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Better than the book!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 55 / 61
Date: November 15, 2000
Author: Amazon User

The book was indeed a good read and a non-stop adventure. When I heard it was being made into a computer game, I just knew I had to have it.

The game's story line is different in many ways from the book but for me it's an all new adventure. It is refreshing to see a new game on the market that is not violent and full of foul language. As an avid gamer, I am happy to see a fun, clean game come out of a increasingly dull market. It's about time something original came along.

The graphics are beautiful and even work on my two-year old PC. The music is orchestrated so well that I feel as if I am playing in a movie.

This is a game that I can let my children can play and I will continue to play over and over! I highly recommend it any day. I cannot wait to see more computer game titles from Mr. Crichton and company! Thank you.

NOTHING like the book...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 42 / 51
Date: November 14, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I bought Timeline The Game about 2 hours ago... I breezed through it in about 1 hour. I thought I would share some of my thoughts with you...

I was halfway through reading Timeline when I first heard news that Michael Crichton himself was overseeing the development of a game.. I heard that it was 'story driven', and he was the director and founder of the company that made the game.. I was VERY excited, though a bit apprehensive because I was aware of the readership and potential target buyers of the game...

I thought it would be VERY simple, but it would be overall worth it to experience the world of Timeline on my PC...

Well simple was a bit of an understatement.

Unfortunately, it was ANYTHING but accurate to the book. Sure, the 'tour mode' is interesting and informative, but I felt like I was in school taking lessons (albeit who gets the chance from taking lessons directly from MC himself?).

My favourite aspect of MC's books is the lay term science. I found I was very interested in the history of the 14th century and the explanation of quantum mechanics when reading Timeline (likewise, I enjoyed reading about Chaos Theory in Jurassic Park) - I had hoped to see that in the game as well, but WOAH, not even close...

I want to let others out there who may be regular game players looking for a great first person adventure which follows the plot of their favourite book: do NOT look here, guys, you will just be disappointed and felt let down.

If the game had followed the story better, I might even find myself suggesting it for casual gamers (or even non-gamers), but it didn't, and they will just see it as another video game.

I was going to start a topic on the politically correctness of Timeline, but I won't even bother. One of my major concerns when I first heard of the game was whether it would be heavily censored, since a lot of the plot consisted of utter violence. I saw the "E" rating on the box... "Oh well," I thought, "it is obviously a mainstream game, and they want it to sell as well as possible - I can live with that as long as I can experience the book on my PC!" Unfortunately, the game did not deliver any plot, besides using the same names for the characters.

FINALLY- A GAME FOR THE REST OF US!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 33 / 37
Date: November 22, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I bought Timeline last week, and I have to say that my family LOVES this game. The graphics are incredible, and its easy enough for both old Dad (me) as well as my son and daughter to play. Even my wife has gotten into it, especially The Tour part of the game which provides fascinating detail about this era (medieval France).

I've tried other games, but it seems there are many out there with content I find objectionable (too much gun violence). Timeline struck a great balance between action, exploration, and puzzle solving. Plus, my son was able to finish the game-- something he said he rarely does because other games get too hard or are extremely long. We thoroughly enjoyed Timeline, and would certainly recommend it to people who probably don't play many games. Five Stars!

Could have been MUCH better.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 29 / 32
Date: December 03, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I purchased 'Timeline' last night, and just finished playing it this morning. I am STUNNED by the lack of difficulty, and the incredibly short story that this entailed. I did enjoy playing it, primarily because I loved the book so much, and it was enjoyable to interact with the world that I had read about. BUT, I have to say that from a game-playing stand point I am incredibly disappointed. But, I was happy to see a game with little violence, and no vulgarity at all. Too bad it didn't have the substance, the game-play, or the story line to make it a quality game. A "normal" gamer would expect to play a game for at least a month... NOT a hour and a half.

If you are looking for a supplement to the 'Timeline' book, then by all means buy this CD-Rom. It's a good chance to see the world visually. If you are looking for a good game to play, look elsewhere! Considering how excited I was when I purchased the game, trust me, I'm very disappointed that I had to write a review like this.

Good, but not what I expected.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 14 / 14
Date: January 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Timeline is certainly not what I expected it to be. First off, it is a very simple game that anyone could beat. I am not a big gamer, but I still found it very easy. If you are buying this game because you are a fan of the book, you may want to reconsider. Although it is easy, you need a really good graphics card and a fast computer to get the most out of Timeline. I have a 266MHz Celron with 64MB of RAM, and I found the game very slow on my computer. After about 2 minutes, the game would freeze up, and it took a while to respond to my moves. Despite all these drawbacks, Timeline does have excellent graphics. The music is even better. It sounds like a theme song from a movie (it will hopefully be in the Timeline movie coming out this fall). Overall, Timeline is a very good game, but people who aren't big gamers, and don't have computers designed for lots of gaming, should stay away from it.

The shortest game I ever played

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 21 / 31
Date: November 20, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I bought and installed this game on Saturday. I started playing on Sunday and finished it after playing for about 1 1/2 hour!! (this is no joke). I want to point out that I'm only a casual PC gamer and that I am not very talented. This is no real game, it's nothing more than an interactive screensaver (with very nice graphics). I don't know the book yet. Perhaps it's the only thing in this box with lasting value. Everyone who likes good adventure games should buy "The longest journey" (which keeps what the title promises).

GREAT game, but too short.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: January 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

First of all, I loved this game. The story line was good, the difficulty was well suited, and the graphics were AMAZING. First things first, the storyline: slightly weaker than the books, but still the best I've seen in a game in a long time. As to the difficulty, it was perfect. Timeline seems more like a roleplaying game than an action, and it keeps true to that. The puzzles are new and inventive, but not requiring you to have the reflexes of a cheetah on steroids. And the graphics? What can I say about the graphics? They were amazing. The character's face and bodys were detailed to perfection, and the walls included such details as painting and tapestries. The game did have one shortcoming: the length. I spent about 3.5 hours on the main game, maybe 45-60 minutes on the tours. I can understand the shortness of it from both a programming and a storytelling point of veiw, but I learned everything about that game that is possible in one night, and I am NOT a very good game player. Over all, I'd recomend borrowing this game, as there are several minigames that could be interesting again, but not enough to merit immense replayablility. If you enjoy reading a book over from time to time like I do, this game is a must buy. I hope this helps some of you! Sincerely, Jeffrey Stewart. P.S. Sorry for all the mistakes on this, my spell checker is on the fritz.

Please, say it ain't so!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: February 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I read the book, and this follows it in about one place. They go back in time. This is so ridiculous it doesn't even deserve a long review. If you didn't read the book the game makes no sense.Some of the puzzles are so simple they are hard because you would never expects the damn thing to be so easy. The game is very short. There is absolutely no violence. When you hit someone with a sword, they surrender, not die. COME ON! The worst part is that Michael Crichton himself directed the project, why he would ever do that, and disgrace his book (which is very good). Just read the book and digest it, DON'T PLAY THE GAME. It RUINS THE BOOK. Thank you for your time. Now leave this page of the website and ask for forgiveness from G-d for even considering buying this book.

Amazing Fun, Amazing Graphics

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 21
Date: November 26, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is a great overall game! I have NO idea what "A gamer from Bavaria Germany" is talking about. I am an avid gamer, and often play in tournaments. STATEWIDE TOURNAMENTS. I often score in the top 6. This game took me four or five days to beat!

Maybe - "A gamer" just wants to give a good game, a bad name.

Wonderful!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: December 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Timeline is a masterpiece. The controls take some getting used to, but after you get comfortable with them you have much more control than in other games. Unlike most games in the adventure genre, you don't need lightning fast reflexes, or Einstein-quality critical thinking skills. The puzzles aren't easy enough to beat in an hour, and they're not hard enough so you'll get bored trying to beat the first puzzle. It shows that Crichton had really helped with this one-my heart was pounding as I played it.

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