Defender of Boston: The Rock Island Mystery is a role-playing game where the player takes on the role of a private investigator, located in Boston in the year 1921. His assignment is to go to an island called Rock Island to solve a mysterious disappearance of one Fred Black and a dangerous artifact described in the assignment brief as “The Thing”, which has terrible powers for any mere mortal to control.
The game begins with character development of a numerous amount of skills where you must allocate points for those skills. There is a wide array of skills from standard issue such as strength, dexterity, to more complex skills such as chemistry and ninjutsu.
The interface is similar to most interactive fiction with graphic games with some additional features such as character stats, a clock, and several buttons for skills and other uses. An additional feature is using several objects and combining it into a new item. The ingredients of the object are automatically available in the skill menu, so you only have to find the appropriate ingredients during your travels. Combat occurs in real time, in the same way as travelling in the open.
