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Time Hollow – Konami (2008)

July 16, 2009

I got my hands on a copy of Time Hollow because, lets be honest here, I’m a total sucker for time-travel stuff. I’ve been a fan of Doctor Who since it was introduced to me, I love movies like The Butterfly Effect, and I can have totally open debates on the different effects of time travel can have.

So when I found out about Time Hollow, I thought I’d give it the old college try, because along with Time Travel, I’m also a fan adventure/mystery games. You can refer to my gushing over Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice for examples therein.

Now I thought Time Hollow was going to be a fairly straight-forward mystery finder.

Yah, sometimes I’m just stupid like that.

Synopsis

The basic rundown of Time Hollow is this: You have a magic pen that allows you to make holes in time so that you can change things. That’s pretty much it. Oh, and some guy that you know nothing about is trying to eliminate your family for reasons you don’t really understand. Even when you do find out, it doesn’t make all that much sense.

To elaborate a little more, your character, Ethan Kairos is charged with correcting all of the weird time-hiccups that suddenly start appearing around you. This includes the removal of your parents, stopping a shockingly steep number of murders, and generally trying to make things the way they were before.

This sounds just as confusing as you think it’s going to be.

Mechanics

Time Hollow is a game that takes full advantage of the fact that you have a stylus, and punishes anyone who tries to use the controllers buttons for anything more than the occasional support. As you are required to search for things on the screen, you have to tap around like a monkey having a stroke, hoping against hope that you’ll find the one little thing that you needed to push the story forward.

You also use your stylus to make the actual holes in time, which sadly can only be opened at certain plot points. I was really hoping I’d be able to open them at any time and try my hand at playing God, but I guess there’s only so much you can expect from a DS game.

Other than the extreme pen-use, the game plays out pretty much like a novel. Other than finding the evidence/talking to people/wandering aimlessly, there isn’t much to the game. You have a town map of sorts, which you use to get around town, and your flashbacks menu.

Now the flashbacks are neat, because they show you what has changed since time has been messed up. You’ll need to review and confirm your flashbacks in order to progress through some of the story. Now you’d think this would be interesting, but really it’s just an annoying step that serves only to slow you down. Cool concept, bad execution.

What is a nice bonus is that after you get through the game the first time, you can play through again but with your previous knowledge in tact. This means that you can actually make more changes to those around you that make for a better ending the second time around. I have a soft spot for any game that allows me to play through again with added bonuses.

I’m a sucker like that.

Words from the Wise

Now having plowed through this game in a reasonable time, I feel it is my duty to disclose to you some very important information. There are only three things going on this list, but they are crucially important.

Time Hollow is not for kids. I thought it was going to be, but people are kidnapped and brutally murdered throughout the game. It’s actually pretty dark, so keep that in mind.
Read everything. Seriously, don’t skim over the text in this game because when you think you know what you have to do, there is a very solid chance that in fact you are not supposed to do that at all. There were a couple times that I skipped over the text, and ended up having to wander around the different areas of the game until something happened.
At the start of the game, you will find out that “Koris very existence is what’s different.” At this point you have to go back to the school, and outside of the classroom on the greenboard is a white note. You need to read this note in order to progress through the story. Honestly it took me a good 40 minutes of wandering around until I found that stupid piece of paper. I’m not spoiling the game when I give you this tip, I’m saving you a lot of frustration.

Overall

I actually enjoyed the Time Hollow story, though the process of getting through the story was linear, and having to jump through every hoop was quite a chore.

To that end, I have to give honourable mentions to the music writers and graphic artists hired. Way to go guys, you made this game that much more enjoyable. The music was well done and amazingly creepy, and that opening theme song? Fabulous. As for the art: very well done. The art featured in Time Hollow is some of the best background art I’ve ever seen on the DS. Very polished and really helped make the story stronger.

It was a fun game while it lasted, though it was more like a short novel then a real game. Your participation is about as low as you can get in a game with it still remaining a game. You could beat it in an afternoon, so keep that in mind if you’re going to be on a bus or plane or train somewhere.

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