On Time Travel

[k-ossuburb]

Jak And Daxter 2 and any of the Timesplitters games.

Jak and Daxter for that pretty cool "twist" at the end where

Spoiler

it turns out you're in the past, not the future. It was easy to guess but at least the effort was made

and also because it's actually just fun, it had its faults but it's still enjoyable once-in-a-while.

Same goes for Timesplitters (any of them) I haven't played them all but they were also not only funny in places but a load of good fun to play.

Both games were like a round of tequila slammers; a lot of fun, not really all that original and a little immature but only keep their charm if consumed in small doses.

Edit: just realized they don't really "count", but I've got nothing else, so that'll have to do.

 

[kuposenpai]

Fear not, Jesus still loves Chris E. Because someone has to.

 

[Infernai]

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance. All three involve time travel.

 

[Deacon Cole]

All you do is say stupid things on teh internet for a living.

And all you do is say stupid things on the internet for free.

 

[Dracosage]

I really enjoyed Sam and Max 204: Chariots of the Dogs. They basically used time travel to different places to get what they needed similar to the way you describe in Day of the Tentacle but with significantly more mariachi birthday singers from space. It even involves having your past selves (from season one) come to the present so you can get a key item that you had to use in the previous season [hilariously, past Sam walks around saying "I can't shoot my little buddy" and "I can't use these two things together(despite there not being a 'use two objects together' mechanic) as though he were being controlled by you from the past]. They also kind of use it again in the most recent season, only Sam and Max are watching a film of their ancestors solving the secret of the tomb of Sammun-Mak - only the tape comes in four reels and you can skip between them. Cue you having to look at a future tape and solve a puzzle to find out what great you idea you already gave to elves working for corporate master Santa and the like.

 

[urathgodofsudani]

By far the best time travel game as well as the best adventure game I've ever played is Journeyman Project 3: legacy of time particularly for it's use of time travel to bring you to Atlantis, Shangri-la, and El Dorado both the day after and day before their destruction. The cultural studies that went into the cities as well as the historical facts given to you by your companion Arthur the artificial intelligence give it the most stylish take on time travel I know of.

 

[Dora]

I'm actually not much for time travel games. They either go out of their way trying to make their concepts sound legitimately scientific (and wind up wrong AND boring), or they take the Doctor Who route and say, "Well, time's just like that. Stuff can happen this way because we need it to."

I guess if you NEED to have time travel, I liked the way it was handled in Chrono Trigger. There were the big world-altering events that were pretty obvious (defeat the bad guy so you don't wind up with a dystopian future), but you had subtle parts as well. I remember in the starting village or nearby there was a very rich family and the father was extremely rude and selfish. But if you took the time to bring his ancestor something she needed, and give it to her freely despite how valuable it is, the next time you visit the future you find her descendant is now generous because she's taught her children about selflessness. Corny? Sure, a little. But it was simple and unobtrusive to the gameplay so that when you DID notice things like that happening, you went "Oh, neat!" and went on playing. Just a nice addition.

 

[BlindChance]

World of Warcraft did a lovely job with a time travel scenario in the most recent expansion. At one point, you have to fight off a horde of enemies to protect a beacon that is (if I remember correctly) basically healing a loop in the time continuum. But to give you an edge, a future version of yourself appears, traveling back in time to assist.

And he/she spends the whole time borderline insulting you, whispering such things to you as, "I can't believe that I used to wear that," "Look at you fight; no wonder I turned to drinking," and "Wow, I'd forgotten how inexperienced I used to be." (Also, one of my favorites: "Listen. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but there's going to be this party that you're invited to. Whatever you do, DO NOT DRINK THE PUNCH!") As he/she leaves, he/she notes, "Farewell. Keep us alive and get some better equipment!"

Of course, this means that later on... you get a quest to back in time and help out your past self. Who spends the whole time borderline insulting you, whispering such things to you as, "This equipment looks cool and all, but couldn't we have done a little better? Are you even raiding?" "I think I'm going to turn to drinking after this," and "Looks like I'm an underachiever."

Apparently in World of Warcraft, you're a real whiner.

 

[moosek]

I don't need Chris E's approval to enjoy Majora's Mask, but it's use of time travel isn't so much a gameplay mechanic as it is a story device. Also if you try to play Majora's Mask and watch Groundhog day at the same time, the universe will cave in around you.

My favorite time travel related game instance was when you were thrown into the future at the beginning of Half-Life 2. I really haven't seen a game do anything interesting or dynamic with time travel.

 

[arcstone]

Majoras mask.

No, yahtzee.
I don't care how much you hate the nintendo 64.

 

[AWDMANOUT]

I thought the way they used short-term time travel in God of War was rather interesting, if just a way to make the plot go further.


And just imagine if all master debaters were like this Chris E. How interesting the world would be, eh?

 

[ReverseEngineered]

Count me in for Braid. Not only was the time-travel mechanic central to the gameplay, but it included several interesting variations and it even tied into the overall story and theme. Unlike most other games where time-travel is turned into a convenient "bullet time" excuse (just to make the game easier for those unskilled at FPSes), time travel was essential to completing the puzzles in Braid. It was sublime.

Chrono Trigger was good too. Each time period was considerably different, with different environments, characters, and the like. What happened in what period affected other periods in a logical sequence, without resorting to the "butterfly effect" cliche (only important changes had lasting effects).

 

[LostTimeLady]

Interesting article as always from Yahzee.

Time travel done well in a video game is great, in fact, the best ones are when you forget you end up time travelling at all, like in Majora's Mask. You stop thinking, 'ok, I'm now three days in the past, first things first, slow down time...' instead it just becomes part of the game play machanics.

It's interesting how many video games do feature time travel... hmmm... must be a Doctor Who thing (joke, well, semi-joke, DW came before video games).

 

[Serenegoose]

Hey, what was wrong with Majora's mask? It was one of the few Zelda games that actually tried something different, and it was massively creepy and surreal. I actually liked how it embraced metagaming, and several of the plots required you to use information you'd gained later to solve things earlier.

Plus the Anju/Kafei quest arc is amazingly sweet. I actually got a little annoyed when I had to leave the city and go do the main plot because I really enjoyed going around fixing things for people.

 

[nothri]

Legacy of Kain was one of the most elegantly told stories, masterfully voiced and cleverly written despite the inclusion of time travel (which has caused more than one narrative to get bogged down in the temporal illogic). Soul Reaver and Defiance are excellent examples of the sort of game you want to play despite the clunky gameplay and often frustrating puzzles. It really is my prime example of a game that works mostly because of the story and the actors rather than the gameplay, to the point where you are willing to soldier on past the most frustrating parts to get to the next piece in the narrative.

 

[Kooler]

Now that I think about it the only game that I've ever played that had time travel, and wasn't mentioned in this article, was Chrono Trigger. Although, Chrono Trigger used time travel as more of a plot device than an actual gameplay mechanic.

 

[Slinker07]

My favorit time travel game is probably The Darkness. It feels like that game is the only thing in the world who came with an accrute view how world war 1 was.

 

[Supp]

I'd say Chrono Trigger, but time travel didn't really affect much except how good the items you found were.

But I'm Still Hungry...

 

[Judgement101]

I think Chris E. should not mail people anymore or bad things might happen to their...............yea I don't know where I was going with that.

OT: I honestly didn't notice many games had time manipualtion stuff (OTHER than bullet time)

 

[Nurb]

did someone say "future war"?