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From the eccentric makers of The Great Escape, this is a fun action adventure
game that sports a much-improved engine used in the earlier game. In a plot that
predates Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park by a few years, Where Time Stood Still casts
you in a role of Jarret, the down-on-his-luck pilot who just crash-landed in a
mysterious forest along with his three passengers. Now you are responsible for taking
them out of this prehistoric hell-hole, and only one thing is certain - it's going
to be no walk in the park. It's played from an isometric perspective. In addition to
the innovative action/adventure gameplay of that game (e.g. you must try to keep the
health meter full by avoiding or killing obstacles), it also lets you control all four
characters. Jarret is a he-man all-rounder. Athletic Cambridge scholar Dirk was
recently married to Gloria, a tough cookie in a fragile frame. And then there's Clive,
an overweight businessman and Gloria's father, who's about to learn the hard way that
his credit card is meaningless in a jungle. Each has the ability to carry up to four
objects, one of which is a bag which can hold a further four. You'll need to exploit
each character's strengths to bring everyone home safely. For example, Dirk is a
great help providing Gloria survives, but if she dies, he becomes a hopeless fellow,
lost in sadness. For such a vast and complex adventure, the game interface is
remarkably simple and user-friendly. Although the graphics (in 4-color CGA) are
nothing to write home about, they are adequate. The game's biggest problem is that
you can't save a game, which means you'll spend a lot of time repeating the early
stages when you make a fatal mistake. |
