This week, I decided to play Chronology, an indie adventure game, for my Power Hour review. Chronology is a platformer, and it initially caught my eye because the graphics looked really well done, and, of course, because I love platformers. When Chronology begins, the main character, the Old Inventor is stuck in a damaged world, but makes strange references to how it used to be in the future. Behind this, lies one of the main game mechanics, the ability to move back and forth through time.
Some reviews I read in the Steam comments compared this back and forth through time mechanic to Braid, but to be honest, Chronology and Braid do not feel very similar at all to me. In Chronology (so far), the back and forth through time is used more in “real” time. That is, to progress through the game you have to view the world through both time frames in order to solve the puzzles. So far, I haven’t run across anything that has allowed to rewind the game as such, only to change the landscape of the gaming world. It’s a fun mechanic, though, I enjoyed it for a bit. Sometimes you have to (not really a spoiler, but…) change time as you are trying to move.
Chronology also has a second playable character, The Snail. The particular part of the game made me nervous when I was reading about it as I was a bit afraid it would make Chronology similar to The Cave. In The Cave, you have four or five playable characters, each with a skill needed to help you move through the game. I hated The Cave because it just became too tedious to keep going back and forth between all those playable characters. Chronology fixes the tedium of this somewhat by allowing you to quickly move The Snail to where you need him.
Unfortunately, the addition of The Snail was still the part of the game where Chronology started to lose me. Not because it was difficult or tedious to navigate back and forth between the characters, but because the introduction of The Snail, for me, changed the feel of the game from that of cute, but still adult enough for me to enjoy to a much more childish feeling. I’m not sure if others would necessarily be bothered by this. I was a bit surprised it bothered me so much. As I’ve talked about in recent podcasts, I’ve been playing Luigi’s Mansion, which, though cartoony, I still love, along with other games, such as Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. But, in this case, The Snail just made it feel too Saturday morning cartoon-like. Maybe it’s because I don’t like this particular type of cartoon.
Or, maybe it’s because the addition of The Snail and it’s somewhat over the top childishness brought my focus more to the game’s purpose. One of the over-riding themes of the game seems to be a focus on the importance of friendship and being a good friend. Which is great, but comes across in places as a bit cheesy and overbearing. I won’t spoil it, but there are “lessons” to be learned in this game.
To that end, Chronology would be a fun game to play with children, I think. I haven’t played the whole game, and there is a possibility the story might be somewhat dark. (I know this is a product of my dissertation topic more than the game, but the main story kept making me think of Werner Von Braun and his early bomb making days.) But, if you like platforms, I would still recommend giving it a try. Some of the game mechanics are fun, and the acting is good (sort of childish, but good). Also, the game goes for $9.99 regularly on Steam, but it is on sale for $7.99 through May 19th. All in all, not a bad game for that price.
