Michael Crichton Timeline

                  Reviewed by Nick Edmunds

Part of a team of archaeologists excavating an historic region of
modern day France, you play the mysterious Chris. Your team
leader, Professor Johnston, has travelled back to 1357 to observe
Lord Oliver and his group of rogue knights who are taking over the
town of Castlegard.  When the professor fails to return you
receive a videotape with an imperative request:  travel back to
fourteenth century France to rescue him.

After a quick training period to get acclimatised to the 1st
person perspective, the Quake key controls and the stun stick,
your party enter the catchily named time travel pods and head for
the past.  Within seconds of arrival your bodyguard Baretto is
dead, the great jessie, killed by the Decker.  There must be some
significance with this Decker fellow as everyone seems to know all
about him, but have neglected to fill you in.  I can only assume

that he has relevance for those who have read the book although he
doesn't feature enough in the game to worry about.

This leaves just you and the know-it-all Kate, with whose
assistance you make your way through a series of jumping and
navigating tasks tenuously associated with life in a medieval
society.  The "story driven journey" is totally linear with no
puzzles whatsoever and Kate tells you exactly what to do anyway.
Even when separated from you she gives constant instructions
through an earpiece.  While her ability to translate what the
French guards were saying came in handy, her constant commentary
means it's like going adventuring with your mum.

As well as the 14th Century French castle town, there's also a
jousting tournament and an underground river to navigate.  This
historical aspect is sold as a learning tool and is mildly
educational in that it features a 3D tour of the Timeline world
narrated by Michael Crichton himself.  This provides no more than
basic information of a 14th century town and appears to have been

designed as a means of padding out the package rather than any
real attempt to impart knowledge.

While animation and graphics are quite reasonable there are
occasional clipping issues - stray too close to a seam and you may
get sucked through a wall.  This poses particular problems when
the said seam is near a running jumping puzzle.

As ever with time travel there is the warning about killing people
in the past because of the paradox thing, but they needn't have
worried.  As it turns out these medieval French types are all
mouth and no pantaloons: they may come on a bit strong, but whack
'em a few times and not only do they chicken out but they
dematerialise before your eyes.  Although even these seemingly
non-fatal incidents could have far reaching repercussions in the
present.  Mr. Cricthon may have felt it simpler to side step this
point or perhaps he is unaware of theories which maintain that
events can be altered simply by being observed let alone whacked a
few times with a big stick.

Loosely based around the novel of the same name I should have
known better when I noticed that the author's name is in letters
as big as the title.  Interestingly, an indicator that generally
bodes well in a novel proves to be quite the opposite in games.
Although games based around books and/or films are rarely a great
idea, there have been notable exceptions (Dune II was exceptional
in its day) unfortunately Timeline isn't one of them.  Maybe
Michael could go back in time and change it?

Billed as "a unique entertainment experience for first-time
gamers" timeline is essentially designed for children, although
the age eleven plus ELSPA rating effectively rules out much of the
target audience. Initially, youngsters like myself might be taken
in by the knights, jousts and castles theme (Critchon suckered me
with the dinosaurs as well), but there's probably not enough
substance, puzzles or humour to maintain their interest here as
the whole thing only lasts a couple of hours.  This said, Timeline
does a good job of meshing several genres around the medieval
theme and should prove a good introduction to gaming.
                              - o -