Chronology – Puzzle platforming with style
A few weeks ago I played a game called Chronology on the Friday Night Fiasco, but I seem to have dropped the ball and not put out a written review. So, much like the game itself, I’m going to rewind time and rectify that oversight. The short and sweet version is that Chronology is a really good looking puzzle platformer from indie company osao games. You play as an inventor and his snail sidekick as you jump through time between before and after a great catastrophe in order to stop it from happening. The art is fantastic and the dialogue well written. Chronology manages to pack a lot of fun into an all too brief experience.
Yes, I felt that Chronology was too short and I promise to address that in a little bit. First, I really want to point out the artwork that helps make it stand out from its contemporaries. The developers say that the art direction was heavily inspired by Hayao Miyazaki and it certainly shows. The colors are vibrant even when depicting a desolate world. The characters, machines, and environments conjure a feeling of magic and imagination as you traverse the various chapters of the game. Everything is highly stylized and whimsical.
Along with charming graphics, I loved the characters. The main protagonist is a curmudgeonly old inventor that finds himself waking up at the end of the world with a serious case of amnesia. I enjoyed watching his character unfold as I progressed through the chapters and had fragments of his memory return with each new area. Then there’s the snail. Yep, Snail talks and is a wiseass. The comic relief is a welcome and complimentary role to the inventor’s grumpy and serious act. The voice acting really brings the two of them to life with vibrancy that matches the artistic style of the game. The other characters in the game are largely non-verbal, but still communicate the essence of their personalities thanks to the expressive nature of the game art.
Chronology hits me right where it needs to in order to make me love it. I enjoy solving puzzles and I enjoy it a whole lot more when there’s some kind of interesting dialogue and story to go along with it. Don’t get me wrong, The Bridge was beautiful and I loved that whole sketchbook thing, but it could never be fun in the way that Chronology is. Besides, who doesn’t want to imagine that somewhere out there is an order of fez-wearing monks? So the one thing that really bugged me about the game is that it’s too darn short. I’m pretty sure that the average gamer could expect somewhere between 60 – 90 minutes of play to complete Chronology on their first attempt. I found myself wanting more when the final credits started to roll. If these guys wanted to put out a sequel that would take 4 – 5 hours to complete, I would happily throw some money at them. There are virtually no dull moments in this game; nothing that feels like filler for the sake of making a level longer. Is that the problem? Maybe that’s part of it. The ride is just so much fun and keeps up such a great pace that I never want it to end.
Even with the short running time, I will say that Chronology is worth the $10 price tag. It’s not everyday that you find titles that are challenging, creative, and whimsical all at once. Unless you have a crazy pocket watch that lets you time travel. Then I guess you can find whatever you want every day since every day is any day. Too meta? Anyway, if nothing else you should check out the Steam page and watch the trailers just to get an idea of what it looks like in motion since still photos don’t really convey the fluidity of the motion and the quality of the art. Now if only I could have a talking, time stopping snail companion. I’m sure I’d come up with some kind of practical use for it.
