It's time for another trip into the world of Give Yourself Goosebumps. This time it's another island adventure. Though where Deep in the Jungle of Doom focused more on a jungle adventure, this time we look be going tropical. So that gives us volcanoes, sharks and tikis aplenty. So will this one be a fun tropical trip or some tiki trash? Let's find out with The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island.
I like this cover. I wouldn't call it a scary cover by any stretch. Unless you have a phobia of giant octopuses, which I have to a mild extent. But while this one doesn't really sell on the scares, it is very impressive and imposing. I also like how the warping looks in this cover, even if it does look a bit goofy, like there's this big divot in the middle of the island. But it still works, giving us a nice shot of the Tiki Island jungle and the active volcano. It sells heavily some of the things this book provides. Also the fish with its big worried eyes is a bit goofy, but memorable. Great stuff.
As is the case with these books, given that the protagonist is often presented as the reader and no specific gender is given, I'll be using They/Them and "The Player" when I talk about our protagonist. Cool? Let's not make this a three hour tour.
The player and their cousin Gina are on vacation on Tiki Island, thanks in part to the player's mother being a travel writer. The kids go snorkeling when they notice Kala, the son of the resort owner docking his boat in a panic. He says that a terrible curse had befallen Tiki Island. The kids, being every bit the shitty tourists, think he's just joking or it won't be so bad. Because pissing off gods is always a smart call. He tells the kids that the waters are known to make people disappear before he disappears on his boat. The kids shrug it off and continue to snorkel where they find an entrance to an underwater cave. The player also sees something shiny in the water that could be a spearhead. Also a shark is about to attack, so that brings us to the first official split of the story. Search the cave or treasure hunt?
PATH #01: THE EYES HAVE IT
Going for the spearhead it is. However, the spearhead isn't a spearhead but a strange triangle rock with an eye on the front surrounded by a ring. So you just discovered the Illuminati. The rock manages to scare the shark off at least. The player then hides it in their bathing suit which causes a burning sensation. Showing it to Kala makes him panic and tell the player to go see Hooahtoo in the village. He'll tell them what the rock is all about. Also don't tell anyone about it. So, of course, the kids see an archaeological dig nearby and a man named Dr. Oates, to which Gina suggests maybe they should tell him about the rock instead. And that choice to go to Oates or Hooahtoo is determined via coin flip. The trick though is that both flips can inevitably lead you to the same good ending as one of the paths shows that Dr. Oates is a very irate man, so we can just go right to visiting Hooahtoo anyway, making that coin flip kind of a waste of time. Then again so are these books in the grand scheme, so...
The player and Gina visit Hooahtoo's shack which is filled with tribal masks. Hooahtoo is a tiny man with a large beard. He also has a rock similar to the eye rock the player has. Hooahtoo says the player is cursed and if they stay in the shack he can undo the curse. Of course the kids think Hooahtoo is weird and run off, with the split being if the player left their stone in the shack or not. The choice is to ensure the rock is still with the player. The player tries to leave the hut but the rock eye burns their hand. Hooahtoo says the only way to break the curse of the eye is to place it on its rightful mask in the land of the tikis, which is atop the highest mountain on Tiki Island, Kenalua, which is also an active volcano. So, you know, great way to spend your vacation. Hooahtoo gives the players a box to hold the eye and the pair set off. They see a tour guide with a group talking about Kenalua, so the path split is either listening or the kids just continuing the trek. Continuing the trek leads to a bad ending, so we're listening to some tour guides. The guide says that the volcano erupts every forty years, with the last being in 1960. The ground rumbles, meaning that maybe it's planning to skip that 40 year rule. An angry tourist treks up the volcano anyway, while the tour guide continues with her group. So do we stick with the guide or follow the angry man? This is actually our split to two different good endings, so we'll start with following the man, then circle around.
The kids decide to follow the man, but Gina is pissed and tells the player to just throw the eye away and let someone else deal with the curse. The player makes a throw, to which the path split is that they actually threw it away or pretended to so that Gina can get off their back. Pretending is the right path here. Gina believes it and starts to leave, then disappears. Does the player search for her or try to prank her if she's pranking the player? Well, the call is to teach her a lesson, so that's where we're headed. The player sneaks behind a boulder, which then rolls over. Suddenly, the player falls in a hole and finds Gina. They're both in a large room when they see Hooahtoo and a group of guards. Yeah, it turns out Hooahtoo was evil this entire time and if the player puts the eye back in the mask, then Hooahtoo will have total power. The kids find the one-eyed mask and grab it. They also see that all of the tourists and other people have been captured. Hooahtoo sends his guards after the kids, to which the split path is to hold up the eye or throw a rock. This is the standard "One path doesn't matter so don't bother" twist, so we'll just throw the rock. The player throws a rock at the button locking the cage. The cage opens and Kala, along with the other prisoners, overpower Hooahtoo and pin him to the wall. Kala places the eye in the mask which destroys the guards. Everyone leaves and everything is peaceful on Tiki Island again with Kala ending the book by joking that the guards are back. Ah, a classic Kala jape.
Well that's one path, but what if we stuck with the tour? After the rumbling noises scare off the tourists, the tour guide and the angry man then transform into tiki warriors, saying that they have to keep outsiders away from the volcano. The kids try to hide, but the burning eye causes the player to scream. The tiki warriors grab them and drag them into Kalookie Cave. In the cave are paintings depicting the kids being branded by the tiki warriors, who just so happen to be holding branding irons. Use the eye, or try using a stalagmite? The answer is using the eye. The eye works as a shield, blocking the tiki warriors from throwing spears at the kids. They find two secret doors, one with a left hand on the wall and the other a right hand. So yeah, this path requires which hand you use. If you're left handed you'll be sent to the previous situation with Hooahtoo, so you can aim for that ending.
Going the right path takes the kids to a room filled with lava lizards and tiki masks, which includes a purple mask with one eye that Gina puts on one of the masks noting it could be like The Haunted Mask from that book The Haunted Mask. She pretends that it's stuck on her, but that was just a joke. Their japes are stopped when they hear the sound of something giant approaching. And there's also tiki warriors nearby, so which path do we take? The answer is facing the warriors. If we stay, it leads to a giant lizard that the kids ride until they manage to throw the eye into the volcano, which ends the curse, but the lizard shrinks and gets squashed by the kids, so it's listed as an ambiguous ending. So instead of a backdoor crush fetish awakening, let's face the tiki warriors. The kids put on tiki masks and the warriors run off. However, it wasn't the masks that did it, it was the spirits of the warriors who cheer the kids for ending the curse. But they also decide to stay with the kids, which makes the player worried what their mother will say about a bunch of spirits palling around. Good enough ending at least. But what if we went to the cave instead?
PATH #02: SKULL AND CROSSBONES
The player and Gina enter the cave, avoiding the shark. However, they get caught in the current and fall down a waterfall. They recover to see they're in a cave filled with pink crystals and black sand, not to mention a shipwreck. Inside the ship is a giant treasure chest filled with treasure. But before the kids can partake, a skeleton shows up. The kids swim off to a tunnel, but Gina ends up missing. So should the player stay in the tunnel to search or go back to the ship? Both paths lead us to good endings but we'll go back to the ship first. Swimming back to the shipwreck shows that there's a second ship underneath and there's gold and jewels all over the bottom of the cave. But the player is more focused on saving Gina who is likely kidnapped by the skeleton. There's two other skeletons standing guard, so does the player sneak past them, or go find Kala and others to help? You can get to a good ending either way, so for the sake of content, we'll take the slightly longer route of getting help.
The player goes for help, but gets caught by a giant octopus, kind of like the one on the cover. This actually gives us an activity page as we have a maze to solve. Or you could try tickling it, but it doesn't matter, both paths take you to the octopus maze. What's interesting about the maze is there's actually a path you can't get to by playing the maze, so it counts as a bad ending because you clearly cheated. The player escapes and returns to the ship, only there's no sign of Gina. They find her in the captain's quarters, trapped in a closet. They try to free her, only to be caught by the captain of the ship, Captain Bones. Which I guess is ironic given he ends up becoming a skeleton pirate, huh? He has his crew throw the player into the closet with Gina. The player tries to free Gina, but there's no light in the room. Make the room brighter or not is the path. No light is the path to take. Once freed, Gina tells the player that Captain Bones and his crew are trying to make it back to the surface where they'll take over Tiki Island.
Captain Bones says that Tiki Island belongs to him and the pirates. They fought and died for it, so by proxy I guess that gives them rights or ownership? Like an undead squatter's rights thing? The player won't help guide them, so Captain Bones suggests throwing the kids in the brig. Gina suggests showing them the waterfall the kids came in, so do that or not? The answer is to lead them to the waterfall. The kids lead the pirates to the waterfall, then start up rumors to the crew that Captain Bones will keep the treasure for himself. As the pirates brawl, the kids grab the treasure and head up the side of the falls. Eventually they make it out of the cave where Kala is waiting. He tells the kids that the treasure is the lost treasure of Tiki Island, and by reclaiming it, the curse is broken. The kids get some of the treasure as Gina suggests they go to the volcano as it should be less of a hassle than this was.
So, what if we stayed in the tunnel to search for Gina? The tunnel is a lagoon filled with strange vegetation and beautiful colorful crystals. The player sees Gina with a large man who is cracking a whip near her. More of the skeleton pirates show up, who then unmask to reveal they were human. Huh? The player needs to save Gina, so should they climb a tree or swim for help? The answer is climbing a tree. The player climbs and eventually makes it to Gina, but both are now caught by the crew who are out to steal the diamonds in the lagoon. And in the most "Wasn't this a Scooby Doo episode" reasoning for disguising themselves as skeletons was to scare off meddling kids and their talking dog if they had one. They need to get as many diamonds as possible before Kenalua erupts which will cave in the cave. He sends the kids into the prison with the other missing people as the man reveals that he was the curse of the island that was causing people to disappear. The whip cracking skeletons laugh gleefully, which the player notices might be expediting the cave in. Do you warn them or let the walls fall? The answer is not to warn them. The kids make a run for it as the cave collapses. They free the prisoners and run off as everything comes down. The player then notices they still have a pink diamond on them, so they're also rich. So a good ending.
Fifteen bad endings fill up this book. Which ones were the tastiest fruit of the island and which were octopus dung? let's enter the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room and find out.
#01: The stone gets stuck on the player's shoe, causing them to kick everyone in sight, including Gina as well as Kala's father. He's so pissed he bans the player from any activities during the trip.
RATING: 3. Good and silly of an ending. Though the end result is more of a goofy ending than what you'd want from a nonstop kicking machine.
#02: Kenalua, the volcano, is very much alive and swallows both the player and Gina alive.
RATING: 2.5. Nice and surreal, but also feels a tad too random, even for this book.
#03: The player throws away the eye, but in doing so causes the volcano to erupt, covering the kids in lava.
#04: The player wishes they never found he rock eye, which sends them back to before they found it, which means they're facing off with the shark in the water again who easily eats the player this time.
RATING: 3. Solid screw over and thankfully a rare occasion where Stine doesn't just do a time loop twist.
#05: The kids hide from the tiki warriors only to end up being eaten by a large lava lizard.
RATING: 2.5. Not bad. I like that the effort was at least made to explain what the lava lizards are.
#06: The player tears off a stalagmite, only to discover it was holding Kalookie Cave up. So the kids and the tiki warriors die in a cave-in.
RATING: 2.5. Something just silly enough about a load-bearing stalagmite.
#07: The player bites the octopus, which turns them into an octopus as well?
RATING: 2. HUH? Reverse vampire octopus situation where biting the octopus turns you into an octopus? What were you smoking, Bob?
#08: The player uses light to untie Gina, only Gina is now a skeleton who is working for the pirates. It's the spell of the pink crystals. Anyone who stays too long becomes a skeleton pirate, as does the player who is turning into a skeleton too.
RATING: 3. I like the build to it more than the execution.
#09: The kids get thrown in the brig which is filled with piranha (I guess since Stine never calls them that they're like mutant piranha). The kids try to escape, but the stairs beneath them fall apart. The piranha tear the kids apart, leaving nothing but their skeletons, which will soon become crewmates.
RATING: 3.5. I like the extra screw-over of the stairs collapsing. And it does feel like a super dark scenario to have to deal with.
#10: The player swims off through the tunnel, but takes the wrong path straight into the mouth of a sea monster.
RATING: 2.5. I like this one. I feel like we've had a bit too many "eaten by blank" twists, but this one was still decent.
#11: The player, Gina and the others scream for the skeletons to stop laughing, which makes the cave-in happen quicker.
RATING: 2. Fine. Not as funny as the load bearing stalagmite, but it still works.
#12: The player loses the eye, only for someone else to find it and become rich.
RATING: 3. A good screw-over. A real "Homer giving the monkey's paw to Flanders" moment.
#13: Selling the eye to Dr. Oates is a bad call as he uses it on the tiki mask and takes over the island. He then has the tiki warriors get rid of the kids.
RATING: 2.5. And that's why you don't sell out priceless artifacts to archaeologists, folks.
#14: The player trips over some tiki masks and breaks them, causing the whole curse to be restarted.
RATING: 2. Gets a point for the two The Ends.
#15: A tiki ghost traps the player in a room where they must read about good manners for all eternity.
RATING: 2.5. Just the right kind of silly. Also if you have green or blue eyes, you're screwed and will get this ending. Thank goodness I'm a hazel.
BEST TWIST ENDING: LAVA BATH
WORST TWIST ENDING: OCTO-VAMPIRISM
This one was just okay. Nothing out and out incredible about it, but nothing that really makes it bad either. As middle-ground a book as you could ask for. It's a book that definitely feels like the lengthiest book when it comes to page count between paths. And given the low amount of endings in this one, I guess it counts. And all but one of the good endings are possible to get through alternate routes, making it feel like a lot of pages that could have instead be used for bad endings. The endings we do get are fine, with a couple solid dark twists. But most do feel similar. Eaten alive by a creature, dying in a cave-in. Nothing that really feels as wild as you could get for a book about evil Tiki Island magic. Though perhaps a lot of that could fall into stereotyping which the book doesn't do much of. It absorbs itself in the tropical island vibe but never goes too over the top with any of it. Which in hindsight might explain why I'm so middle of the road with this one. But when it comes to atmosphere and the feel of a tropical island, the book does a solid job on that. I like the visual of the pink diamond cave which looks really cool.
Both paths are fine. The evil eye one definitely feels like the one Stine had the most fun with, and gives some of the more fun endings. I also like the swerve that really nobody you talk to about the eye is really anyone you can trust. Dr. Oates and Hooahtoo both end up evil. There's also an ambiguous twist I neglected to mention where Kala ends up evil but gets defeated. Which also adds to my feelings on so much of this book feeling too samey on a lot of its progression and ends. The pirate skeletons is the one I liked more, and wish there was more time to really have fun with it. I liked the one where they were actual pirate skeletons and not just Scooby Doo villains under masks. Overall, this might be in the frontrunner for the most "meh" book we've covered for GYG. A few decent ideas, but a lot of stuff that feels too similar and lacking much of the real energy that could come from a tropical island adventure. When the most unique idea in the book is one about reverse octo-vampirism that makes no sense, you know this book might be a little undercooked. The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island gets a B-.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.