Zynga's Treasure Isle Review

Zynga is a company that produces a lot of popular social networking games. Frontierville, Farmville, Yoville, Cafe World and Mafia Wars are their most successful titles, but it seems like Treasure Isle fell by the wayside. I think I know why.

I'm not sure what it is about Zynga's Treasure Isle that has me hooked. I'd recommend the game to people who have some time to kill, but I'm not so enthusiastic about it that I would sell it to anyone interested in playing social networking games. Not a lot of people on my friend's list play it, which limits some of the game play, and the pay to play features are way too tempting once you get into the game.

Basically, in this game, you're a treasure hunter. You have a home island, which you can decorate, although your selection is limited because a number of the decorations require actual cash to purchase. You get to travel around to different islands to dig for treasure. That's the whole game, really. It's kind of like a fancier minesweeper, where you have a very limited amount of energy to dig. It takes five energy to dig one regular spot on the board, and energy takes five minutes to regenerate one point. As you go higher in level, things cost more energy. Plants take seven and rarely have anything worthwhile, rocks take ten and I've never found a treasure in one and there are even multi-dig rocks and plants. Eventually, you hit the point where you can search buildings, which takes ten energy per search but is usually worthwhile.

When you log onto Treasure Isle, there's just not a whole lot you can do. You can't always clear a whole island with a full energy bar and I think the big draw is trying to clear all of the islands. You can grow fruit to replenish your energy, but you're only given two plots on your home island - unless you spend one hundred 'island cash' to buy more. The treasures you find while digging are all parts of collections that you turn in for a gold and experience boost. That would be great if you could turn in a collection more than once, or if the game didn't offer you the same treasure several times on one island. You can replay maps to try to finish collections, but you need map pieces and those can only be sent by friends (who probably won't want to play the game,) or bought with cash.

I think my disappointment with Treasure Isle is that I can clearly see the areas where the game could improve. There is one unique level where you have to dig to the bottom of a volcano, and you do so ala Minesweeper - try to get to the treasure in the least amount of digs possible. I feel like the whole game should be like that. It would be a lot more fun, and competitive in a realistic way. Aside from that one level, there's just not enough to do in the game.