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Hype: The Time Quest

Score: 80%
ESRB: Everyone
Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment
Developer: Ubisoft Entertainment
Media: CD/1
Players: 1
Genre: Platformer (3D)/ Adventure

Graphics & Sound:

The graphics in Hype: The Time Quest are quite good. The characters are all Playmobil, and it’s actually really neat to see the various ways they get around the limitations of little round hands and goofy faces. Hype’s graphics are geared towards kids, but believe me, the gameplay is for more experienced gamers.

The sound is good as well, with pleasant effects and high quality voice acting. Nothing spectacular here, but nothing that takes away from the game.


Gameplay:

Hype tries to be Zelda for the computer, but it doesn’t quite make it. It’s a fun little game, more reminiscent of the Tomb Raider series than the Zelda games, but it doesn’t quite match the Ocarina of Time’s playability. Enough of that, though. Let’s talk about Hype.

In this game, you’re a soldier from the future (well, it’s all medieval, but it’s later medieval), and you’re trying to get back to your time. Along the way, you’ll encounter baddies and difficult traps and levels and whatnot, and you’ll get to learn all sorts of spells and such. You know the drill.

Hype’s gameplay is actually quite good. It has a magic system, which ends up being pretty much useless because your sword tends to do lots more damage than the spells and is easier to use anyway. The swordplay is pretty fun, if standard fare. The game’s puzzles are never so complex as to frustrate you, and the bosses never so difficult as to piss you off. Hype is, truthfully, a great little platform/adventure game. It doesn’t really innovate in the genre, but it doesn’t really do anything wrong, either. The three elements of magic tend to be used more for solving puzzles than killing enemies.

Well, sometimes the placement of save points is obnoxious because the between level load times are actually rather long, even with a full install. But this is a minor quirk. Hype: The Time Quest is a fun little game.


Difficulty:

Hype is surprisingly hard, considering what seems to be its target audience. I had problems getting through a few areas at first, but nothing insurmountable. Some of the tougher enemies took quite a few tries before I figured out how to get past them. But overall, Hype is a pretty good balance of difficulty.

Game Mechanics:

Hype plays just like pretty much every Tomb Raider-style game out there. Sometimes it’s hard to hit enemies because the aiming isn’t quite as tight as Zelda’s Z-lock system, but you get the hang of running around and slashing the crap out of people with your sword pretty quickly. I found the keyboard to be the weapon of choice for Hype.

With its cute graphics and solid gameplay, Hype: The Time Quest is a good game for fans of the style. It’s no Zelda, although the box screams that it wants to be, but Hype is a good game on its own merits. It’s a solid buy for the holiday season.


-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications
AKA Phil Bordelon

Minimum System Requirements:



Windows 95/98/NT 4.0, 32MB RAM, 4X CD-ROM, Pentium 200MHz, 800x600 resolution at 16-bit, 3D graphics accelerator card
 

Test System:



AMD K6-III 450 running Windows 98, 256MB RAM, Creative Sound Blaster Live! Sound Card, Creative TNT2 Ultra w/32MB RAM, 6X/24X DVD-ROM

Windows Hitman: Codename 47 Windows Hangsim

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated