While working on the review for 80 Days, two old adages sprang to mind: "Don't judge a book by its cover," and "Don't always believe what you read."

Upon getting a review assignment, even before I actually get a chance to play the game, I hop onto the Web to see what my fellow videogame journalists are saying about it. What I discovered about Frogwares 80 Days (published by Tri Synergy) was anything but flattering. By the time it got to my doorstep I wasn't looking forward to booting it up, let alone playing the sucker. But a funny thing happened about 15 minutes into actual gameplay... I was laughing. Out loud. And I was enjoying the experience! Proving once again that if you stick a chimp (or a "videogame journalist" in this casec) in a room with a writing utensil, he'll eventually pound out something worth reading. That, and opinions are like... well, you know. I consider myself a writer who plays videogames, not a gamer who writes. Thus, I tend to enjoy games with interesting storylines (even if they're not original) more than the Average Joe-Gamer. John Carmak once said, "Story in a game is like story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important." Whatever.

80 Days is a unique homage to the great Jules Verne classic, Around the World in 80 Days. Think of Days as a peripheral follow-up, touching on the fringes of that grand tale, while using some of its key components in rather clever ways (like running into the son of Inspector Fix, and seeing foreign chapters of The Reform Club). It starts off in 1899, and follows the adventure seeking Oliver Lavisheart, whom you'll control on your sojourn. The first few minutes consists of a dialogue between Oliver and his Uncle Matthew. This "setup" provides you with a glimpse into what to expect, in more ways then one. First, you know you're in for a quirky ride when Oliver tells Uncle Matthew - an elderly English inventor - that all he wants to do is get back to San Francisco to hang out with his buddy Bill, who wants to build a machine that counts for you; and Ringo, who wants to rock the world by using electricity as the vector. I thought it was lame at first too, but there's an odd charm about it that grows on you, not unlike a harmless fungus.

Uncle Matthew has a problem. It seems that the aging philanthropist has made a very large wager that requires circumnavigating the globe in 80 days, while recovering the lost patents to four of his inventions along the way. Being the arthritic old codger that he is, he can't possibly make the journey himself, so he needs Oliver to do it for him. Though the game starts in London, you won't actually start the trek across the world until you've been dropped off in Cairo, Egypt, to the dulcet sounds of The Bangels hit, "Walk Like An Egyptian." WTF?

This kind of humor permeates 80 Days. By the time you're done in Cairo, when everyone in the cast assembles for a music video-like performance to the tune of "Walk Like An Egyptian", you'll find yourself wondering exactly where you've seen this Monty Python-esque mirth before. And it'll hit you like a Barroids induced homerun - the No One Lives Forever games. During your worldwide escapade (to Bombay, Yokahama, Egypt and London) you'll stumble across Count Dracula, who swears everyone has the wrong idea about him; you'll be recruited by an association of Scotts who have made it their mission to spread the goodness of kilt-wearing; and you'll run into some of the most over-the-top characters since... well, the NOLF games. There's the odd joke about current pop-culture icons like Bill Gates, Ringo Starr, Leonardo DiCaprio that sometimes doesn't fit. Even the offhanded remarks about Frogwares themselves seem out of place, but most the humor works most of the time.

Actual gameplay isn't anything revolutionary, but it's still better than 80% of the staid point-n-click pixel hunts that still dominate the genre. Days incorporates quite a lot of action oriented moves to go along with the standard adventuring. Oliver can run, crouch, jump, scale walls and climb ladders. Granted, the lad isn't as fluid as Lara Croft, but it's a helluva step up from running your cursor across your monitor, mind numbingly searching grid patterns until you find something to interact with.