TIMELINE 95/98/WME (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 2.0 stars Mediocre
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 4.2 (2.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Ron Dulin
• Reviewed on: 11/22/2000
• Updated on: 05/17/2006
• Released on: 11/12/2000
• Originally published on GameSpot: TIMELINE 95/98/WME (PC) Review

Timeline is based on the Michael Crichton novel of the same name and was developed by Timeline Computer Entertainment. This cozy relationship doesn't bode well for the game. In fact, it's hard to understand what Timeline is supposed to be. It borrows good ideas from many different action games, but it isn't very fun. It's based on a lengthy page-turner; yet, it manages to include very little story of its own. And it is so short and easy that it seems like little more than a tutorial for a better game.

As Timeline begins, you are being trained in the protocols and procedures for time travel. You are Chris Hughes, a graduate student who must travel to 14th-century France to rescue his professor. The game skips much of the buildup in the book, including the pseudoscience that explains the theory of time travel, the suspense that leads up to the disappearance of the professor, and any explanation of just who these characters are. You are simply thrust into a world where time travel is possible, and you are about to do it.

Once you reach 14th-century France, a major setback threatens to cause problems with your mission plan. In any other game, this would be the event that triggers a whole series of events. But in Timeline, it seems to have little impact at all on your mission. Much of the game is like this: Some significant event occurs, which would seem to be the start of a clever new twist, only to be resolved within a few moments. For instance, at one point in the game, your character is shrunk down in size to a mere three inches tall. It's an interesting development, but it's over within minutes of occurring.

Timeline's structure doesn't lend itself to player involvement. It plays like a first-person shooter, though the actual action is more reminiscent of platform games like Rayman 2. The game is broken into chapters: Each chapter is short, and each consists of one easily accomplished task. When you first get to France, you'll need to slide down a hill, all the while avoiding rocks. Later, you'll need to joust in a tournament. Still later, you'll need to climb across rafters to a window. There aren't many chapters, and the whole game actually won't take more than an hour or two to finish. Each task is short and easy, and it's hard to imagine anyone needing more than a couple of attempts at any of them. The fact that the chapters are so distinct is somewhat jarring, so that at times it seems as if Timeline is just a collection of scenes from different action games.

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