Time Hollow

"A compelling story makes up for weak gameplay"

Time Hollow is a point and click adventure game produced by Konami. While it combines good use of the DS' hardware with a compelling story and excellent presentation, it is brought down by a short length and simplistic, uninspired gameplay.

Time Hollow stars Ethan Kairos, a seventeen year old high school student who wakes up one morning to discover that his parents are missing, and that he has also acquired the titular Hollow Pen. This device allows Ethan, under the proper circumstances, to reach back to specific points in time and alter them, say by leaving a letter for someone or removing a dangerous item. It is this ability that makes up the core of the gameplay. Figuring out to what to change in the past is the key to solving puzzles. Successful alterations instantly change Ethan's present day, advancing the plot and presenting you with new puzzles.

In order to learn where the appropriate place to use the Pen is, you must travel throughout Ethan's town and explore the various locales, as well as interact with a variety of characters. This is all accomplished with the use of the touch screen, and you'll find the controls to be simple and intuitive. Selecting tiny objects onscreen can sometimes be an issue, but beyond that you should never have any control issues. Once Ethan pieces together the details of the past, he can operate the Pen. The Pen is used by drawing a circle with the stylus, opening a hole into the past that you can then interact with. After you figure out what must be changed in the past, you can close up the hole which alters Ethan's present time, giving him new goals. This cycle continues throughout the game.

While in theory it sounds like an excellent twist on standard adventure game norms, as well as a clever way of using time travel as a plot device without making it all powerful, Time Hollow rarely capitalises on its own ingenuity. The game's puzzles are all markedly simplistic to the point of tedium, and thus the game's biggest challenge often becomes trying to figure out where to go. Directions are not always clear, and you may sometimes find yourself wandering around town looking for one person to have a largely irrelevant line of dialogue with before you can progress. Time Hollow does try to add a challenge by limiting the number of holes you can open; a hole must be opened at a specific spot or you won't be able to reach your target on the other side, forcing you to close it and try again. If you open too many wrong holes, it's game over. Unfortunately, the game is far too generous with the chances, and in most cases the appropriate place to use the Pen is incredibly obvious.

The lack of compelling gameplay is really quite a shame, because Time Hollow excels in all other departments. Graphically, Time Hollow is mostly made up of static backgrounds, but sprinkled throughout the game are impressive animated cutscenes that advance the plot smoothly. Characters and areas are well designed, and everything in the game has a natural look to it. While none of the environments you'll explore are especially unique, (you'll find yourself in a school, a coffee shop, a library and so on) they do fit together to feel like a real town.

In terms of audio Time Hollow is equally remarkable. The aforementioned cutscenes are competently voiced, sound effects are natural and effective and the soundtrack also gets the job done. While most tracks are a bit on the short side and can get repetitive in long stretches, for the most part the music does an excellent job of providing atmosphere and complimenting the scene. There is also a full length theme song featuring vocals that proves to be surprisingly catchy.

Despite its technical accolades, the feature of Time Hollow that stands out most is its storyline. While not without the holes and missing plot points that any time travel based story will inevitably have, Time Hollow's narrative is extremely compelling. A diverse and likeable cast of characters carry out a story that provides a genuine sense of mystery and suspense. The plot offers enough twists to keep things interesting without descending into the realm of absurdity, and at game's end you can look back with satisfaction at how the majority of loose ends have been tied up in a satisfying and logical way. While not without its flaws, most notably a couple of flat characters and a few unanswered questions, Time Hollow's story is definitely its major selling point.

Unfortunately, Time Hollow is dragged down by a few flaws. As mentioned previously, the laughably easy difficulty can be off putting. The game is also quite short, no more than a few hours, but despite that it feels forcedly lengthened, often forcing you to repeat tasks arbitrarily, as well as sometimes being vague on what, sometimes obscure thing you must do in order to advance the plot. Additionally, like most games in its genre, it also suffers from a lack of replay value.

On paper these seem to be rather significant problems, but somehow, and for no obvious reason, Time Hollow manages to overcome most of them and the game ends up being addicting anyway. You'll want to find the next easy puzzle, you'll want to poke around every corner of town for the person you need to talk to, because as a collective experience Time Hollow manages to overcome its simplistic gameplay. As a result, it's difficult to not recommend Time Hollow to both experienced adventure gamers, and those new to the genre. So long as you don't go in expecting either difficulty or length, Time Hollow should still prove to be an enjoyable experience. Just don't try to figure out exactly why.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/02/08

Game Release: Time Hollow (US, 09/23/08)