While Tsunami Media’s original Ringworld game was silly and popular, their middle nineties sequel, Return To Ringworld, featured the same great story line and game play, only with many improvements. Like the first game, this is a mouse driven, point and click adventure game with a large emphasis on puzzle solving and collecting inventory. The game plays from the third person perspective and, like the original, received its inspiration from the Larry Niven “Known Space” series of science fiction books.
Return to Ringword is a fully licensed title and contains many of the more popular settings and favorite characters from the books. It was released only for play on the personal computer, and never made it onto some of the console platforms.
After the events from the first Ringworld game came to a close, this one picks up. In the last game, Quinn, with his sidekicks Miranda Reese and Seeker of Vengeance, uncovered a cache of very useful (but terribly old) alien technology while saving the alien puppeteer race of beings. Unfortunately, in this edition of the Ringworld franchise, the heroes learn that perhaps they should have left well enough alone. All three major races of aliens are now hunting
them for various reasons, all concerning the alien technology they found. The trio ends up returning to Ringworld (hence the title) to hide. Part of the problem is misunderstanding, coupled with greed and vengeance. The return to Ringworld, while mostly due to the need to hide from their enemies, also presents an opportunity for the heroes to dig around and possibly uncover some clues at how to clear their names and appease the alien hunters who are seeking them. As usual, however, things go wrong and the group uncovers yet another alien plot to destroy the peace in the universe. The plot is led by U.N. General Carl Weaver is intending on using the secrets of Ringworld to take over the universe.
Return to Ringworld offers the gamer an enormous gaming environment with hundreds and hundreds of unique screens, as well as many mazes and labyrinths to challenge the gamer. The user can play as all three of the major characters in the game, which is a great way to mix up the action and keep the experience fresh for a long time. Along this line is the virtual ton of inventory that the user can acquire, and the interesting puzzles that will have to be solved in order to gain these many items.
Overall, Return to Ringworld is a big improvement over what was already a good game. Most gamers and adventure fans will find it solid and entertaining, and it is certainly recommended for download.
