You can never get bored of great point-and-click adventures, so you'll be glad to know that there's a brand new one coming your way! It's called Jack Keane and with it comes plenty of enjoyable characters, 3D worlds to explore, a mad evil scientist and maybe, if you're really lucky, there will be some pirates too!

Jack Keane's tale begins at the top of Big Ben, where he finds himself tied to a chair and being watched by two debt collectors who are eager to get their money! Luckily for Jack, with your help he successfully escapes and reaches the ground safely. As if climbing down from the top of Big Ben wasn't enough, he then finds himself accepting a mission from the Queen! His new mission is to sail to Cape Town to pick up a British Agent named Montgomery and a mysterious lady named Amanda, then take them to 'Tooth Island'. Unsurprisingly, Jack ends up crashing into Tooth Island and from here becomes involved in stopping the ruler of this island, Doctor T, from taking down the British Empire. Doctor T is planning to do this by destroying all the tea plantations - and he definitely can't be allowed to get away with that!

The storyline in Jack Keane has so many twists and turns that you will not even want to take that well deserved tea break that might disappear if Doctor T gets his way! Never at any point of the game did I feel bored with the conversations between the characters - and this is thanks to the developers coming up with the idea to include snippets from other films and games. For example, at one point of the game Jack makes the remark "I'll be back" to one of the shopkeepers and the voiceover does the great Arnold Schwarzenegger accent to go with it. Also, some of the storyline and cut scenes take their inspiration from films like Indiana Jones and from games like Ankh - and also like Ankh, Jack Keane is a game that doesn't take itself seriously, as it's packed full of humour all the way through.

It's not long after your brief stay in London that you are whisked away to other locations such as Cape Town and the Indian jungle. These are just a couple of the fifteen locations in the game and there are also sub-locations to keep you entertained. You will never find yourself running back and forth through lots of locations though; each chapter only contains a few areas, so instead of getting stuck on one puzzle for hours at a time you will be able to continue on your adventure soon enough. In these locations are over forty characters to meet, which include the high and mighty British Agent Montgomery, locals of the island and even a monkey on a bicycle (which alone is enough reason to play Jack Keane!) All the characters have distinctive personalities that make them fun to watch and interact with, but my only concern is that they are much funnier than Jack himself.

While you begin playing as Jack, later on you also get to play as another Amanda, an American who keeps her identity close to her chest. As far as the controls go, you are on your own to figure them out - as this is a point-and-click game, it doesn't take long to realise what does what; left-click is used for examining and right-click for interacting. Also, if you want Jack to run then all you have to do is double-click. Items that you collect during the game are stored at the top of the screen and once you collect several items you can combine them together. This is necessary when solving some of the many puzzles in the game - you are never given any time limits to complete them, but you do get a sense from the characters that you should be hurrying up, a feeling that is more noticeable later on. The puzzles become harder as you progress through the chapters and you will have to find and combine more items to succeed. Most of the puzzles are standard adventure game fare; you need to search around each location to discover items you can use to progress, some of which will be used later on or given to another character. At one point in the game you have to buy some items from a shop but will have no idea which items are needed. The items you choose at this stage changes the following puzzles, adding a bit of variety in and giving incentive to replay the game to find the puzzles you missed last time around.

A first in any point-and-click game I have played is the extra items you can unlock. It's not necessary to collect these extras, but this does allow you to unlock the 'Extras' feature from the game menu. In several levels these extras can be found by completing certain tasks or by collecting specific items, such as shells at the beach, for example.

Graphically, Jack Keane feels similar to Ankh - it has an almost identical interface and also has the same brightly coloured palette. Each of the levels is rendered in detailed 3D with a fun cartoon style. The characters look and sound just as they should, with not even one hair out of place! There are many cinematic cut scenes that take place during the game, which break up the puzzle solving and exploration, expounding the next story development very well. Unlike some other point-and-click games, I found myself enjoying the cut scenes in Jack Keane, rather than getting annoyed that I couldn't skip them!

The audio is even more flawless than the visuals; the sound effects are complete, down to the smallest detail. While walking through the jungle you can hear the noises of nearby animals, insects and birds, as well as the wind rustling the trees. This ambiance makes the game feel more real and atmospheric than the cartoon visuals should allow, while the voiceovers fit perfectly, the voice for each character matching their unique personality and performed with tender, loving care. The dialogue between the characters is always witty and you will find yourself having a giggle out loud on a regular basis. Subtitles are included too, colour coded for each character; a little improvement would have been to include the name of the character with the dialogue, but as long as you are paying attention this isn't too much of a problem.

Jack Keane is the most enjoyable point-and-click adventure I've played in a long time. It will appeal to almost every adventure fan, as the puzzles gradually get harder, while the game successfully reproduces the vibrant, humorous and slick atmosphere and antics of beloved classics of this proud genre, like Sam & Max and Monkey Island. It's the kind of game that should attract newcomers to the genre too, as it has everything you could ask for in an adventure; a charismatic hero, intelligent puzzles, lovingly crafted presentation and a compelling storyline with plenty of twists, wacky characters and bundles of humour.

Reviewed by Gina Harrison for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).