The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time

Legacy of Time takes the player thro' the ancient and magical history of earth re-created by artists' imagination. Much attention has been paid in details of making the virtual ancient cities, building, walls, paintings, characters, etc. look as realistic as possible. This all combined with a not too difficult adventure puzzles makes this game unique in its kind. The magic of LoT is not in solving mind teasing the-more-difficult-the-better puzzles but in artistic values and great imagination.

The final chapter of the Journeyman Project series of games, it closes on a somewhat cheesy note but has better acting than most FMV games that I can name with some exceptions (noted below).

Jerry Rector as Gage Blackwood really doesn't do too much in this game, given that you are 'him' for all of the game. His cutscenes make him the square-jawed and stereotypical hero with less-wooden acting than most of his coworkers, if not by much.

The real highlight here is the actor who voiced Arthur, the wise-cracking AI who first appeared in the previous game of the series. He is, unlike the rest of the cast, not bound to stay in the setting of the game and is willing to mock it for what it is.

Each of the period scenes were, for the most part, acted with the quality of a 'B' movie: ethnic stereotypes were prevalent and highlighted, based on the Hollywood ideas of each culture (pseudo-Tibetan/Asian, pseudo-Greek, and pseudo-South American).

Despite these glaring flaws, the FMV flowed well and was of better quality than is usually found in games of this period.

Legacy of Time takes the player thro' the ancient and magical history of earth re-created by artists' imagination. Much attention has been paid in details of making the virtual ancient cities, building, walls, paintings, characters, etc. look as realistic as possible. This all combined with a not too difficult adventure puzzles makes this game unique in its kind. The magic of LoT is not in solving mind teasing the-more-difficult-the-better puzzles but in artistic values and great imagination.

I first played this in 1999 - my dad said it had gotten good ratings. Though it was a little confusing at first (it is the third in a trilogy - I recommend playing the first two even though they were supposedly not as a good as Legacy of Time, just to get the background - if you don't, you can probably piece it together from the booklet and the game itself like I did)I immediately fell in love with it! The story was brilliantly done with a great ending. The characters were fun and realistic (actually real people on the screen!) and Arthur the AI (played by Matt Weinhold) was absolutely hilarious! The graphics were the best I've ever seen on a computer game, and the complicated plot with all sorts of twists and turns was just what I needed. Anyone who likes sci-fi, ancient civilizations, action, and real characters(for a change) will love it! After playing this game, I haven't had the patience to play others... none of them have come even close to Legacy of Time...