Hype Muffin
When Ethan Kairos wakes up on his 17th birthday, he finds that his parents have mysteriously disappeared and he is left living with his uncle Derek. His parents have apparently been missing for 12 years despite Ethan's memories of them. The mystery thickens when Ethan finds a pen that allows him to draw holes in time, reaching into the past to alter the present. As he tries to make sense of his present, Ethan fixes the past to prevent disasters from hurting his friends and family. The game provides a heaping helping of plot, and while it tries to gradually introduce each idea, time travel cannot help but raise a few complications. Not surprisingly, there are a few time parodoxes present and sometimes the game's own time travel logic works against it, but it is an entertaining story nonetheless.
Like other story-propelled adventure stories, Time Hollow largely ignores interesting gameplay in favor of exposition. The player will move from location to location, talking with people and, on occasion, open holes in time, but no aspect of this provides any kind a challenge. While there is a limit on the amount of holes you can open (related to the amount of 'time' you have left), the game prompts you quite specifically on when and where to use the pen. Game interactivity devolves into clicking 'next' during conversations, or occasionally examining memories while the game automatically fills in the information, and without any kind of significant difficulty, Time Hollow feels more like a visual novel than a video game.
The game is controlled completely via the stylus--though you can use A and B buttons for moving dialogue forward. Holes in time are made by drawing a circle with the stylus on the touch screen, and your point of view can be slightly shifted left or right to see just a little more of the scene. It is an easy and simple system, but doesn't change the fact that most of your time will be spent tapping the screen to continue character conversations.
Graphically the game is nothing to boast of. Everything looks smooth and the few anime cutscenes the game includes are great, but the character designs aren't particularly striking or original. Backgrounds and music are similarly forgettable. The menu interface does have a neat watch theme, but otherwise there is nothing visually to draw in the player.
The game only takes a matter of hours to complete, and offers little in the way of replay value outside of a somewhat alternate ending, unlockable after playing the game once. Additionally there are a few side quests to complete which involve changing minor aspects of Ethan's world, but it's easy to overlook them as they are somewhat pointless.
Time Hollow has some great ideas and partially succeeds at developing a strong narrative, but it stops there. Gameplay takes a back seat and nothing about the presentation or replay value impress. Ultimately it feels as though the developers held back to test the waters; a sequel could address the issues the game faces to create a more complete experience.
7.0/10
Images from IGN.com
