This is one great adventure game that tries to take the elements of
Myst and make them move. Unfortunately, they took a few bad elements, one
of which is the gameplay.

You assume the role of Gage Blackwood, Agent 5
of the Temporal Security Agency. The goal of the TSA is to safeguard history.
If anything were to change in the past, it would cause a temporal ripple (which
can be detected); in effect, it would change the present. A rip in the time continuum
is even worse; if it isn’t corrected, it can have very disastrous results. For
this reason, time travel is on the verge of being eliminated altogether.

Legacy
many times refers to events that happened in the previous two games. For this
reason, people that have played the first two (or even just the second) will love
the way everything ties in. But for those of you who haven’t played any of the
Journeyman Projects, a full recap is in the manual, and a smaller one is
in the opening movie to the game.

After months of searching the time stream
for traces of Agent 3, the TSA gives up and presumes her dead. (Agent 3 framed
Gage Blackwood in JP2 for crimes against history. Gage caught up with her
in the end, but her jumpsuit short-circuited in the process, sending her into
the time stream.)

The game starts out when the TSA is about to remove the
power cores from the time travel “jumpsuits.” The jumpsuits are, well,
suits that give you the ability to travel through time. They are the ones used
in JP2.

Parts of Gage’s memory surrounding the events of JP2 were selectively
erased by Agent 3 after his capture. Now sitting in front of a TV/computer screen,
Gage repeatedly watches the video (taken by his jumpsuit) of Agent 3 brainwashing
him (which happened at the end of JP2). All of a sudden, a flashing warning appears
over the screen. A temporal rip has been detected in the Mediterranean Sea in
1262 BC. The room flashes with red lights, and the alarm fills the air with panic.
Agent 3 has made her move at the worst possible moment. As a last resort, the
TSA chief engineer (also Gage’s closest friend) reveals to Gage the Chameleon
jumpsuit, an unguaranteed functional prototype time travel unit.

The game
has a good story (a tiny bit linear though), but its lack of solid gameplay weighs
this game down.

First let me talk about the Chameleon jumpsuit. Back in
JP2, to be seen in public was a very bad thing (it would cause a change in history
if a person from a time before the light bulb was invented saw a big metal man
walking around). The Chameleon jumpsuit changes all that. With it, you can assume
the guise of any person you see in a certain time period. Whenever you see someone,
you can copy his or her appearance and use it (not with the same person you’re
posing as, though, of course). This adds a whole new level to communicating with
others. Now, instead of hiding from people, talking to them is a key factor in
getting information. A person’s response to you is different depending on who
you are posing as at the time.

But talking with others is not like in a
Monkey Island game. You do get choices for what you want to say (or to
ask for most of the time), but most of the time a conversation won’t be directed
by your choice of dialog. So pretty much, you get to choose which things you ask
first, but no matter what you do, the rest of your choices will always be available
to ask. They really could have put the talking parts into cut scenes if it weren’t
for an occasional addition of choices depending on your current knowledge. So
basically communicating is present for a supply of information, not a puzzle in
itself.

One of the game’s biggest downfalls is gameplay. While the game
is entertaining and interesting, the puzzles are a little bit too easy. The inventory
items only have one use, with the exception of a few bowl-like items. The purposes
of the items are pretty obvious for the most part. I think the puzzles are too
easy for seasoned adventure gamers, but luckily, the easy puzzles don’t take too
much away from the enjoyment.

In the game, you visit three different
great cities were mysteriously destroyed: El Dorado, Shangri-La and Atlantis.
You walk in these three places before and after their destruction. In the core
of the game, you play before their destruction (for several reasons).

One
of the nicest features in the game is your artificial intelligence “partner,”
Arthur (people who have played JP2 will remember him). Some people hate him, some
people love him. Arthur is a funny little guy who travels along with you throughout
your journey in the memory banks of your jumpsuit. He has a lot of knowledge and
can help you a lot. He can be very funny at times also. His humor helps to lighten
up the game’s serious atmosphere. I guarantee one thing, if you’re in a bad mood
when you play, you’ll be very annoyed by Arthur. But for those of you who are
always in a bad mood (only kidding), there are several settings for Arthur’s dialog.
The biggest advantages of having Arthur are, one, he can give you hints if you
stuck, and two, he really helps to keep you company (ever have that dead/alone
feeling when you play a game like Myst?).

Every Journeyman Project
game is literally ahead of its time, graphically speaking. While they weren’t
extremely groundbreaking games, they always seemed to be too advanced for your
computer. The Journeyman Project series has been developed for the Macintosh,
but a PC version has always been released at the same time. When I bought JP2
(1995), it barely ran on my 486.

JP3 is less of a groundbreaker
than the game before it. But nevertheless, its graphics are stunning.

The
game is really composed of a bunch of QuickTime movies and QuickTime VRs. But
when they put it all together, it works beautifully. The game is sort of like
a moving Myst. While you don’t have full freedom of movement, exploration
is almost as easy as if you did.

The world around you is totally 3D. At
each standing point, you can look at any direction imaginable. Up, down, left,
right, and every angle in between. Walking around is also wonderful. The transitions
from place to place are seamless. Even the sounds of your footsteps are believable.

The
animations of walking and moving about are very realistic. Your view moves just
like you would in any circumstance. All this makes for a very immersive experience.

Overall,
I’d say that Legacy is a good game. If you’re a fan of the JP series,
then you should definitely buy this game (but if you are a fan of the series,
you probably already have the game by now). If you haven’t even heard of the Journeyman
Project series, then I suggest you put a little bit more thought into it before
buying this game. Hardcore adventure gamers might not like its simplistic puzzles.
If you like a good story with a good ending and don’t mind the absence of deep,
involving puzzles, this might be the game for you. The fact that I have played
the second in the series beforehand without a doubt enhanced my enjoyment. But
I’m sure it would be just as enjoyable for everyone else.

Final Grade:
B-