![]() ![]() To that end there are actually three difficulties that determine the strictness of your reaction time, the latter two coughing up a short password whenever you successfully clear a level. Lest your attention be focused on the jewels rather than the calamity-laden action, the correct location does briefly flash a pale yellow on the playing screen itself, indicating where you should jump to – an especially important feature on the hardest (jeweless) difficulty setting, but either way this is solely a test of attention and reflexes rather than one’s rapidly evaporating patience. There really isn’t much else in the way of audio other than all the explosions and assorted sounds of rapidly approaching doom in addition to Reika’s super-shrill English dubbing as she continually bemoans her fate, but you’ll be so busy attempting to avoid said doom you probably won’t notice. ![]() It’s not as if all of the changes from the arcade were for the worse, either, as this version features a soothing staff roll composed by none other than Motoi Sakuraba. Here each side of the screen contains a jewel that flashes to indicate the proper direction when all four jewels light up, it’s time to whip out your blaster and let the Amida Buddha sort ‘em out! Unlike many a game in this genre, blowing one of your lives leaves you no one to blame but your own fumble-fingered self. In many of these adventures whenever you reach a point of interaction (some more frequent than others), either the correct area will briefly flash or you’re simply expected to know exactly what to push and when to push it, possibly using psychic powers. It’s a good thing there are plenty of checkpoints for those inevitable mistakes, and the designers also made sure to keep things fresh by shuffling the levels’ order every time you have to start over from the beginning.Įven if that seems to happen a lot you’ll feel certain that you can achieve victory the next time. The sixteen time periods never become tiresome since they constantly demand your input every few seconds, often requiring you to bust out a series of moves in rapid succession and leaving you without a moment’s peace as you rack up the points and possibly even score an extra life or two. ![]() ![]() And while Wolf Team’s translation may admittedly fall short of arcade perfection, it definitely retains not only the original’s distinctive style, but also the hectic design that ultimately makes Time Gal worth owning. Instead of simply relying on extremely grainy FMVs like a lot of Sega CD games, all the scenes are actually hand-drawn this makes the resulting animation pretty damn jerky, but the visuals are crystal clear. Of course there’s a simple reason why this game’s art style is so vintage: it was originally a laserdisc developed by Taito in 1985 before being totally converted for this release by Wolf Team. But never fear, naturally the good doctor built a spare device for just such an occurrence (naturally), so there’s only one thing for our comely protagonist to do: recklessly hurl herself into the void and chase after this scoundrel! Thus begins a showcase of inventive settings depicted in the unmistakable style of 1980’s Japanese animation, our sprightly protagonist also sporting a suspiciously familiar look with her hip-trailing emerald hair, midriff-baring top, oh-so-short shorts, calf-length boots – and one standard-issue laser blaster, so keep those grubby hands to yourself, mister! This minx in question – let’s call her Reika, which might even be her name – actually happens to be a globally renowned scientist (or at least the trusty assistant of one), but her days of rigorously applied quantum physics and looking pretty are brought to an abrupt halt when their newly developed time machine is callously stolen by generic villain-type Luda and his all too predictable schemes of world conquest. That alone may be enough to turn some of you away, but Time Gal is a frenetic romp that’s full of action rather than frustration as you hop back and forth along its chaotic sequence of time periods with our title character likewise bounding to and fro in her skimpy outfit – not that I have any problem with lithe adventuresses who meddle in the workings of time and space, no sir. No, this isn’t the tragic account of that portly youth over by the Dance Dance Revolution machine it’s one of those interactive cartoons of Dragon’s Lair fame (and infamy) that demand quick wits and quicker fingers as one similarly mashes down on the correct buttons at precisely the right moments. " Time Gal is a frenetic romp that’s full of action rather than frustration as you hop back and forth along its chaotic sequence of time periods with our title character likewise bounding to and fro in her skimpy outfit – not that I have any problem with lithe adventuresses who meddle in the workings of time and space, no sir." ![]()
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