| The Journeyman Project | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Presto Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Presto Studios Sanctuary Woods Bandai |
| Designer(s) | David Flanagan |
| Engine | Macromedia Director 2.0 |
| Platform(s) | Mac OS, Windows |
| Release date(s) | (The Journeyman Project) 1993 (TJP Turbo) 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media/distribution | CD-ROM (1) |
| System requirements
PC
Macintosh
|
|
The Journeyman Project is a time travel adventure computer game developed by Presto Studios.
Contents |
The game features a first-person perspective. The protagonist sees a display, a rectangle shaped visor (acting as a monocle for Agent 5). This user interface helps to reduce the movie size and maintain relatively high frame rates. Controls work as four interface buttons located below the screen. They move Agent 5 forward, backward, right and left.
An adventure game, where the player is presented with several clues and puzzles that must be solved in order to move on or finish the level.
Different items are found throughout the game, and can prove to be vital or helpful in the player's attempts to solve the problems and situations given. The most important of these items are the biochips. There are a total of 7 Bio-Chips:
| Bio-Chip | Function | Found in |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Store present or load a previously saved game. | Customized from game start. |
| Pegasus | Link the traveler to the time machine Pegasus whenever he is inside a time zone. Automatic recall for emergencies or completed tasks. |
Ready room. |
| Mapping | Record a location that the Agent has stepped on. The location appears on the display screen seen from above. |
Ready room. |
| Trace | Scans residues left by a time traveler. | Ares' central processor chamber. Near Mars. |
| Shield | Prevents plasma rays from draining too much energy from an Agent. | Mercury's central processor chamber. World Science Center, Sydney. |
| Retinal | Simulates the Agent's retina, when analyzed by an eye scanner. | Mercury's central processor chamber. World Science Center, Sydney. |
| Optical Memory | Stores and plays previously recorded video files. | All Prototypes' central processor chambers. |
For speed purposes, a Bio-Chip panel is found below the screen, in which all collected Bio-Chips are stored. This avoids the player having to look for such chips in the inventory list, which takes longer.
The game takes place in the distant future, after the Earth has been united to a peaceful global community. A scientist has discovered the technology of time travel but because of its dangerous nature, it has been apprehended and guarded in tight security. Temporal Protectorate is an agency tasked with preventing the alteration of history and if not, to correct it.
The game begins as humanity welcomes an alien delegation and is prepared to give a positive answer to the invitation to join the interplanetary "Symbiotry of Peaceful Beings". Three temporal disturbances, referred to in-game as anachronisms, are detected and an officer, known only as Agent 5, is sent to investigate and correct the anachronisms.
He discovers that the anachronisms are all related to an event that occurred ten years prior to the beginning of the game. An alien race had come to Earth and offered to induct Earth into a federation of planets called the Symbiotry of Peaceful Beings. The aliens promised to return in ten years for Earth's answer. The anachronisms would prevent Earth from joining the Symbiotry, either by preventing the aliens from coming to Earth or by changing Earth's reaction to the aliens. Each anachronism is caused by a robot. The events which the robots are sent to alter are as follows:
It is revealed that the robots belong to Dr. Sinclair, who is also the inventor of time travel. He fears that the aliens are a malevolent force rather than a peaceful race, and is doing everything in his power to make Earth an unsuitable candidate for joining the aliens. In all three cases, the player has two ways to neutralize the robots, one 'peaceful' and one 'aggressive', which will affect the score at the end. The player also gains bio-chips from each robot to be used later by the player.
After correcting the anachronisms, Agent 5 learns that Dr. Sinclair plans to assassinate the alien delegate coming for Earth's answer to their offer. Agent 5 finds Dr. Sinclair hiding on top of an apartment building and holding a rifle, ready to fire on the delegate as soon as he arrives. After a brief scuffle, Agent 5 arrests Dr. Sinclair, allowing history to take its course.
The Journeyman Project was released in 1992 after 2 years of development. The game impressed the gaming press with its use of static high quality rendered graphics, stylist artwork and great immersive feeling with the help of digital audio. It suffered from performance problems and slow animations due to its early reliance on Macromedia Director. These problems were mostly overcome with the version 2.0 release that was retitled The Journeyman Project Turbo! and published by Sanctuary Woods in 1994.
The game was reviewed in 1993 in Dragon #196 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.[2]
The game suffered from performance problems and slow animations due to its early reliance on Macromedia Director. These problems were mostly overcome with the version 2.0 release and retitled as The Journeyman Project Turbo! under the publisher Sanctuary Woods in 1994.
|
|||||