Annoying woodland creatures? Check.

Based on Jeff Smith's award-winning comic series, Bone: Out from Boneville is the first chapter in a point-and-click adventure game series. You follow the adventures of three cousins: Fone Bone, the all-around nice guy; Phoney Bone, the disgruntled, money-obsessed scam artist; and Smiley Bone, the laid-back musician. After Phoney Bone's mayoral campaign in Boneville ends in disaster, the Bones are run out of their home and end up lost in the desert. It's up to you to get the Bones back to Boneville.

The game is much like the comic it's derived from - if you had the comic book you could read along with the game. That also means that if you've already read the comic, you know how the game progresses and ends. The graphics look and feel as though they just jumped off the page, and the animations are smooth. The game's music matches the graphics well, but adds a dash of moodiness. When characters talk to each other, a dialog box opens on the bottom of the screen with premade dialogue options. The solid voice acting really keeps the feel of each character, from Fone's innocence to Phoney's sarcasm.

Our one major issue with Bone is its length. You get only three or four hours of gameplay, with little ability to explore the world around you. Also, the minigames that push the action are sometimes too simplistic or too repetitive-the dialogue games are much more interesting.

The bottom line. The Bone comic had nine healthy chapters and became an engrossing fantasy epic. If the game developer continues the series along the same lines, we are in for a real treat.

COMPANY: Vanbrio Entertainment
CONTACT: www.vanbrio.com
PRICE: $12.99
REQUIREMENTS: 1GHz G4 or faster or Intel CPU, Mac OS 10.3.9 or later, 512MB RAM, 32MB graphics card
Wonderful art. Good voice acting. Fun story.
Very, very short. Restricts player to linear story line.