INTRODUCTION: If you enjoy adventure games, then you owe it to yourself
to play one of the best-built games the genre has to offer!

I must say from the outset
that this is one of the best games I’ve
ever played. It impressed me from start to finish.

I really enjoyed the first
title in this series, The Journeyman Project. That older game told
the story of the chaos that resulted
when time travel was discovered a few hundred years in the future.
The technology was so dangerous, in fact, that the Temporal Security
Agency was formed to “protect” the past from interference
by unscrupulous users of this dangerous new technology.

In the first game, your
character, a hero named Gage Blackwood (Agent 5 of the TSA) saved
the day by correcting sabotage in three different
historical moments. However, all of the time “locations” in
that game occurred in our future, so the entire game had a pretty
strictly science-fiction feel to it.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

This idea is expanded
on in Buried in Time. In a scene reminiscent from a “Back to the Future” movie,
the game begins with your character being visited by a future version
of yourself. It
seems you have been framed, and it is up to you to explore four different
historical periods and solve the mystery.

The level of the writing in this game is worthy of a top-notch science
fiction novel.

Before the real action
of the game begins, you spend some time in Gage’s future self’s house. The backstory is revealed
through messages left to Gage, through a secret hologram left by
your future self, and from the television. Rarely have I enjoyed
the “exposition” part of a game so much. It was just
beautifully done. Even the commercials contained vital clues.

NICE JUMPSUIT!

After you learn enough,
you’re ready to make the “jump.” You
do this through a full-body suit which contains all the controls
you need. You visit the following locations: a space station in the
recent past, a medieval castle in France under siege from the English
army, Chichen Itza (of course, a stop in ancient Central America
is now almost obligatory in this type of game), and finally, Leonardo
da Vinci’s studio.

The interface of this
game is a bit involved but still works very well. You spend the
majority of the time in your time travel suit,
and with it you use various computer chips to accomplish different
kinds of tasks. For example, there’s a “cloaking” chip
so you can render yourself invisible. This is helpful, for example,
when there is the danger of running into a murderous medieval knight
in the frenzy of battle. There’s also a chip that’s useful
for translating any foreign language.

VOICEOVER ACTING
THAT DOESN’T SUCK

One of the biggest surprises
in this game is a character named Arthur. Arthur is an artificial
intelligence you discover on the space station,
and he becomes your companion for the rest of the game. Since he’s
basically just a computer program, you don’t see him, you only
hear him. He comments on your surroundings, makes jokes, and sometimes
offers helpful suggestions.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Egad, another would-be funny
voiceover character by a bad actor. Actually Arthur is the biggest
surprise of the game. He actually IS funny (in a Mayan temple, he
cracks “Cool door. Didn’t I see Bob Villa show how to
build a door like this in ‘This Old Pyramid’?”),
makes very helpful suggestions, and is performed by a very good actor.
I know, I know, it surprised me too!

As you travel, you are looking for clues to clear yourself of the
treasonous crimes of which you have been accused. In addition to
the locales already mentioned, you also make side trips to a defunct
missile silo and an ocean planet populated by a some very nasty dolphin-like
beings.

The puzzles are not particularly difficult, and therefore the game
may seem a bit easy to the hardcore adventure gamer.

TRUST ME, YOU
DON’T
WANT TO MISS THIS ONE!!

I have rarely played a
game I’ve enjoyed as much as Buried
In Time. I spent most of the game staring at the screen with a stupid
grin on my face, saying, “This is so cool!” over and
over again. This game is a masterpiece of design and writing; I consider
it a genre-defining game, and put it up there on my best list along
with Circle of Blood, Obsidian, and The Rose Tattoo.

PROS: Absolutely superior writing, design and (even!) acting.

CONS: A bit of a learning curve to the interface; puzzles not terribly
challenging to the experienced gamer.

CONCLUSION: An absolutely positively Must Play. A genre-defining
title.

Final Grade: A+

System Requirements:

• 486/33
• 8 MB RAM
• 2X CD-ROM
• Windows 3.1

This
review is copyright Ray Ivey and Just Adventure and
may not be republished elsewhere without the express written consent
of the author. Republication of said review must also contain a link
back to Just Adventure.