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If anyone has been reading my reviews (and that is a big "if"), they might notice that I am a fan of innovative games. I also have been on quite a streak lately of high-quality and innovative adventure games, which I'm just loving! One day, out of the blue, Jack Keane and the Dokktor's Island shows up at my door — a game I've never heard of and what appears to be your run-of-the-mill adventure game ... until I started to play it. I'll also remember that day as the day I was introduced to and went crazy for the lovable Amanda character.

Jack Keane is not an adventure game that uses gorgeous high-tech graphics or any levels of innovation in the gameplay. What Jack Keane does is something very few games have done in the past, and it takes some guts to even attempt; Jack Keane relies on an extremely well-developed story and set of characters.

Mr. Keane starts in a dangerous situation: He has been captured by a couple of thugs sent for him regarding the payment on a loan. You learn that Jack is a somewhat poor captain of his own ship (bought on borrowed money); he's a captain that seemingly manages to miss his big payday due to all sorts of reasons ... or excuses. After you help Jack escape, you'll meet with your crew and sail off on a secret mission to join an undercover agent, the memorable Agent Montgomery, and escort him to Tooth Island. So ... after Montgomery crashes your ship on Tooth Island, you'll have to alter your plans, find your huge reward and a way home. Soon, you'll make your way to Dr. T's airfield, learn his plans about the p-p-p-p-p-pire (British Empire) and have to put an end to him. At the same time, Dr. T has dispatched his newest sidekick, Amanda, to lure you into a trap. You'll encounter dead sacred roaring tigers, monks, big-nose bullies, your crew, drunken taxi drivers, anal one-star hotel managers, pompous British guards, the mafia, a prose-filled butcher, a cute pharmacist, cheating real-estate vendors, a cursed guide, a witch of a housekeeper, and all sorts of monkeys and apes — just to mention just a few.

I know I have a tendency to be a bit harsh when criticizing a storyline, but I really do feel that (for an adventure game), it is of the utmost importance. Jack Keane is one of the best examples of why this is so important; the game is just incredible because of a very fluid, logical and entertaining set of characters and story events. The entire length of the game, you'll find yourself laughing — from small chuckles, to groans, to full-out belly laughs because of the story, the characters, the acting and dialogue. You know those stories that seemingly find ridiculous events that occur just to stop your progress? Jack Keane doesn't really have those; everything feels so absolutely fluid and logical that you don't look at the challenges as obstacles, but just as more fun.

Gameplay is very basic, even for an adventure game. You can combine inventory items, use items on world objects, examine both world objects and inventory items, and interact with world objects. The details and information given about the objects are excellent, often dropping subtle clues and using plays on words to give you clues. Most of the puns I really didn't get until after I solved the puzzle, but that's my dysfunctional brain. There is an excellent range of difficulty for the puzzles, and they are almost always logical and just make sense. However, they can be difficult in their own right to figure out. The most important aspect of the difficulty is that the game seems to always keep moving. You figure things out, and it always makes sense. You aren't just blocked by some idiotic puzzle to stretch out the game length. Basically, Jack Keane is unbelievable fun from start to finish.

The graphics are quite dated. Oddly, they use quite advanced graphical effects, but the very low polygon images are evident. Even the full box of crayons they used to brightly color the images really can't hide all the crude edges in the game. For such poor graphics, the loading time and general game performance is extremely low. On the max settings, I was receiving mouse lag and less than 20 FPS, and on the lower settings, the numbers weren't much higher. On the other hand, the sound effects are great, and the voice acting is ... well, it isn't perfect, but it is sure filled with attitude. The attitude and spunk all the characters have to make up for their fake accents, or the lack of all accents on some characters. All the characters, from Jack, to Montgomery, to the lovable (sexy, cute, adorable ... I can go on) Amanda and even the minor ones like the hotel owner are just full of a style and attitude; there is something there that just makes the characters deeper than they really are.

Jack Keane shows us that there is more to video games than playing some gorgeous high-tech marvel. The developers have focused so heavily on the characters, story and gameplay balance that the game is just mind-blowing fun. I'm not going to pretend there aren't some issues, because some puzzles do seem to have the ball dropped, and none of the puzzles really reach ingenious levels of creativity. However, the flow and feel of the game just tend to make me ignore the minor problems. During a time when it seems that most games want to shove in ridiculous challenges that frustrate and pull you out of the experience, Jack Keane avoids that. I don't want to overanalyze the game here, because (especially this one) has one goal, and that is to be fun. Is Jack Keane fun? Hell yes! If you love a good story and good humor, do not miss Jack Keane. Just keep your hands off my Amanda. Got it?