NTG Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Let's see... Time Hollow caught my eye recently. I heard mixed reviews about it, like simple gameplay but good plot. I'm more of a story person though, so it sounds okay to me. It came out 2 weeks ago here in Europe, and I'm currently waiting for the price to decrease before buying it (or waiting for a pre-owned copy on the shelf). Other games I've really enjoyed are Professor Layton, Hotel Dusk, Phoenix Wright etc (if Time Hollow is even comparable to these games?!). So has anyone got the game or finished it? Did you like it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Tarrasque Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 (edited) Even though the storyline does a great job of keeping you hooked on the suspense, the gameplay, or lack thereof, gets boring pretty quickly, especially since it's not a very long game either. Time Hollow isn't an adventure game where you solve puzzles or anything of the kind, but rather a game of investigation. There isn't much thought to be had in there, since you just need to talk to the right person or examine the right object to proceed to the next event. There is no focus on items either, you can't pick up items unless you receive them from other characters, and there isn't really anything to do with them outside of their storyline context. Once you solve one of the flashbacks by looking around town to find out what it's from and how to fix it, Ethan must open a hole in time with the Hollow pen, meaning you'll have to draw a circle with the stylus at the right emplacement, and choose an action to perform in the Hole in order to modify the past. These are the only times where you're actually doing something other than clicking here and there, but then again, it's not much. From the bit I played and the vids I've seen, this appears to be true. I wouldn't buy it. Edited February 22, 2009 by Levin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkhead Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Looks good, but ouch, did you see the score Gamespot gave it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wist Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 I played and beat Time Hollow, and I found it enjoyable enough to be worthwhile. It has noticeably less interaction than Hotel Dusk and Phoenix Wright (I haven't played Professor Layton), but it's not bad. It's very much a point and click visual novel and, as stated in the quoted excerpt above, it's very simple and straightforward. The story is interesting enough though.... If you don't expect it to be of the same caliber as the other titles you mentioned, then I don't think you'll be disappointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTG Posted February 28, 2009 Author Share Posted February 28, 2009 Looks good, but ouch, did you see the score Gamespot gave it? Hmm, 5.5/10 was it? Heh, and Metacritic shows its score range as 30% to 83% from different reviews. Anyway, thanks for the replies. I am quite a fan of visual novels, and good stories (especially to do with time travelling), so I'll probably get the game when I spot it at a reasonable price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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