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Beyond Time #87525
07/16/01 06:14 AM
07/16/01 06:14 AM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 575
Staunton Virgina United States
Kateet Offline OP
Settled Boomer
Kateet  Offline OP
Settled Boomer

Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 575
Staunton Virgina United States
Review by Kateet

Beyond Time is based on the novel 'Obelisk' by Dr. Judith Kaye Jones, produced by Jones and Jone Multimedia (Dr. Judith Jones and her husband Dr. Frederick Jones) and published by Prima Publishing. It so happens, I have the book and I did read it.

About 500 years in Earth's future there is a 'Great Cataclysm' when virtually all life on Earth is destroyed. By this time, however, mankind has spread out to the stars but much of mankind's historical artifacts perished in the Cataclysm. Although they tried to replicate these artifacts, a new and worthy goal arose when an archeologist, Dr. John Howard, exploited the development of a new technology, a time gate. Through the use of this time gate, Dr. Howard and his followers could visit the sites of ancient cultures and gather up those priceless artifacts, transporting them into the future for safekeeping.

You enter the story in our present, sent to determine why these same artifacts have suddenly begun to disappear from museums and archeological digs around the world. "Even the most advanced security systems did not detect a single intrusion," you learn.

And so you travel to present day Abydos where a gold, Seti I statuette reappeared, half buried in the sand, after having disappeared from it's locked case in the Cairo Museum. While you explore the site, you approach a magnificent stone statue and a bright light flares from the statue, nearly blinding you. As the brillance fades, you look around and find yourself not in the ancient, archeological dig but in a city as new and as lovely as the day it was built.

The Bad News:
Your field of view is narrow and directly ahead with a small view screen. By going to 480X600 pixels although keeping it to 16 bit, you can improve the situation with a larger screen. I found it alittle claustrophobic but I got used to it.

I didn't have any lag or sound problems with the game. However, there are frequent video sequences at some points in the game and, for me, the problem was a tendency for them to pause for long moments, hang permanently, or crash to the desktop but I could restart the game and the same sequence might play through without any problems....or not.

In addition, the narrative tended towards either overly melodramatic in an obviously sophmoric way or incredibly stilted with little or no use of contractions. Since the narration contained the same style of speaking and emphasis of words, it was saved only by the fact that the actors themselves were engaging. It becomes obvious that the writing and directing of the narration was the primary problem. The actors were fine.

Only one puzzle complaint, aside from there not being enough, is that there were two puzzles of the same type for which there was more than one solution but the game would accept ONLY one solution. That was especially confusing when I solved the first one, or thought I did, but didn't give the only acceptable solution.

Another complaint is that some of what was required crossed not only culture and language but also technology at inappropriate instances. Somehow, I do not think a single Egyptian would have made it into his version of "heaven" should he be faced with inputting a number from a language not even invented yet into an electronic device completely beyond his imagination much less understanding.

The Good News:
Navigation is point and click and you tend to move reasonable distances most of the time. You can almost always look around. Reasonably thorough exploration and attention to your surroundings tends to suffice well enough in finding clues and objects. Everything you need is provided, even though some kinds of information are found in places that make little sense. Well, they had to put it SOMEWHERE!

The cursor doesn't ALWAYS change to indicate interaction which was actually confusing only once but the clues given for that particular puzzle were more solution than hint so it only took some patience and perseverance.

The game carries the plot which you can learn about, virtually in it's entirety, from the booklet that comes with the game. You might, therefore, wonder what the game has to tell you. What it does, primarily, is give the story a more personal touch from those who were involved. It lacks a feeling of involvement on your part, more a picking up of the pieces, but it has it's interesting moments to be sure.

There is no character interaction and the story seems to end with abrupt finality only to add a sort of video postscript that seems not only gothically melodramatic but also more of a tacked on promise of a possible sequence.

MAZES: I identified three of these.
The Labyrinth~ A maze mostly by virture of the "view with blinders on" but actually isn't anymore of a maze than any floor of a modern office block. Its that tunnel vision sense that makes it so difficult.

Tikal~ A sort of "mini maze" but you don't need a map and there isn't much here to do anyway. Hint: Remember where you parked!

Atlantis~ Underwater, somekind of sub? You press crystals forward, left, right, and turn around. It's a maze because you have no "path". If you weren't paying attention, you won't even know why you are there. It isn't especially difficult but it does take some patience.

Overview:
Beyond Time is a nice game with only a couple of difficult mathematics puzzles. For those who like solitary exploration, a story that keeps to the premise of the game throughout, some pretty nice scenary to look at not to mention an actress you should recognize if you played Timelapse and background music I did not find the least bit intrusive (actually that was well done), this is for you.

If you're looking for excitement...look elsewhere.

Re: Beyond Time #87526
07/16/01 11:29 AM
07/16/01 11:29 AM
Joined: Nov 1999
Posts: 10,323
gatorlaw Offline
Adept Boomer
gatorlaw  Offline
Adept Boomer

Joined: Nov 1999
Posts: 10,323
Interesting Review Kateet,

I agreed with your views on Beyond Time. Of the variouis time travel oriented games - Timelapse is definitely the best. However, I do like more peaceful and less hectic games from time to time. Of this group, Beyond Time fills that gaming need nicely. Definitely - not in my top ten list - but a fun game nethertheless.

I forgot about some of the acting overlap in characters between Beyond Time and Timelapse, until you mentioned it. I did like the actors on this game - and really wished there had been more of their performance.

All in all I think it's a worthwhile game - for good graphics, nice music and sound background, a pretty decent plot. Some of the puzzles are a definite drawback as you mentioned.

Great review Kateet! I thought that your straight forward discussion and clear presentation was very refreshing.

Laura

[This message has been edited by gatorlaw (edited 07-16-2001).]





Re: Beyond Time #87527
07/18/01 04:46 PM
07/18/01 04:46 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
Jenny100 Offline
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
Jenny100  Offline
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
Sonic Boomer

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
That was a very fine review. A lot of things, I didn't even notice while I was playing it.

It was fortunate that I'd read a review that mentioned the problem with the
"2 solutions but only one accepted" puzzle in the game or I'd have been stuck. I worked out the possibilities on pencil and paper and tried both.

I read in a review somewhere that the game originally shipped with a buggy version of QuickTime and you should get QuickTime 2.12 from another game. I did this and did not have trouble with any of the videos. I don't know whether the problem was corrected in later versions or not and have no idea if it could have caused your problems.

I didn't really pay much attention to the plot while I was playing the game. If I replay it, I'll have to take better note.

Re: Beyond Time #87528
07/18/01 08:49 PM
07/18/01 08:49 PM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 575
Staunton Virgina United States
Kateet Offline OP
Settled Boomer
Kateet  Offline OP
Settled Boomer

Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 575
Staunton Virgina United States
Jenny,

Funny you should mention that! I did read an article before I finished Beyond Time but after I completed the labyrinth in the game which gave me so much trouble which talked about a buggy version of QT and the kinds of
problems found with it.

I also have an older game that warns you to install and use it's older version of QT because the newer versions had dropped an application this game used. I guess, if we are going to play that games that use QT, we'll have to think of whether or not the problem is the particular version of QT and try another version to see if that works or if just tweaking will do.

You make a good point. Gamers have to learn to pay attention to the formats and compatibility issues with games as well as applications with bugs rather than necessarily complain that the game is bad. If I buy a game that CAN be played in 32 bit but I don't have enough onboard ram for my sound card to render it properly, I CAN'T play in 32 bit and that isn't the fault of the creator or the publisher.



------------------
"Half my games send me to Atlantis and ALL the time I get lost!"~me

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