Shut up snail!

Chronology is a short game, but it manages to vary pretty widely.

In its first half, Chronology is an amateurish but pleasant puzzle-platformer. The puzzles are fine, while the platforming is a little rough. And the production quality is just good enough to get by -- with its terrible (but not the worst) voice acting offset by some very well-drawn environments.

In the third quarter, the puzzles get more difficult, but not exactly in a good, Braid style of adding mechanics and combining ideas; actually, these puzzles most closely resemble the worst kind of point-and-click adventure, where some pixels have to be hunted and some environmental items have to be combined in illogical ways.

Finally in its last throes, the platforming ramps up into a short series of timing-heavy jumping and switch-pushing. The game is never very good at edge collision, and the last couple chapters just shine a spotlight on this weakness.

The whole affair is a little under two hours. So none of these problems endure long enough to be really grating. But so, too are Chronology's victories short-lived.

On the whole, Chronology is just insubstantial. It barely does anything at all, let alone right or wrong.

Better than: The Bridge
Not as good as: Papo & Yo
Longer than: Gone Home