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STRANDED (JAVA)
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Publisher: Glu Mobile.
Developer: Glu Mobile. Released: August 2006. Genre: Adventure. Posted 11th December 2022. By Tom Clare © 2022 |
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Stranded borrowed the shipwrecked-and-not-sure-who-to-trust premise of the popular 2000s TV show Lost and mixed it with farming, bartering and social elements of Harvest Moon, to surprisingly good effect. Glu Mobile’s adventure sees a greater quality of design, across the board, than a majority of Java games of the time. A decent smattering of NPCs, side-quests and cohesive gameplay features mean players who took the plunge in 2006 were treated to an unlikely success story.
Awakening after a troubling premonition, Mark discovers he has been marooned on a tropical island, along with a small band of survivors. His initial concern revolves around the basics of survival: food, water and shelter. These act as an ideal means of helping the player acclimatise to the game’s navigation aspects. Mark must gather supplies and items to help establish camp, performing a variety of simple fetch quests for the half-dozen or so other survivors.
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Stranded's deeper than the average mobile game, with plenty of main and secondary objectives to busy yourself with
Were you to find yourself stuck on a desert island with only Stranded for company, you could certainly do a lot worse: it’s very nicely conceived and a fine way to pass a few hours. The game isn’t huge, as you’d perhaps expect from a Java release, but it makes good use of its location and its assets. The gameplay diversifies a little as you progress, not merely settling on its initial ideas. The story was never likely to win any awards for style or drama, but as a gaming mechanism, it’s a direct enough means of keeping things ticking over. We learn a little bit about the other survivors, whilst snippets of narrative serve to give context and atmosphere to the gradual opening up of the playing space, which includes a snake-infested jungle, a tribal village and a network of caves.
Stranded’s combat is really good. Between fish, poultry, boars and snakes, there are a whopping 40 different types of creatures to hunt. To help complete this impressive bestiary, Mark must gauge the weight of bow-and-arrow shots in a simple, intuitive system that offers a nice challenge. Tackling the most dangerous snakes and boars can be genuinely quite tense, as you’ll need to be pretty nimble with the keypad to evade them, once they get close.
Stranded’s combat is really good. Between fish, poultry, boars and snakes, there are a whopping 40 different types of creatures to hunt. To help complete this impressive bestiary, Mark must gauge the weight of bow-and-arrow shots in a simple, intuitive system that offers a nice challenge. Tackling the most dangerous snakes and boars can be genuinely quite tense, as you’ll need to be pretty nimble with the keypad to evade them, once they get close.
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Sometimes the quests are personal, such as finding a missing child from the natives’ village. Then there’s more general stuff, such as collecting wood for building a raft, gathering specific ingredients from the island’s many food sources to receiving a recipe in return, or retrieving a the pelts or skins of the more hazardous animals on the island. There’s a good smattering of tasks to keep you busy, as well as missions specific to nudging the main story forwards. To its credit, the game rarely feels like it’s making the player repeat the same actions for false longevity. As a result, the pace of progression is pleasingly appreciable.
The visuals are lovely, a really pretty and convincing 16-bit throwback. Sprites and environments are vibrant, clear and colourful, harbouring a surprising amount of detail for a Java game. This includes nice little touches such as a light cone around Mark as he passes through caves, flowing waterfalls, bits of equipment strewn around the camp and little bits of finery such as ritual stones. A day/night cycle is also welcome. Granted, it doesn’t affect the look of the game, but it does result in different variants of animals appearing at different times. The music also deserves a mention, neither hammy nor phone-in, Glu made a genuine effort to make the tunes fit the setting and the tone. The music is unobtrusive but quietly effective, a brooding menace that works nicely.
The visuals are lovely, a really pretty and convincing 16-bit throwback. Sprites and environments are vibrant, clear and colourful, harbouring a surprising amount of detail for a Java game. This includes nice little touches such as a light cone around Mark as he passes through caves, flowing waterfalls, bits of equipment strewn around the camp and little bits of finery such as ritual stones. A day/night cycle is also welcome. Granted, it doesn’t affect the look of the game, but it does result in different variants of animals appearing at different times. The music also deserves a mention, neither hammy nor phone-in, Glu made a genuine effort to make the tunes fit the setting and the tone. The music is unobtrusive but quietly effective, a brooding menace that works nicely.
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Hunting, fishing, collecting food and helping the survivors: there's plenty to keep Mark occupied
Perhaps ideally for a mobile game, it’s an adventure you can dip in and out of, whether it’s to do a bit of fishing, collect some items, complete some recipes or simply to make a dint in the bestiary. In this regard, it has some of the best of both worlds: it’s easy to grasp but has enough under the surface to justify sticking with. The story is basic but it pushes the right buttons, giving players sufficient incentive as new intrigues open up. Whilst little of what Stranded achieved was revolutionary by the standards of 2006, a Java title that amalgamates so many ideas as successfully as it does deserves great credit, even if it’s unlikely to wow those weaned on Harvest Moon.
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VERDICT
"...a Java title that amalgamates so many ideas as successfully as Stranded does deserves great credit, even if it’s unlikely to wow those weaned on Harvest Moon." OVERALL: 7/10 |
