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Time Traveler
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Review:
Hot on the heels of the success of the video game Dragon's Lair. Sega was looking for the next big thing in gaming. They temporarily found it with Ric Dyer's Hologram Time Traveler. Similar to Dragon's Lair, it used a Laser Disc to store multiple path's of video which allowed players to control the direction the character went. It was a new and novel approach at the time, but never really took off due to a lack of real game-play.
Time Traveler went with live action instead of animation like the previous hit and that led to several problems as well. Unlike animation, the actors were forced to react to things that were not there. This causes problems in the game when things don't quite line up as they should. Also, the sub-par acting and B-movie storyline seemed even worse when acted in real life as opposed to animation.
Despite all of that, Time Traveler was a huge success and had everyone talking about the innovative hologram technology it used to display tiny replicas of the game characters. Nothing ever came of the technology and it only served a limited purpose when the game was released, but thanks to Digital Leisure you can now have the same frustrating arcade experience in the comfort of your home.
The game plays exactly as I remember it in the arcade, minus the hologram effect badly replicated by the included 3D glasses. Playing the game is like an elaborate game of Memory or Simon, you keep following the motions until you make it through. A split second is all you have to make the right decision, which is complicated to do on most remotes. Any hesitation causes instant death. While an accurate recreation of the game, it still suffers from the disrupting load times and horrible acting of the original that really keep you from getting into the game.
The DVD:
The Video: The video is a full frame presentation that looks surprisingly bright and crisp. Perhaps this is due to the original Laser Disc format of the game. The picture quality is sharp and colors are rich. There is little to complain about in this department.
Sound: The is nothing to mention here, just a standard stereo port of the games original soundtrack. The dialog is easily understandable and muted in the least, as often happens in stereo mixes.
Extras: This disc actually has some interesting, if repetitive, extras. There are several news clips detailing the games creation, release and technology. Interesting stuff for a video game disc, but by the time you reach the last clip, it's merely a rehash of previous footage and information. For the strong willed, there is also a viewable version of the game included on the disc. It includes all of the game footage and right choices edited into a mini-movie of sorts. The ending is not included and was supposed to be available on the company's website, but I couldn't find it. There was hardly a mention of the title there.
Overall: This disc is definitely worth a rent if you're feeling nostalgic or silly. There's not much to keep you coming back, as the game gets frustrating rather quickly, but it's an hour or two well spent.
Hot on the heels of the success of the video game Dragon's Lair. Sega was looking for the next big thing in gaming. They temporarily found it with Ric Dyer's Hologram Time Traveler. Similar to Dragon's Lair, it used a Laser Disc to store multiple path's of video which allowed players to control the direction the character went. It was a new and novel approach at the time, but never really took off due to a lack of real game-play.
Time Traveler went with live action instead of animation like the previous hit and that led to several problems as well. Unlike animation, the actors were forced to react to things that were not there. This causes problems in the game when things don't quite line up as they should. Also, the sub-par acting and B-movie storyline seemed even worse when acted in real life as opposed to animation.
Despite all of that, Time Traveler was a huge success and had everyone talking about the innovative hologram technology it used to display tiny replicas of the game characters. Nothing ever came of the technology and it only served a limited purpose when the game was released, but thanks to Digital Leisure you can now have the same frustrating arcade experience in the comfort of your home.
The game plays exactly as I remember it in the arcade, minus the hologram effect badly replicated by the included 3D glasses. Playing the game is like an elaborate game of Memory or Simon, you keep following the motions until you make it through. A split second is all you have to make the right decision, which is complicated to do on most remotes. Any hesitation causes instant death. While an accurate recreation of the game, it still suffers from the disrupting load times and horrible acting of the original that really keep you from getting into the game.
The DVD:
The Video: The video is a full frame presentation that looks surprisingly bright and crisp. Perhaps this is due to the original Laser Disc format of the game. The picture quality is sharp and colors are rich. There is little to complain about in this department.
Sound: The is nothing to mention here, just a standard stereo port of the games original soundtrack. The dialog is easily understandable and muted in the least, as often happens in stereo mixes.
Extras: This disc actually has some interesting, if repetitive, extras. There are several news clips detailing the games creation, release and technology. Interesting stuff for a video game disc, but by the time you reach the last clip, it's merely a rehash of previous footage and information. For the strong willed, there is also a viewable version of the game included on the disc. It includes all of the game footage and right choices edited into a mini-movie of sorts. The ending is not included and was supposed to be available on the company's website, but I couldn't find it. There was hardly a mention of the title there.
Overall: This disc is definitely worth a rent if you're feeling nostalgic or silly. There's not much to keep you coming back, as the game gets frustrating rather quickly, but it's an hour or two well spent.
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