 MHz or equivalent CPU (Pentium III 1.6 GHZ Recommended), 128 MB RAM (256MB for Windows XP), a 64MB Direct3D compatible video card and DirectX 8.1 with a compatible driver (128 MB Recommended), DirectSound compatible, 16-bit sound card with DirectX 8.1 compatible driver, and a Windows keyboard and mouse.

There are interesting environments with more than 40 different scene locations in the game (according to the box, I haven’t seen them all yet). This game is a lot of fun, interesting and nonviolent, with more than 25 puzzles to solve. Even with all of that, what most impressed me was the ability to render in real time with little waiting. On top of that was the fact that you could move and navigate freely about the ship and on the planet. The music was subdued and pleasant, unlike some other ones I’ve experienced. What I most liked about the game was the ability to move so easily just about anywhere and the intellectual challenges some of the puzzles presented me with. Without hesitation, for the fun, the beautiful graphics and the challenges inherent in the game, I would recommend this game.

I am sure this game is available if you check with local computer stores they will likely have it. It is also available on the web from the company's website dreamcatchergames.com for $29.99. I have also seen it online for as little as $19.99 new.