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Uh-oh, it's a graphical adventure from some people who have absolutely nothing to do with Lucasfilm! The temptation is to kick off with lots of unfavourable comparisons with a certain The Secret Of Monkey Island, but I'll try and resist it. Better not to get bogged down in a compare and contrast syndrome, but give this French yarn a fair hearing in its own right.

As with all point and click 'thrillers' the plot is nigh impossible to avoid, so I may as well start with that. You play a leisurely seafarer skipping around the Indian Ocean in the early 1950s. All's going swimmingly until you stop off at (surprise, surprise!) Maupiti Island for a cool shandy and get yourself embroiled (surprise, even-more-surprise!) in all sorts of intrigue.

The first thing you discover is that some poor girl's been kidnapped. Naturally, being the adventurous type, you get straight down to a spot of detective work, exploring the locality and interviewing the dozen or so inhabitants of the island. You discover the usual group of suspects - mad communists, raving homosexuals, gorgeous housemaids, disillusioned young men from Europe and, of course, the obligatory mysterious old fisherman.

There's not too much searching to be done, since at least one of these bonkers characters shows up at every turn. Interaction is good though - you can talk to them by picking any one of about twenty questions, you can follow them, you can bribe them, you can even indulge yourself and give them a good old-fashioned beating. We wouldn't recommend it though - the latter option might be a lot of fun, but you're running a huge risk of ending up with the contents of your head plastered all over some barroom wall. As you might expect, Maupiti Island falls short of a five star rating in the hospitality stakes.

It all sounds suitably intriguing, doesn't it, but how well does it actually work as a game? Well, you first thing you have to say is that it's illustrated deliciously, punctuated with some charming sound effects and music which give the whole affair a leisurely, almost holiday-like feel. It certainly rates highly in the atmosphere stakes.

Gameplay-wise it works quite well too. I usually have a big problem with graphical adventures - they rarely let you do just what you want, and I tend to get frustrated. Here, however, if you want to look at something (even the most humdrum object) you usually can. Just bumbling around the locations in the game checking everything out can be nearly as much fun as unearthing deadly secrets or whatever.

Of course, there is a downside to all this. There's no way that Maupiti Island is going to give you more than (maybe) a dozen hours entertainment - it's simply too small. Still, for mellow types who get their kicks watching Sunday afternoon movies or walking in parks, this provides an excellent alternative to rabid death rushes or sugary platform games.

To sum up, here is a small and almost perfectly formed game full of lovely visuals, interesting characters, and providing a limited smattering of action and suspense. Yes, I'm afraid it can be summed up by one of the blandest words in the dictionary - it's nice. (And no, it's not as good as Monkey Island.)

Charmingly quirky French adventure but too tiny to be a classic. It's obviously been crafted with care, attention and a splash of love - worth a look if you can afford a little luxury.