On Time Travel

[DannyboyO1]

Perhaps that's not THE best game about time travel and my judgment is skewed by nostalgia, since this was one of the first games I played on PC, but considering probably no one else remembers it, here it goes - "Time Commando" by Adeline Software.

It was a really cool beat'em up/shooter and it's coolness was largely based on the time travel thing used as a plot device allowing designers to present player with extremely varied settings. Every two levels the game moved to a new epoch, with completely different backgrounds, enemies and weapons. Kind of like what Daikatana did without the bullshit talk. The epochs/settings covered were:
- Prehistory;
- Roman Empire;
- Feudal Japan;
- Medieval Times;
- Conquistador (one level on a ship, second in a Mayan/Aztec temple);
- Wild West;
- Modern Wars (one level during the First WW, second during modern 90's conflict);
- Future;
- Cyber Space (as a short final level).

Anyone else remembers it?

That's the one I couldn't remember the title to! Thanks.

 

[geldonyetich]

Why not use the comments to discuss your favorite games with time travel premises, and which effectively use time travel as a gameplay mechanic?

You already know of one [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/203-Braid], at least the foremost I'd mention that makes good use of it.

There's also another one about stealing pies which is worth mentioning:


And, hey, lets not pan Majora's Mask too hard. Granted, the main time mechanic was "restart 3-day sequence from start" over and over again, but it was nonetheless a brilliant game.

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

I am shocked at the lack of Chrono Trigger on this list.

Yahtzee Croshaw:
Time Travel Analogy: Like pumping helium at Abraham Lincoln during the Gettsyburg Address, basically just for a laugh.

True. But still. No Chrono Trigger?

 

[ultimateownage]

Favorite game where Timesplitters is used as a game mechanic is Timesplitters Future Perfect. In every level you have to help yourself in some way. It got especially insane during the U-Genix level where you had 4 of you. 2 hacking into the systems and 2 defending the guys hacking.

It was fun.

Then again all of Timesplitters is awesome, so whatever.

I remember that level, the hacking was really annoying, and you had to do that bit 4 times has each version. But I was about 8 when I played it, so I was rubbish at it.

 

[coldfrog]

One of my favorite games with time travel as a premise? Well, skipping the already mentioned obvious ones, I bet you might have forgotten that Radiant Silvergun involved time travel. No? You didn't forget? You never knew? No, you shouldn't have known... anyone who actually knows that has spent too much time looking up that kind of stuff.

Anyway, the game I played that best implemented time travel was almost certainly Braid. There are a couple flash games that I played as well that were utterly fantastic, but I can't really remember the names. I'll look that up sometime.

I personally loved a game for the gameboy advance called The Lost Vikings. It involved time travel, but more for the story. Actually only in the story.

That's actually a remake from the Genesis Just gotta point it out cuz I'm that kind of guy. One of my faves as well.

 

[Thomas Bambust]

1. Future Perfect, one of the better time-travel games ever. It was a good game overall, had great multiplayer and an awesome, yet primer-confusing, plot.
2. Braid, ambitious, but flawed. Could've been a lot better, but did very good in the time-travel department.

The problem is that voluntary time travel is really hard to do on grand scale (notice how you never VOLUNTARILY go back 200 years? it always happens in cutscenes. In-game, 10 seconds is often the best you can manage.

So how about combining both of them?

 

[Le_Lisra]

You could even bring up Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and no doubt gain the approval of Chris E.

I'd rather bring up Legend of Labia: Majora's Minora, because I'm quite sure Chris E. never played with that toy set.

You sir, win for silliest pun of the day.

 

[Burningsok]

Chris E. is truly a great man. He sure put you in your place Yahtzee! Ha Ha Ha.... Bored now.

Calumon: Half Life 2 had a way of travelling forward in time.

Jack: You've never played it! How the bloody hell do you know?

Calumon: I'm made of data and copy your memories while you sleep.

Oh... Jack, be careful of what you dream of. There's no telling what Calumon will do 0_0

 

[Jim15]

Timesplitters 3 was a really good FPS time travel based game. There weren't really many mechanics for the time travel, it's just that the game never took itself too seriously and as a result ended up being really fun. Lots of content in single player to unlock, tons of characters to play as in multiplayer, and memorable characters just made it a great experience overall. I miss FPS games like that.

 

[Thunderhorse31]

I'd argue that Majora's Mask is time travel done perfectly, in that it isn't a gameplay mechanic so much as part of the environment that can be controlled on a game-wide scale.

Gee, I never would have guessed you'd feel that way, judging from your avatar. That said, I agree wholeheartedly.

You could even bring up Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and no doubt gain the approval of Chris E.

I'd rather bring up Legend of Labia: Majora's Minora, because I'm quite sure Chris E. never played with that toy set.

You sir, win for silliest pun of the day.

That just might be the pun of the year, let alone today. But I agree, good show.

Damn I'm agreeable today. I don't know what's wrong with me...
take advantage while you can

 

[dennett316]

Uh, Yahtzee? Where the fuck's Timesplitters? So, you, you didn't include it? Well you have obviously never played the game, because any one who has would praise it for the best time travel game, and one of the best games, that has ever existed.

It doesn't use Time Travel as a gameplay mechanic, merely a plot device....damn fine games though, the most fun I've had with multiplayer ever.

 

[Knifewounds]

One game that came to mind when you mention time as a "gameplay mechanic" is Cryostasis in which you can "penetrate another character's memory and change the actions taken by that character in the past" <---(wiki)to change history its self. Interesting premise to say the least however it is worth noting that the game got mixed reviews, but from my standpoint it was a fun, and relatively original game for me despite its flaws.

 

[cauby]

Perhaps that's not THE best game about time travel and my judgment is skewed by nostalgia, since this was one of the first games I played on PC, but considering probably no one else remembers it, here it goes - "Time Commando" by Adeline Software.

It was a really cool beat'em up/shooter and it's coolness was largely based on the time travel thing used as a plot device allowing designers to present player with extremely varied settings. Every two levels the game moved to a new epoch, with completely different backgrounds, enemies and weapons. Kind of like what Daikatana did without the bullshit talk. The epochs/settings covered were:
- Prehistory;
- Roman Empire;
- Feudal Japan;
- Medieval Times;
- Conquistador (one level on a ship, second in a Mayan/Aztec temple);
- Wild West;
- Modern Wars (one level during the First WW, second during modern 90's conflict);
- Future;
- Cyber Space (as a short final level).

Anyone else remembers it?

That's the one I couldn't remember the title to! Thanks.

Another fan of Time Commando here.I used to play it a lot when I was a kid.It's really the first game that popped into my mind when yahtzee mentioned other time-traveling games.It didn't use time travel as a gameplay mechanic,but it was still great that in a single game you could use katanas,laser pistol,fight dragons,spaceman,lions (on the Coliseum).

 

[maninahat]

This would be one of his lazier articles this week.

My favourite time travel game so far would be in one episode during the second season of Sam & Max. Hilarious, clever, and the logic is a lot more straight foward than that of traditional point and click adventure games.

 

[Drmonstereater]

Wow, Chris E. really blew you out of the water. Better watch out, he might start writing counter arguments to ALL of your reviews.

 

[Joseph Valdez]

I really liked Shadow of Destiny...I think it was a awesome time travel game

 

[randomrob]

Good time-travel games....well apart from the Prince of Persia and Timesplitters games I don't think i could say I've played any. Timesplitters was pretty damn awesome though. Especially the multiplayer.

 

[Premonition]

Edit: Also, Final Fantasy 8 deserves a mention for being so bat-shit insanely stupid.

Did you play through that game? or did you watch Spoony's review? Cause after watching his review I did some looking around and found out that it every bit as stupid as Noah made it sound.

OT:Chris is too cool to debate properly. That or he's a moron who just was begging to get ridiculed. Other than that, my favorite game involving time travel is the Prince Of Persia trilogy I mean, did you see his plan in the second game?

I played through it until half an hour after the space thing ended. After that I just gave up, smashed my head on the controller and got drunk. (mind you, this was my second attempt at this game. First time I didn't get past the space part)

 

[Corvuus]

The point, if Yahtzee did mean this as a point, is that games should evolve/improve with each iteration/generation.

For various other products (iphone, processors, etc.) each generation is supposed to be an improvement over the 'old gen' and, for the most part, this tends to be true. People get better at making things, new tech, etc. etc. There are still the general hiccups like bad factory, mess up in manufacturing, etc. but 'ideally' there should be a 'bare-minimum' expected and delivered, plus maybe a little extra with each iteration.

His criticism of Super Mario Galaxy 2 is not that it is a 'bad game' per se, but that it doesn't change anything or bring anything new to the table. It is Super Mario Galaxy 1, re-released with some polish/make-up.

To continue on this point (of evolution of games), he arbitrarily decided to look at the history of "time traveling games". He could have easily picked "RTS", action, or anything else.

RTS might have been easier if it is just the 'game evolution' point, since there is Starcraft 2, and all the other RTS clones, etc. and what not and there is a 'clear' evolution (or lack thereof) in all the RTS games since Dune by Westwood.

However, the evolution of 'game genre' probably isn't what he wanted. He wanted the evolution of a "GAME MECHANIC". Time-travel not as a story or backstory, but as an actual game mechanic and how it has improved/changed over time.

I am not 100% sure why he picked 'Future wars'. It could have completely replaced "time travel device" to alternate dimension device/portal and it would work out just as well. He may have picked it as the 'beginning' and 'worst' iteration of time travel as just 'backstory' instead of a game-mechanic.

There are then two 'main' types of time-travel mechanics in terms of games.

1. 'long' global Time-Travel. Mainly in changing the setting. I.e. you are at the 'same' place spatially but different temporally and there is a relatively large gap of time in between (years).

Chrono Trigger, Day of the Tentacle, etc. would fall under this. You change the time but it is the same 'world'.

2. 'short' local Time-Travel. This is for all the action-oriented/instant time travel/forward/rewind of seconds or longer and can rewind 'localized' space. i.e. just you, or just some object.

Prince of Persia, and other action games with a 'rewind' mechanic would fall under this. I haven't played Braid yet (i own a copy) but it seems like it would fall under this category as well.

Either way, games should either

a. Improve upon the 'normal' time-travel mechanics
b. make up a different 'good' time-travel mechanic (a point 3).

If you are going to outright copy a previous game's time-travel mechanic without any improvement (or potentially making it worse), then there should be other improvements/polish that would make me want to play say, Singularity, over just going to go play a different game that delivers everything I want.

This could be the point Yahtzee is trying to make. Of course, assuming that everyone is logical and has a 'point' would self-destruct if we analyze Chris E.

Corv

 

[MGlBlaze]

Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is quite possibly my favourite Zelda game, oddly enough.

Also, Chris E. is obviousely a genius. He must be a member of The fucking Prometheus Society or something.

I can now see Chris E becoming something of an in-joke at the Escapist.

I think you might be right.