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|                           Yokiharo's Review Two                          |

|                           Doc Clock: TTSOT ™                       |

|     PC - Steam / Who Wants To Review Doc Clock?    |

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Doc Clock is one of those games where it's obvious that a very good game concept idea was thought of, but the game itself failed to execute it perfectly and achieve its true potential. When I first heard of this game I was really fascinated with what I've seen and heard, seeing as a game like this could achieve greatness if the ideas were well put into action translated into an innovative game experience in the level of Braid but with physics, freedom of thought and smart puzzles all mixed into a marvelous package. I must say I was a bit disappointed when I played it. Here goes...

 - First of all the gameplay is a real pain sometimes:

The character is too slow, though that may be explained by the small levels, but still: It's way too slow. The controls are "WASD + Mouse"-like which is a good thing in my opinion, but the way those controls make the game come to life isn't that good. The character has lack of any kind of jump ability, he just overcomes obstacles as they appear in front of him, which doesn't work that good or just looks pathetic sometimes. Walking feels like trying to turn a rusty wheel. The arm thing is very well implemented but can get real annoying sometimes, like dropping a wheel somewhere and the wheel disappears downhill because of some slight inclination of the ground. The character can't run to catch the wheel nor quickly jump over obstacles in the way in order to catch the wheel before it disappears into nowhere, so it's gameover for you, just turn back in time and miraculously try not to lose the wheel this time. Rotating objects works fairly well. More into the game I discovered vehicles were a shiny treat Doc Clock had to offer, though physics make using vehicles sometimes impossible and making you want to smash the computer. Going backwards in time almost saves this game because if it wasn't for this I doubt you'd want to die as much as I accidentally died, sometimes without even realizing why.

 + Graphically speaking:

For this type of game and the type of mood it tries to transmit, I think the graphics are very well done with some kind of artistically abstract motivation to it. Giraffes drawings on trees are a bit too much, though. I'd like to see stuff like ruined buildings on the background, broken bridges, dinosaurs, pterodactyls e.g., advanced machines broken and stuff like that. I think that's what everyone is hoping to see in a time travel kind of game, not giraffes drawings in trees and basic tin tribal-like robots. What I mean is, a more realistic setting would be interesting but the way it is, its not that bad either.

 + Dialogs are funny!

Dialogs aren't a necessary feature of this game, but the fact is that they're very well written with most of them making me giggle now and then. Actually, I believe this is the best part of the game. The only problem is that if it's overused, it makes the player feel like the game doesn't take itself too seriously, and as such, the player stops seeing the game seriously and more like a joke, which isn't a good thing I think.

+/- Misc thoughts about Doc's adventure:

The music has the right mood but the theme music can get tedious like an addictive jingle you want to get out of your head. The level setting gets too repetitive with the same assets being used all over level and level again. Inventions and attachments functions aren't all that logic/intuitive most of the times and you have to experiment a lot in order to get different results. Vehicles are very good implemented except for the physics problems: I almost can't drive straight without making a wheelie. Going backwards in time works well but unfortunately gets overused because of things that shouldn't happen.

 + Final thoughts:

I'm really wishing for some kind of Doc Clock 2, in a more realistic setting and serious mood, with some funny lines cracking the moment now and then. Rollerblades and jetpacks making the Doc get around quickly and be able to jump, fortunately with some more natural control to it. Doc could even have a mp3 device that would allow for players to play their own mp3 songs during the game. Things could be a bit more artistic or even poetic, giving the feeling of "Doc Clock, the time traveler prophet, saving the world one cat at a time" kind of thing, maybe except the "saving the world one cat at a time" bit. There could be some historic drama added too, since time travel allows for that, just be careful with clichés.

I must also congratulate the developer of this game and give him my respect for such a great game idea that unfortunately couldn't be better converted into a game. I wish to see some games in the future, hopefully each time better than the previous!