Let’s start from looking through the positive side of the game.
The Chronomaster is a “point-and-click” adventure game. It even could be called as the mix of science fiction with fairy tales. The result has all the weirdness of an “Outer Limits” episode.
Six unique planetary systems make up the key universes, all frozen in time by the kind of a perpetrator. Some of the planets are really fantastic, while the other ones are more realistic. There are very many characters, including unicorns, talk brushes and trees, flying pigs, witches, sprites, belly dancers, soldiers, gamblers etc.
Let’s start from looking through the positive side of the game.
The Chronomaster is a “point-and-click” adventure game. It even could be called as the mix of science fiction with fairy tales. The result has all the weirdness of an “Outer Limits” episode.
Six unique planetary systems make up the key universes, all frozen in time by the kind of a perpetrator. Some of the planets are really fantastic, while the other ones are more realistic. There are very many characters, including unicorns, talk brushes and trees, flying pigs, witches, sprites, belly dancers, soldiers, gamblers etc.
It seems, that the main target of the game is the science fiction audience, and it starts out in the same way (on a space ship with all sorts of gadgets
and gizmos at your disposal), but it turns out to be more whimsical fantasy than the purist sci-fi fan might like. Although set in the future, the planetary worlds you visit were created with altered physics, making magic possible.
Your main target is to restore each world to normality, such that it is, by locating its “world key” and positioning it on the planet’s “magnetic north” with the aid of a “resonance tracer”. Nothing can be transferred between the worlds and your adventure is confined to that location once you land upon it. You are able to move about freely, even though everything else is still, because of the “bottled time” you carry with yourself. Walking too closely to a frozen person or object can release it, sometimes causing unexpected results, so you need to be on your toes all the time along.
The locations are richly detailed and visually interesting and there are various types of puzzles to solve. You’ll find numerous conversation-based puzzles (i.e., help him and he’ll help you), one of the most annoying mazes I’ve ever seen, plus other traditional puzzle types. Some of the puzzles can be considered really imaginative, while others are just obstacles in your path.
The game has several possible endings depending upon actions you have (or haven’t) taken. In most instances you can choose to act aggressively or peacefully to solve the same situation, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Many times you will die because you chose the wrong conversation option…
The negative of the game.
Although graphical atmosphere is really good and interesting, the characters themselves are stiff and non-life. Puppet-like movements didn’t endear me to the main character in the least. The character you have to play walks so painfully slow sometimes that I wished to make him run! There is quite a lot of dialog to read and listen to, but it was written badly with improper grammar and spoken badly without emotion or appropriate inflections.
The conclusion.
As we can see, the positive of Chronomaster is much stronger than negative. So, just try it out! ;)
