An oddball adventure game

I think I say without a doubt, this has to be the weirdest game I've ever played.
It's so bizarre that it almost defies description, however it can probably be best summed up as an Adventure game that is doing something new.

Here's what the game looks like. By the way, that annoying pixely effect is nothing to do with me - for some odd reason, depending on what settings you use, they've put a filter over the top to decrease the resolution. There's no progressive scan support, so you probably won't notice it on a TV, but it sticks out like an eyesore on a TV card

The plot is probably the most twisted and screwed up that I've ever seen. At the beginning, the main character dies. He is given the chance to come back from the dead by travelling back in time, and must then try and stop his murder happening. Alas, he can't just turn round and smack the murderer though - this is an adventure game. You have to go around solving puzzles and watching the plot unfold - and the cut-scenes do seem to outnumber the actual time spent playing the game somewhat. Not that this is anything like Xenosaga of course, it's just that this is a very short game.

Graphical oddness continues. Travel back in time, and they mess with the colours. For example, 100 years ago everything is in black and white

Rather than be point and click, the game is in 3D and you control the main character (Eike) a little bit like in Shenmue. This is still an adventure game though, so don't expect QTEs, fights, or anything like that. Actual gameplay revolves around trying to stop each attempt on Eike's life. Typical ways of doing this involve things like gathering a group of people so that Eike is not alone when he is due to be killed, or travelling back in time and removing a tree that the murderer is hiding behind. They start simple, and don't get that much more complex.
However, this is usually where the second element of the game comes into play - travelling through time. There are 4 different ages available to travel to, each of which has some relevance to the plot, either for stopping Eike's death, (that tree annoying you? Travel back in time and stop it being planted,) or for advancing the plot. Only problem is, the game has a knack of giving away the puzzle somewhat by guiding you to the right time. In fact, you're so lead at first, for the first few chapters all you really have to do is follow where the game leads you. Later on, you feel less pulled by the nose. Problem is, the game is so short, and to spend a large part of it just being dragged along without really knowing what is going on is a shame - it would be more excusable as a training section to get you used to the game were the game a little longer.

Go even further and everything is merky brown. Given that it's medievil times most things are probably like that anyway though.

As you advance in the game, as well as saving Eike's skin, you start to get absorbed into more of the plot. And, this is really the game's main selling point - while the puzzles are sort of clever, the game would be nothing without the plot to back them up. Conversely, if you tire of sitting through the cut-scenes then you are going to really hate this game - because that's pretty all it has to offer.

The game has come under a lot of fire from some people, which is understandable because there are a quiet a few annoying niggles.
You can die as much as you like, and you'll be revived at the start of whatever chapter you were on, however there are a couple of ways that you can die permanently. The first is if you go back in time and talk to yourself. Easy to avoid if you knew about it, however the game gives you no warning until after you have done it.
Second way is if you are still in the past when you are due to die. This can be especially annoying, because long cut-scenes take a large amount of game time from you - and you're not given any warning before triggering a long one.
If you die, you can skip any cut-scenes you have already seen. Very annoyingly, if you die permanently, you must reload your last savefile, and can't skip the cut-scenes that you've already seen. If that happens, then it's time to put the kettle on.
Annoyances don't stop there. As mentioned above, you have a time limit to solve the puzzles - if you can't figure out how to save yourself before the allotted time, you must die and start the chapter all over again. This in itself isn't too annoying - chapters are quite short if you skip all the cut-scenes - however, a lot of the fun in this game comes from exploring and doing all of the optional sidequests. The problem is, the time limits are quite tight - especially if you're trying to figure out what to do - meaning that a part of the game is completely killed off.
Another annoyance is the confusion can sometimes arise, especially when the designers break their own rules. I mentioned above that you weren't allowed to travel back in time when about to die? Well, there's one chapter where you actually have to do that, and magically get half an hour of extra time when doing so. Designers need to be consistent with the rules of their game world, especially when you get a gameover as a result of breaking them.
Oh yes, and worse of all, the game is quite short. We're talking literally about 5-6 hours here, (plus time replaying chapters that you got game over in).

The backgrounds aren't that detailed, but no expense has been spared with the charecters. Btw, you can tell if someone's a main charecters or not by the number of poloygons, and if they look ugly or not.

That's quite a lot of annoyances. However, have patience. There is a lot of cleverness hiding away inside the game. The way all of the different threads in the plot eventually come together after you've spent ages in confusion. The fact that there are a lot of different endings waiting to be had. (I particularly like the fact that after you've seen all the endings, you start a new game and Eike knows what's going to happen, so rather than play properly, he goes around messing with all of the characters.) And, most of all, the sheer uniqueness of this game. I don't think there's any other quite like it, which alone makes it worth playing if you can find it cheap somewhere.
The biggest relief is that the voice acting is actually half decent, and the cut-scenes are very well animated. These things could have easily killed the game, it's nice to see them done at least half well.
In the end, I enjoyed it. If you like Adventure games, you probably will too. I wouldn't go so far as to pay decent money for it though.

Final Score: 7/10
Reviewer's Bias: Mildy for