Survival Kids

"Daddy!?"

Omigosh, omigosh, where's Dad?

You are all alone on a deserted island. You were woken up by a monkey, who quickly fled. You are on a beach. Pieces of the boat you were sailing on wash up on the shore. Buried in a sand dune, you find your knapsack. The only things in it are a survival knife, which your dad gave you while you were sailing for your tenth birthday, a radio, which is now busted and needs new batteries, and matches, that are all wet. You cut your way into the jungle, and stumble on a bit until you find a hut. Weak, you decide to sleep.

And so begins your adventure. Will you ever see your dad again? Will you even get off the island? Or will you be killed? Perhaps by food poisoning, or maybe an animal attacks you?

You can either be a boy or a girl. On your way off the island, you'll befriend a monkey, fix your hut, catch and cook fish, build a raft, hunt, and move boulders with a giant stick. And that is only a small part of what you will do.

You need three things to survive: A full belly, a quenched thirst and a good nights sleep. If you don't eat or drink, the Thirst and Hunger points will go to 0, and you will lose life points. If you don't sleep, your Fatigue will get to 100, and you'll lose life points. You get 100 life points. If they run out, you die. You can also lose life points by getting attacked by an animal, or poison.

Certain food will have side effects. Some food will make you thirsty, some will poison you, some will make you less tired. Food can quench thirst and even cure poison. But, some mushrooms can poison you. Beware of these shrooms. If you are poisoned, look for the grass that tastes bitter. That is the antidote.

You can also become confused or numb because of the foods you eat. You should be very careful when eating.

You will find a canteen on the beach where you washed up on the island. You can store water in it. You can drink the water and use it to put out fires, and to make gravestones easier to read. Some water is bad, though, so don't take water from swamps.

Besides sleeping, you can also take naps. You can choose how long you want to rest.

You can also merge items. For example, if you merge a stick and a dried leaf, you get a broom. If you merge a pointy rock, bird feather, and stick, you will get an arrow. Merging items is very important. You should try to merge many different items. You can even make trash by merging rotten foods.

As if it was real life, food will rot. Fish, clams, shrooms and meat, and even fruit, will spoil. Sometimes when fruit spoils, if you store it and leave it there for awhile, it will turn into delicacy. Delicacies are rare and delicous.

You can also go fishing. You can cast your fishing rod into the river where you see a fish. There are two types of fish. They are large fish and small fish. You can not eat them raw, you must cook them over a fire. You must also do this with meat. You can eat clams raw, but you will get numb, so you should cook them anyway.

You can also hunt. You can kill animals with your knife, or other weapons that you make, like an axe and bow and arrow. Some animals, like mice, are harmless. They will not hit back. Some really small animals, like centipedes and spiders take one hit to kill and produce no meat. There are many animals that are very dangerous, though. Foxes are especially vicious. Deer give you two pieces of meat instead of one. Bears, which are rarely seen, will give you three pieces. You should kill these with your bow and arrow.

These are just a few of the things you will do during your adventure. With hard work and a monkey at your side, you can get off the island!

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/20/03, Updated 02/20/03