The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time Review

This is an awesome experience whose completion feels a little like finishing a long novel that actually makes you think.

Despite the new bells and whistles (and temporal distortion matrices and cloaking devices), fans of the original Journeyman Project won't have any trouble getting into this hipper, larger sequel, a three CD-ROM set. In Buried in Time's bizarre opening sequence, the player is visited by a panicked future self (!) handing off a man-portable time-jump suit before he is carted off by his fellow Time Officers, and the story picks up with the player framed for altering history. The only way to clear your good name is to once again muck about in time, both past and future. The biggest new gizmo in the new Journeyman is "Arthur," a neural-net artificial intelligence chip which acts as gameplay advisor, educational commentator (this is one of the few games I've seen in years that's managed to slip in a little historical by-the-way without actively annoying me) and wisecracking sidekick. Arthur's advice runs simultaneously with commands executed in exploration mode—and not as a separate function—so this virtual pal truly is useful rather than irritating. Players can elicit comments from Arthur which may or may not be of value, and if the player's clue factor erodes completely, he or she can cave in and ask for "help.” If you're a lazy gamer, don't even bother with “Adventure” mode—you'll just hurt yourself. Instead, play "Walkthrough" and enjoy the cinematic feat here. This is an awesome experience whose completion feels a little like finishing a long novel that actually makes you think.

The Good

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The Bad

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