Time Gentlemen, Please! Review

Comedy in games is a rough business. It requires a good writer, which tends not to match the skill set of either a programmer or an artist, the two corner stones of game creation. It's no shock that plot, comedy, and intrigue in games have all taken a back seat to particle effects and fancy 3D cut scenes.

Zombie Cow's Time Gentlemen, Please! has captured true hilarious laugh out loud comedy that used to be pervasive in adventure games. I hate comparing games in reviews, but really this game is every bit as funny as the original classics like Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, and Monkey Island. That said, this game is also VULGAR, both in types of humor and quantity of profanity. If profanity, sex, Nazis, or dino-cloning offend you go elsewhere right now. If you're like me and find all those subjects funny (well, ok, Nazis aren't funny if you're being serious about them)... don't even bother reading this review and go buy the darn game! Right now!

TGP starts off where Ben There, Dan That, the previous game, left off. You see Ben and Dan stuck a coat hanger out a window and were transported to an alien space ship and then began a horrible journey through time only to find out they were really abducted by their future selves, not aliens, and then through the laws of paradoxical time travel, ended up erasing their future selves and brainwashing the planet to follow them as their leader. Make sense? Good, it wasn't supposed to, but that's what happened ok?

In TGP we learn that Ben and Dan have misused their brainwashed planet into watching re-runs of a classic show hybrid, but neglected to tell them to eat during the marathon. Therefore all 6 billion people in the world have now starved to death watching TV. Now to save the planet Ben and Dan once again embark on a time traveling expedition to stop themselves from abducting themselves and eradicating both this game and the prior one... by ensuring the coat hanger never gets invented.

Uh, yeah, and that's just the intro. Turns out Ben and Dan screw up again and get stuck in the 40s with Hitler and his army of robo cloned dinos (also their fault) conquering the world and only Ben and Dan can stop him! Maybe they'll fix the whole "murdered the world" thing on their way.

The game is a true classic adventure with tons of awesome puzzle solving, the majority of which actually makes sense as opposed to random pixel hunting. It really is a top notch adventure and the dialogue between Ben and Dan is funny bordering on hilarious throughout the whole game. I'm not sure how much text went into writing TGP, but the writing alone must have taken darn near forever.

Graphically the style they use is unique, passable, but not exactly artistically masterful. Same goes for the music and sound. In the end, those minor "average" sides of the game are meaningless when compared to the sheer enjoyment all adventure fans are going to get out of Time Gentlemen, Please! Besides, it's only about 5 bucks! You can't go wrong at that price.

Graphics:
The graphics are uniquely styled and functional. You don't encounter much that you can't figure out what it is, especially with all the witty descriptions of objects when using the look function. Still, it's not going to wow you.

Sound/Music:
Music and sounds are there and add a little oomph to what would otherwise be a very quiet game, but you won't find yourself humming the tunes or in awe of the crisp sounds of dino feet on wood flooring.

Gameplay:
If Sierra were still around making millions from adventure games this game would have been an instant addition to their portfolio of games with 6 or more sequels. Especially before the ESRB went and screwed everything up with their so called morality.

Concept:
I love time travel, even more so when it creates paradoxes that don't make sense and in general can't be thought about without having a brain aneurism. The adventure side is nothing new but the plotline is downright brilliantly random, funny, quirky, and ... well, funny again.

Value:
5 bucks! I expected it to be a short adventure game, but after playing for hours now and even getting a little assistance via walkthrough I am not done yet. I haven't explored everything, I am sure I have missed a ton of hilarious interactions between Ben and Dan and funny descriptions of the Hitler run 40s.

Fun:
I rarely laugh out loud while playing a game. I don't think it has happened since Star Control 3 (1996).

Overall:
Adventure game fans just go buy this already. Anyone who isn't an adventure fan and wants to see an adventure game at its best; especially if you enjoy sex related nazi-dino-time-traveling jokes, this is a great place to start. Thanks Zombie Cow for putting an unexpected smile on my face!