Time Hollow is a very linear and easy, but has a great plot, good characters, and enough nice touches to make it fun.

User Rating: 7.5 | Time Hollow: Ubawareta Kako o Motomete DS
DS adventure games can be very good: think Hotel Dusk, Trace Memory, and even the new Broken Sword -- all have great characters, engaging stories, and some clever puzzles. Time Hollow lacks clever puzzles and sometimes has you wandering a bit to trigger specific conversations to move the story (a mechanism in adventure games I normally hare). However, I found the time-twisting story and some good characters to make for a compelling game.

First off, if you try this game, be sure to give it 2-3 hours before making a judgement. The story unfolds slowly at first. But once it gets rolling, you can't tear yourself away as it twists and turns all over the place, with your character bouncing between different timelines and realities. It's a good ride.

The puzzles, such as they are, are very simplistic. The game, for all intents and purposes, is completely linear. You follow a specific set of actions, moving between a small number (8?) fixed places, talking to people if they're present, and certain conversations automatically propel the story along. You can "lose" and have to reload, but it's honestly quite hard to do, as the areas that require you to "think" don't require much thinking... Generally the game guides you by the hand through the story. It took me about 7 hours to complete.

The graphics are hand-drawn and colorful -- they look great, and are reminiscent of Phoenix Wright in quality. There are occasional fully animated cut scenes when major events occur. Otherwise, animation is simple camera pans and zooms on still images. Still, there are a lot of nice visual touches, and again all the still images look great.

Audio is minimal -- no voice overs outside the full motion movies. Sound effects as well. Music is well done, but there are only 4 or 5 main themes in the game, so the music can get tedious.

While not perfect, this is a game well worth picking up for adventure game fans.