Timescape Review

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            Timescape: Journey to Pompeii

Review by EnigmaFebruary 2002

Oh how I looked forward to playing this game. Timescape comes to us by way of Cryo from the Arxel Tribe folks, who make great edutainment games, usually. The story is set in ancient Pompeii, just before the volcano popped off and buried everything. I love history, I love edutainment games, and I wanted to have a wonderful time exploring Pompeii.

Oh how I wish the volcano had buried this game.

The game’s storyline is a bit silly, but that’s okay. It’s the gameplay that’s beyond silly. Many of these puzzles only barely brush up against logic, and as you’re exploring, the city’s population appears to have already fled, with the exception of only a very few characters.

The Story

Timescape does have a story. You are Adrian, a British soldier in World War I, and you’re in love with Sophia. You wind up stranded and sick in a cave during the war. There you’re visited by the ancient goddess Ishtar, no less, of Mesopotamian fame.  Ishtar has the hots for you (well, Ishtar was less than selective in that regard), but you rebuff her. To get even, she grabs Sophia and plops her down into Pompeii just four days before Vesuvius erupts. Sophia has no memory of you. Your job is to find her and convince her to run away with you before the volcano destroys the city.

Miraculously, you have an ancient identity and a nice toga, speak perfect Latin, and seem to know plenty about Roman Gaul. You stay with a prosperous wine merchant, a devotee of the cult of Isis who dabbles in politics, and you know who he is, too. Once you find your way out of his house you’re off to tramp around the city, meet influential people, solve mysteries, settle arguments, steal stuff from temples, rescue folks, eventually convince Sophia that you are indeed her true eternal love, and get outta there.

Now, I can buy the idea that Adrian speaks Latin and knows about Gaul. British officers of World War I vintage usually had a strong classical education. The emphasis on Isis, an Egyptian goddess, isn’t out of place either. There was indeed a cult of Isis in ancient Roman cities, where folks were fascinated by the Egyptians.  I do find it a bit odd, though, that the game touches on the Roman gods only peripherally.

If that were the only thing odd about this game, I wouldn’t be complaining.

Gameplay

So there you are in ancient Pompeii. You’ll move around through traditional pointing and clicking. Note: you can die in Timescape.  In fact, you’ll die fairly often unless you can read the minds of the game designers. Your first puzzle, which you’ll encounter as soon as you step out the door of your adopted house, involves settling a dispute between a couple of tradesmen. A mule has blocked the path of a vegetable merchant. It’s being mulish and refuses to budge. The mule’s owner and the merchant are about to come to blows. You have to get the mule to move.

By this time you have a rope. Do you do the logical thing, and tie it around the mule’s neck? If you try that you’ll get kicked in the head. No, instead your solution defies the laws of physics.  If you don’t come up with that solution, quickly, you’ll either be kicked in the head or arrested, and the game will end. If you’re smart you’ll view that as a blessing.

Later you’ll find a timed puzzle that also defies logic. Would you really start stealing things from temples, just after making friends with the priest? If you don’t, game over. While you’re chucking javelins around, would you really turn that into an opportunity to deliver a flower to your lady love over in the next-door garden?  If you don’t, you’ll wind up turning your javelin playmate into a shish kabob. Game over.

You’ll play an authentic Roman game, but you’ll never get the rules for how to play, not even in the encyclopedia. It doesn’t matter. You’ll win anyway. You’ll search for items without knowing what the items are half the time, or where they might be located, or why you need them, or how to use them once you’ve got them.

In short, the puzzles just aren’t fair.

Lights, Camera, Action

I did find three elements of this game that I liked. The depiction of ancient Pompeii looks good. The developers did their homework and based their city on photos and maps of the real thing. You’ll see excellent reproductions of wall paintings and mosaics that were really found in the ruins of Pompeii, and you’ll see them in the buildings that were really there. It took plenty of work to reproduce all that, and Arxel Tribe should be commended for it.

Also, the in-game encyclopedia, always available, gives you extensive information about the city and the ancient Romans. You can see the photos of the modern excavations that Arxel Tribe used to design the game. If you’re interested in all that, instead of playing the game you’ll probably be better off spending your time just wandering around in exploration mode and reading the encyclopedia. 

I liked the music too, especially the first theme you hear in the “House of the Cythera Player.” If you’ve played Pilgrim, set in the Middle Ages, you’ll hear the same music in the opening scene there. I forgive the fact that it isn’t ancient Roman music. It’s still pretty nice.

Be glad, however, that the buildings look good, because that’s about all you’ll see as you wander around in Timescape. With the game’s “visit mode” you can move around the deserted city just to look at it. However, the city looks entirely deserted even during the gameplay. Occasionally you’ll encounter somebody you need to talk to, but only when it fits into the storyline.  Other than that, nobody’s there. Nobody’s anywhere. It seems strange to go to the central forum, and the place is completely deserted.  Nobody’s in the gymnasium either, or in the tavern or the bakery if the storyline doesn’t demand it.

When you finally meet some characters, they look like 3D puppets.  They sometimes sway back and forth as though caught in a strong wind while they’re talking, although their mouths never move.  You’ll know they’re talking because of the voiceovers. Occasionally they move their arms. They rarely display any other animation that might indicate life, although some of them walk in the cutscenes after “conversations.” One elderly lady walks bent over at a 90-degree angle. That, I suppose, indicates that she’s elderly.  That stubborn mule was the most sympathetic character in the game, I thought.

The voice acting ranges from adequate to bad. Get used to it, because the game forces you to experience each and every dialog option. Sometimes you’ll have only one dialog option, an element of the game that will not require you to tax your brain. Your character, Adrian, speaks fairly often and he won’t embarrass you, except for the fact that he’s a British officer with an American accent. Go figure.

Bugs

Timescape provides you with a nice map of the real Pompeii, and you’ll need it to figure out where you are in the city. Almost every time I used the map, however, the game froze. It also froze when I tried to take screenshots. Sometimes it would unfreeze after many clicks, but sometimes I just had to crash and reload.  If you crash, however, you won’t lose your game. By choosing “continue” when you reload you can resume wherever the game crashed. The game comes on two CDs and requires minimal disc swapping, but it froze then too. Plus, I couldn’t quit. No, not because of fascinating gameplay, but because whenever I did quit, the credits never stopped rolling. No amount of clicking, force quits, or anything else stopped them. Hitting “escape” only made them start over. I had to force my computer to restart to get out of Timescape.  During actual gameplay everything ran smoothly.

My Verdict

Unless you’re just so fascinated with the subject that you don’t mind slow, silly, illogical gameplay, I advise against a purchase of Timescape. Indeed it was nice to wander around in ancient Pompeii, but you can do that in half an hour under the “visit mode.” You also might read a book instead of playing this tedious game. I finished it, because having started the thing I was determined to finish it. I also wanted to see the spectacular animation of Pompeii’s destruction in the final cutscene. Even that proved to be less than spectacular. A few of those 3D puppets running and being hit by falling columns, a crude animation of Vesuvius erupting that looks like a shot from a Saturday morning cartoon show, and that’s it. Not worth the wait, not worth the plodding gameplay, not worth the time, not worth the money. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Arxel Tribe Publisher: Dreamcatcher Release Date: 2000

Available for: Macintosh Windows

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

PC: Windows 98/95 Pentium 200 MMX 32 MB RAM 12X CD-ROM drive

Macintosh: OS 7.5 Power PC 200 MHz 32 MB RAM 12X CD-ROM drive

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

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