Customer Reviews

The New Adventures of the Time Machine

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I started playing the game, I regretted buying it instantly. The graphics were stunning. The music was engaging. However, the controls were extremely confusing.

Talking with characters in the game was a tedious task- you have to position yourself directly infront of anyone that you wanted speak to. And before you can press the "action" button, the guy walks away. When you finally get to talk to the person that you wanted to speak to, he answers " Go away little boy !" All the effort for nothing !

At the start of the game, you are thrown into an unfamilliar world that is supposed to be the future. The game lacks clues and each puzzle, in turn, seems disturbingly more illogical than the one before, thus you have completely no idea what to do or where to go, except running around mindlessly.

The game has many beautifully rendered landscapes but this does not make it up for the gameplay. Worst still, the many wacky camera angles that you have to endure throughout the game will make you head spin. Even the camera angles in TombRaider games aren't this bad.

This game has a nice packaging and graphics- but don't be fooled by it.

The graphics are rich and interesting as well as the sound. Thats where it ends. Controls were difficult to use. Clues to puzzles, non existent. You waist alot of time running around trying to figure out what to do. After the first hour of game play I gave up and used a walkthrough. The plot is a linear sequence of scenes (about 11 in all). Once you leave a scene you cannot return so if you forget something in scene 3 that you need in scene 11 - well tough luck. You have to start over. The scenes present puzzles that become increasingly difficult as you progress. Unless you have a lightning fast processor you won't be able to complete the adventure. Game speed will get bogged down, game controls will be sluggish, you can't draw weapons fast enough, you can't run to escape a threat, etc. Don't waist your money.

I have tried several times to play this game after installing it months ago. I just find it so annoying to try to maneuver the character and interact with people and objects! To open a door or pick up an object, you have to be positioned right in front of it, or nothing happens. That would not be a problem if the character were easy to maneuver. But he walks too fast and will overshoot the mark if you don't time your moves just right.

Once you do finally come into contact with another character, the exchange is completed unsatisfying. The characters (including your own) have nothing of interest to say. Even calling them "characters" is being generous. They reminded me of the voice of the computer on Star Trek (vaguely, as Majel Barrett has much more personality than these automatons.)

I suppose the above wouldn't be so bad if there were some sort of mission to encourage you to continue. But all that the short introduction reveals is that you are trapped in the future and now you have to find your way home. We've all seen that plot before and it's usually accompanied by some intricate subplots to give it more depth. I have yet to see that here.

If it still interests you, check out www.dreamcatchergames.com and see if there's a demo you can download. Maybe your experience will be better than mine. Here are some games I have played and can recommend: Blade Runner (personal favorite); Beyond Atlantis; Dracula: The Last Sanctuary; and Dracula: Resurrection.

I have played Riven, Myst, Journyman III and feel I have a little experience under my belt. Time Machine started off with a great storyline and graphics. I found it difficult to navigate the character and to solve the puzzels. Two evenings trying to get off the first level disappointed me. My time is valueable, too and a game should not be so inept that it keeps you from progresing in the very beginning! Movement was difficult and could have resulted in carpel-tunnel syndrome! Give me a mouse to use! If you buy it- good luck!

I think that this is a really super game!

True, it does get a little boring after a while (a week or so), but that would only be if you were stuck. This game is most fun when played with hints, or a trusty walkthrough close at hand. All in all, I love the fact that is takes brains rather than the click of your mouse to successfuly complete the game.

The graphics are in no doubt superb, and the plot is almost easy to follow if you talk to the right people in the game.

It must have took a lot of imagination to think up such a delightful game!

The game play is excellent and the 3D world is amazing--but after you have been playing it for about a week, you get sick of the same thing over and over and over...

People have totally underrated this! The plot is very interesting involving the sands of time and a time wave(divine force). There is a god, Kronos, who controls all man. like HG Well's Time Machine, a young man goes about 800,000 years into the future, but it is very different. There really isnt any reason for younger kids not to play it except he is hard to maneuver. You might want to try something like the Windows Harry Potter game first, then go for this. But it is totally worth buying.

If you have played some good quality games, you will be disappointed by this one. It's too bad because the basis of this game is a good one and a time machine alone could be a great tool towards what could be quite the adventure. But these possibilities are not achieved by this game. You can not move around freely and the controls can be difficult. Your kids might enjoy it but if you are looking for a whole lot of fun, try Myst, Atlantis or Blade Runner.

I had purchased this game from a sale a few years back. At that time I had a computer that was running on Windows ME and the game worked great.

After I got a new computer that runs Windows XP, the game would not work. It is not compatable with anything above Windows 95/98/ME and am very dissapointed.

It would be nice to have a re-release of the game so that is works on newer versions of Windows.

So I guess my advise is this... if you do not have a computer that runs Windows 95/98/ME, do not but this game... it will not work.

I bought the game, thinking it would be a quaint, comfortable Victorian science fiction adventure, like the atmosphere in "The Rose Tattoo," "Prisoner of Ice," "Tale of the Comet," or "Alone In the Dark." All of those games have primitve point of views too, and the Alone In the Dark series also has bad graphics; but the stories are strong; they are sophisticated and well-told. Something which, despite what Hollywood would wish for us to believe, is 98% responsible for the appeal (spelled success) of a game/movie. Lousy story equals lousy product. That's my opinionated summary. The specifics, I list below, in random order:

So, boys and girls, Immediately I'm plunged into a little weinie story chock full of lamebrained preadolescent magic -- an Ali Babba-nightmare, if there ever was one [to avoid].

Besides the idiotic storyline, the point of view of the game was annoying too -- the POV was angled higher, almost giving it a playing-with-an-antfarm feel to it. I loath frigging antfarm games (i.e., POV is a bird's eye view), as they are frequently juvenile and boring. Not to mention trivial. (And the character as an old man has a creepy voice; for instance, "A charming beeasssste" sounds absolutely queer, not to mention suspect.)

Yes, kiddies, after the brief Victorian flavored opening, this game instantly devolves into an Ali Babba infantile fantasy. Not too good a recommendation for the game, in addition to its marked lack of intuitive play, even for a so-called "thinking" game. It's a real boner in both storyline appeal and the way the game's universe is viewed and handled. You can skip this CD across a pond and get more of a thrill out of that than playing the trite thing.