Time Gentlemen, Please!

Time Gentlemen, Please! - the follow-up to Ben There, Dan That! - has a great sense of humor. The theme of the game is zany and hilarious, and its copious, stellar writing fits it like a glove. As a game, though, I really disliked it.

Things started out well enough, but when TGP got to the point where I had to hop back-and-forth through time, collecting and using items from wildly diverse eras and settings - even within a computer meta-game - the puzzle mechanics, that is to say logic, fell apart. Most of the game's solutions were hideously arbitrary, and I never would have thought of them myself without help. (I followed a guide for a good portion of the game, which feels awful.) I would have done nearly anything for a Monkey Island SE-style in-game gradual hinting system, but even then, would've abused it pretty harshly.

TGP, like BTDT, strives to fill this logic gap with its writing. Examining or trying to use an item will yield some expository script, that may help guide the player to the right solution. Unlike its predecessor, this installment has a bajillion items, and another bajillion places to use them, making this form of trial-and-error an eternal and frustrating exercise.

There's something (awesome) to be said for a game that uses time-travelling Hitler as an antagonist. But Time Gentlemen, Please! exacerbates the adventure genre's biggest flaws, and great writing just isn't enough to overcome that.

Progress: Complete