[I'm new to this so please bear with me, and I'm not a native english speaker so I might say strange things once in a while. This is more like my impression of the game though ._.]
What is TimeLapse? TimeLapse is a puzzle type game similar to the Myst series, developped by Sierra and came out on the 30th september 1996. It was one of my very first PC games and one I'll never forget. Not many knows this great game. I was quite impressed by the fact that it had 4 CDs when I was younger.
Anyway; the basic story of this game is that a scientist named Professor Nichols, believe there is/was a link between four of the great ancient civilasation that are : Egyptians, Mayans, Ananzis and the fabled City of Atlantis. You, the player, are called by P.Nichols at Easter Island to help him in research.
Having not yet completed the game, I can't say if there's any big twist on the story, wich I don't believe are/will be.
The gameplay is just fine, you can either play entirely with the mouse, or with both mouse and keyboard. Although being an old game with a rather strange interface, you might get confused. First, there's no real Start screen, when you boot the game, the introduction video start and you start at the begging. You have to open a menu to load you're game, and if you haven't first saved you'Re game, not seeing any save point, you're screwed. I recently took back a shoot at this gem and I was lost because of this. The great thing, though, is that you can save and load anywhere and anywhen you so desire, like a save state on an emulator, wich is a good thing. Second, the guy is HARD. You have to think a lot, and to help you, you have two neat things; the journal of P.Nichols, who helps a LOT, and the camera to take picture (and believe me, you will need it a lot, unless you're good at drawing weird symbole and are willing to take a load of notes.).
The sound in this game are fine, nothing really spectacular and nothing too boring either, some sound are a little off or even completely out there, but you don't mind them. There are very few musics, but they had to the ambiance. Some voices are pretty lame, like that voice in egypt, but oh well. The line ; ''Seek the tablet...!'' strike me as being the funnyest in game because of how laughable it is biggrin .
Like I said earlier, this game is intellectualy challenging as hell and has some of the most fun puzzle I've seen in a while; including betting on Spider VS scorpion, shooting a bolt with a crossbow in a tiny hole with the wind interfering and all, and even lighting a petgrol lamp (Believe me, you NEED to read the instruction to do it, it's pretty precise...). Some puzzle might take you even a lot of time to figure out (I'm still stuck in egypt with that weird mathematic puzzle with the rolling ball, even with a walkthrough I still don't get it.), wich is not a bad thing in these types of game.
The graphics are okay, I guess. I'm not versed in what is considered good or bad on the graphic side. I'd say they are descent. And this game is quite old too. I have not much else to say on this, altough there are a bunch of neat details n the background here and there. I admit enjoying taking my time to watch the scenery (also because you might miss things out, if you're not watching carefully. I personaly missed a hugue spear to fight a crocrodile, I'm not sure how I did lol.). Thing can get a little glitchy, but nothing is perfect, overall it's quite good on that part.
Finaly, there's not much replay value sadly, but you might enjoy redoing the game once in a while, if you're in that type of game. I would really recommand playing it if you can find it. This game should be pretty cheap if you find it.
What is TimeLapse? TimeLapse is a puzzle type game similar to the Myst series, developped by Sierra and came out on the 30th september 1996. It was one of my very first PC games and one I'll never forget. Not many knows this great game. I was quite impressed by the fact that it had 4 CDs when I was younger.
Anyway; the basic story of this game is that a scientist named Professor Nichols, believe there is/was a link between four of the great ancient civilasation that are : Egyptians, Mayans, Ananzis and the fabled City of Atlantis. You, the player, are called by P.Nichols at Easter Island to help him in research.
Having not yet completed the game, I can't say if there's any big twist on the story, wich I don't believe are/will be.
The gameplay is just fine, you can either play entirely with the mouse, or with both mouse and keyboard. Although being an old game with a rather strange interface, you might get confused. First, there's no real Start screen, when you boot the game, the introduction video start and you start at the begging. You have to open a menu to load you're game, and if you haven't first saved you'Re game, not seeing any save point, you're screwed. I recently took back a shoot at this gem and I was lost because of this. The great thing, though, is that you can save and load anywhere and anywhen you so desire, like a save state on an emulator, wich is a good thing. Second, the guy is HARD. You have to think a lot, and to help you, you have two neat things; the journal of P.Nichols, who helps a LOT, and the camera to take picture (and believe me, you will need it a lot, unless you're good at drawing weird symbole and are willing to take a load of notes.).
The sound in this game are fine, nothing really spectacular and nothing too boring either, some sound are a little off or even completely out there, but you don't mind them. There are very few musics, but they had to the ambiance. Some voices are pretty lame, like that voice in egypt, but oh well. The line ; ''Seek the tablet...!'' strike me as being the funnyest in game because of how laughable it is biggrin .
Like I said earlier, this game is intellectualy challenging as hell and has some of the most fun puzzle I've seen in a while; including betting on Spider VS scorpion, shooting a bolt with a crossbow in a tiny hole with the wind interfering and all, and even lighting a petgrol lamp (Believe me, you NEED to read the instruction to do it, it's pretty precise...). Some puzzle might take you even a lot of time to figure out (I'm still stuck in egypt with that weird mathematic puzzle with the rolling ball, even with a walkthrough I still don't get it.), wich is not a bad thing in these types of game.
The graphics are okay, I guess. I'm not versed in what is considered good or bad on the graphic side. I'd say they are descent. And this game is quite old too. I have not much else to say on this, altough there are a bunch of neat details n the background here and there. I admit enjoying taking my time to watch the scenery (also because you might miss things out, if you're not watching carefully. I personaly missed a hugue spear to fight a crocrodile, I'm not sure how I did lol.). Thing can get a little glitchy, but nothing is perfect, overall it's quite good on that part.
Finaly, there's not much replay value sadly, but you might enjoy redoing the game once in a while, if you're in that type of game. I would really recommand playing it if you can find it. This game should be pretty cheap if you find it.
