Very easy to use and very attractive to look at, WTSS is yet another notch on Ocean’s belt of good reputation. Congrats to Denton Designs on an excellent game.
Where Time Stood Still is an ingenious concept perfectly executed. The 3-D environment creates an eerie, otherworldly atmosphere intensified by the realistic treatment of the plateau’s natural hazards. […] What makes this animated adventure so exciting is its element of unpredictability. […] Don’t just stand there – go out and buy!
Thoughts by Mr Creosote (23 Nov 2024) – ZX Spectrum
The journey into uncharted parts of the world – a staple of the adventure genre in all media. Satellites and related technology took all the mystery out of Earth itself, moving this type of fiction to outer space without fundamentally changing it. Before that, though, there was always the argument of “Can you be sure this doesn’t exist somewhere here on our planet?” Arthur Conan Doyle sent his Professor Challenger into The Lost World . Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote about The Land That Time Forgot . Both made into movies well worth watching in 1925 and 1974 respectively, featuring charming stop motion dinosaurs. Even if the former novel was actually about apes. Because, you know, dinosaurs are more exciting!
Where Time Stood Still sports a square-jawed hero right on its cover who may very well be Doug McClure. Jarret, the rugged pilot of the crashed plane, is accompanied by his passengers Clive, his daughter Gloria and her groom Dirk. Where did they crash? On a strange plateau in the Himalaya. To make it back home, they have to find a mountain pass all the way on the other side.
The game feels incredibly modern in many respects. Just throwing the party into the world with a clear final task to achieve, but leaving the steps to get there fully open. Between resource management, day and night cycle, catering for the characters' basic needs, making real progress isn’t trivial. Food and water are hard to come by especially at the beginning. Exploring the vicinity can quickly turn deadly for other reasons as well. Those swamps sure are dangerous. Prehistoric animals appear out of nowhere. And can those native people really be trusted?
It particularly shines in the clear distinction of the four characters. Jarret is the default leader, but the player can select any, as long as they are still alive and around. The abilities differ: Dirk has a basic understanding of the native language; Gloria isn’t just the feared damsel in distress; Clive is generally there to complain and get greedy. When not directly controlled, they generally follow the lead, but when danger strikes, act on their own. Likewise, when they lose confidence that this expedition will be successful, they may just decide to quit. They may be injured or killed. Which also gives a varying degree of success if the game is finished.
A handful of small puzzles exist, based on objects to be found and used in the right locations. Those are nothing to write home about, but they effectively control access in gameplay terms. The motivation rather stems from the adventurous feeling. Capturing much of the fascination these books, these movies had. Much of the progress occurs just through trial and error, learning by death. Much like it would be in such a situation: what to do, but follow the feeling in your gut and press on into a more or less random direction? Then, when discovering the village, the temple, climb the mountain to cross the scenic waterfall, motivation surges.
Random elements such as animal attacks help keep things fresh. When a Pterodactyl comes swooshing down, grabbing the closest character, I challenge anyone to deny their heartbeat increasing in spite of not anymore up-to-date graphics, simplistic sound effects and ever-repetitive music (even if the track is good, don’t want to listen to it looping for hours).
Applying the usual method of “experiencing” classic computer games these days, i.e. watching a playthrough video, robs the game of much of its charm, unfortunately. Sure, knowing exactly where to go in what order, what to do there, it can be finished in less than an hour. Though the whole point of it is exploration. Experiencing it as a true journey into the unknown. Which made it feel massive in its day, something to lose oneself in for weeks and months. Considering this came from the engine of The Great Escape, which was already quite good, but clearly set in a confined space, unprecedented.
Today, this sort of action adventure has conquered the computer gaming world. Where Time Stood Still may look like the quaint predecessor, with its imperfect controls, occasional hiccups in pathfinding and graphics tinted all in one colour. But it is much more than that. It is every boy’s dream. The ultimate adventure!
damsel in distress:
A character in a story, typically of female gender, whose primary function is to get in trouble so that she can be rescued by the hero (typically of male gender). Imagine the knight in shining armour freeing the princess from the clutches of the evil wizard. ↩︎
trial and error:
success is a matter of failing in the same place at least once. To pass, you need knowledge of previous lives. ↩︎
