Review: Timekeepers Expansion Disk

===========================================================================
          Review: Timekeepers Expansion Disk from Vulcan Software
                            By:  Jason Compton 
===========================================================================

Well, I guess it wasn't feasible to expand Hillsea Lido (although that's a
shame, because with a few enhancements it could easily be one of my
favorite games), so Vulcan wound up expanding Timekeepers. :)

Seriously.  Timekeepers, Vulcan's entry into the world of puzzle-solving
little guys made famous by Lemmings, is a neat game.  I'm not huge into
solving puzzles with little tools, but games like Lemmings and Timekeepers
are enough to distract me for a good length of time.

Vulcan went so far as to give Timekeepers a plot.  They must not have liked
the deus ex machina Lemmings falling from the mystical trapdoor in the sky.
The mission is to send these little Timekeepers into human history to
prevent evil people from detonating nuclear weapons that would seriously
disrupt the development of the Earth.  These Timekeepers are special
forces, the trip into the past is one way, and you are the only one who can
make the mission work by getting them past, over, and through obstacles.

Neat game.  Not being very good at puzzle games I didn't make it very far,
either, and now Vulcan wants to subject me to more.  Fine, then.  There is
now even more challenge awaiting your Timekeeper dollar, for those people
who are either hopelessly stuck somewhere and need something fresh, or
those dedicated guardians who completed the original and are hungry for
more.

In keeping with Vulcan's "the best packaging is small packaging" principle,
Timekeepers comes in a small folding container just big enough for a floppy
disk and a small set of instructions which tells you, basically, that the
Timekeepers expansion disk should be inserted when you're prompted for Disk
2, rather than the usual Timekeepers Disk 2 you'd otherwise be using.  For
hard drive users, this just means you drag across this disk's drawer
instead of the original Disk 2 drawer, and if you're clever you'll just
rename the original for later reference.  It's a shame there's nothing to
automatically handle this, but Vulcan's confidence in us is high that we'll
figure it out for ourselves.

For the US$10 or so that Vulcan is charging, I'm hard pressed not to
recommend this to Timekeepers fans worldwide.  Perhaps Vulcan might be
persuaded to release their level builder someday?  Good response to the
expansion disk could help.

Vulcan is a UK-based Amiga game publisher who sells their games through
direct mail order.  You can also find them on the Web.

Vulcan Software
72 Queens Road
Buckland
Portsmouth
Hants
PO2 7NA
England

+44 0 1705 670269 voice
+44 0 1705 662226 fax
paul@vul-soft.demon.co.uk e-mail
http://www.vulcan.co.uk

Amiga Report Main Page Amiga Web Directory