Graphics and Interface

Hardware only

Hype the Time Quest is a 3D, 3rd person game, and it's also hardware only. Two APIs, Direct 3D and GLide, are supported, so you're going to need some kind of 3D hardware to play the game. The good news is that the game really doesn't have very high system requirements aside from the 3D card. As long as you've got some kind of acceleration with a P200 or so, Hype: The Time Quest is going to run just fine.

Hype can take them ALL!

Looks kinda scary!

Oozing with cute

Even trying to ignore the look of the Playmobil characters, Hype: The Time Quest just oozes cute. This is definitely a game that will appeal to younger children and female gamers. Even to a grizzled, hard core Quake player like myself, the cuteness does have a certain charm. The charm comes at a price though: sometimes with the human NPCs, it's difficult to tell ahead of time which are hostile and which ones are not. Even with some of the animals it can be hard; the wolves and wild boars in the forest don't seem all that threatening from a distance. After a while though you gain more of an instinct for what's "bad" and what isn't. Generally, humans carrying weapons should be shot at =)

This looks important

Jump!

Not hardcore at all

Ubisoft knows which market they're aiming this game at, so don't expect to find tons of options for turning off stuff like dynamic lighting, stencil shadows, or even resolution. Young children and their parents are not apt to understand all that stuff anyway, so the designers shrewdly made the adjustments available as simple slider bars. Similarly, control is limited to keyboard only or gamepad only. Again, this is another smart move aimed at simplifying matters for the market who is most likely to buy the game. Don't worry, you can still set the buttons however you wish. The game is slow enough that playing keyboard really isn't that much of a hindrance.