Lost In Time:
The Clockwork Tower
When a teenage girl wanders into a local clock tower and surprises the clocksmith, she ends up causing an accident that upsets the very balance of time itself. Can she find out what went wrong and fix it before time itself ceases to exist? Only time will tell in Lost In Time: The Clockwork Tower.
Lost In Time is a pretty standard adventure/hidden object game served up for the less experienced of players. As the nosy Eliza, you end up disrupting time when a special watch lands in the gears of the local clock tower. As a result everyone is stuck in time. Fortunately, you uncover a sentient pocket watch that helps guide you towards repairing said tower. But to get there you will be doing quite a lot of puzzle solving and hidden object finding.
Lost In Time mixes a bit of adventure with some hidden object elements and a good wedge of puzzles. Most of the time you'll walk around exploring small areas with a battery of puzzles in the queue and a list objectives to complete. You're always on the lookout for things to pick up in these parts of the game, and from time to time you'll stumble across a hidden object scene. These aren't overly challenging, with small lists to find and no exotic items stashed in the cupboards. You can even exit and resume hidden object scenes as you see fit!
The puzzles make up the most demanding part of the game, but they cover familiar types, mostly sliding puzzles, and an interesting card game. The exception is the rather tough puzzle at the end. You'll also need to stay on the lookout for bits of diamond and coal, which the local villagers seem to have left scattered all over the place. Why? Haven't a clue. But you can use them as currency at the general store, buying things like a slab of meat for ten diamonds. Looks like leaving precious gems laying around has decreased their value, hasn't it?
Analysis: Before delving into the game, it should be noted that Lost In Time is really for newcomers to the genre and young kids. It contains a guilt-free hint system that only requires a recharge period and you can even click on individual goals to get a specific clue (not to mention the very useful ability of clicking on a hidden object list item to see a silhouette of it). Every puzzle, with the exception of the final one, can be skipped and the whole experience, for me at least, clocked in at less than three hours. It is not meant for serious players, but is incredibly kid-safe, and very casually-oriented, too.
With that in mind, it is a pretty good experience that never gets too frustrating and covers the fundamental bases of this genre mash-up. With nice art and a funny(ish) script, Lost In Time is about as polished and presentable as most peers in the genre (likewise, the voice work is as less-than-impressive as you'd expect too). Where it does fall short from other novice games in this genre is in it's lack of epicness. Usually such an adventure will take you to exotic locales and meet truly strange people, but Lost In Time keeps it simple and hangs around a town that counts a park amongst its more exciting attractions.
Lost In Time is a good addition to this family of games and a solid starting point if you have a young kid or old relative you want to surprise with a relatively unchallenging game.
Windows:
Download the demo
Get the full version
Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.
Walkthrough Guide
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Lost In Time: The Clockwork Tower
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Walkthrough
Thanks, James, for the walkthrough!
Posted by: Mike | January 11, 2011 5:11 PM