Time Hollow, for the DS, is a point and click adventure developed by the ever awesome Konami. Pretty much every newer game by Konami has a great story, and this one does NOT fail to deliver. In case no one knows, Konami is responsible for those games you all know and possibly love - Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania, Silent Hill, and even Dance Dance Revolution. (It may be a little gay, but I love me some DDR.) Me, also in love with point and click adventures, and Konami itself, decided to give this game a try. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.
You take on the role of Ethan Kairos, a standard high school student with unnaturally spiky hair. The game starts the day before Ethan's 17th birthday. Ethan is obsessed with clocks and watches, and is eager to get a new watch for his birthday, and tells his parents about the watch. They appear to have other plans for Ethan's birthday however...
The next day, the day Ethan turns 17, he notices something odd is going on. For starters, his room is completely different, and his cat has a strange looking pen tied around it's neck. Not to mention the odd, pulsating portal sitting in the middle of his room. Through further investigation, Ethan finds that his parents are also missing. They've been missing for many years. He also finds that the pen his cat had isn't just a normal pen. It's a Hollow Pen. It has the ability to open portals into another time, past or future, and allow the wielder to poke around through the portal it has created, effectively allowing the past, present, or future to be altered.
Ethan figures out that the reason he has this pen is to find the reason his parents have gone missing, and to rescue them. So Ethan starts by poking around in the past. Unfortunately, playing with time has repercussions, as Ethan figures out the hard way, getting himself into deeper and more complicated situations the more he tries to fix the repercussions he caused in the first place. And that's the end of the prologue.
The rest of the game progresses through 6 considerably long chapters, in which Ethan must fix the situations through use of the Hollow Pen. Of course, the more he tries to fix, the more he ends up ruining, in a way extremely reminiscent of The Butterfly Effect.
There's not much more I can tell you about the story, lest I spoil anything, but trust me. This game has one of the best storylines out there.
Gameplay, however... Is not so great. In my point and click adventures, I like extensive puzzles. This game features none of that. Of course, some people will find this as a good thing. Essentially, all there is to the gameplay is you running around the city, trying to save your friends, family, and even yourself. Time altering is done using your hollow pen, AKA your stylus. You draw a circle in the area you want to change, (touchscreen) then you can do whatever you need to do through that hole. Time Hollows can only be opened limited times. When you open one, time stops in both your time and the time you're reaching into. Time starts again by closing the hollow you were poking around in. Unfortunately, closing a portal drains your health bar, displayed at the top of the screen. (The reason the pen saps your life is a later plot device in the game.) There's ways to replenish your energy though, found through items called "CHRONS." The cat that had your Hollow Pen is located throughout the town, and is always holding a CHRON for you. Unfortunately for you, you cannot go through the game in one health bar, meaning you NEED to walk around town looking for your stupid cat to replenish your health bar. A needless gameplay element to be sure, a measly attempt to extend the games life. It's not that big of a trouble though.
OR IS IT? For some odd reason, every time you complete a chapter, your maximum health lowers to your current health. Meaning you MUST replenish your health BEFORE chapter ends. Luckily, if you only open Hollows where you're supposed to, you can make it to the final chapter before needing to gather Chrons. But you WILL need to some time in the game, which makes me unappreciate this title just a little bit.
The sound is extremely awesome. The main theme song sounds suspiciously like a JPop song, sung in English. Not to mention fully voiced cutscenes. Most of the game is text driven, however, and voices ONLY appear during the cutscenes.The music does grind on your nerves when you need to wander around town looking for more CHRONS though...
Graphics are awesome as well. Every character has a distinct anime feel to them, after all this is a Japan game. I certainly had no complaint with the way the characters and backrounds look. As usual for a point and click though, all scenes are still. Each location in town is represented by a static image, and characters are still images as well. Luckily, once you talk to them, a zoomed picture of their face appears on the top screen, with the dialogue they are saying.
The game is also considerably funny, allowing you to open Hollow's near the more.... Intimate areas of the female characters bodies, making time stop, and forcing Ethan to struggle mentally to not touch the frozen women.
The entire game took me 10-12 hours to beat, and there are three different endings to get. I'm guessing once you know what to do, the game will take around 6-8 hours to beat. Also, as expected, there are different things you can do with your Hollow's. meaning not every situation will play out in the same way.
Overall, this game is awesome. A perfect storyline, full of many plot twists and TONS of death, combined with awesome characters, make for a great game. The only real downfall to this game is the lackluster gameplay, which fails to meet my grade of point and click expectations. It is still undeniably fun to run around learning more of the storyline, and creating Hollows and messing with time, and of course touching frozen women inappropriately. For me, this game ranks at the second best game for DS, bested only by Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, which had a great storyline (not as good as Time Hollow though), but with overall better gameplay. This game is certainly one you need to own, and with 3 different endings, this game will take a while. The best use of $20.00 on a DS game ever.
A must have for any fan of the Butterfly Effect, and a must have for basically anyone looking to be entertained fully by the story. Don't let my harsh review of the gameplay prevent you from obtaining this game. BUY IT NOW.
