Play Time Cruise (TG) - Reviews | Turbo Grafx

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Time Cruise Reviews

Overall 9.3 Graphics 8.5 Sound 9 Addictive 9.5 Story 4 Depth 7.5 Difficulty 6.5

9.5

Big, Confusing, Extremely entertaining Doomstruck
Time cruise is a pinball game for the Turbografx 16, and it's one of the more unique ones, even outside of the system it belongs to. Imagine the open-ended nature of sonic spinball, except with better handling, amazing music, more varied gameplay, and more freedom. The only real drawback is that there's no real purpose, but that's par for the course with pinball, so it's all good.

The first thing that jumped out at me with Time Cruise was its strange and unique aesthetic for its table, wooden floors, brick walls, and holes in the wood floor that reveals wiring and flashing lights. You know, future stuff. You might think that this game's aesthetic would get old quick, and normally you'd be right, but the game also has its main gimmick. TIME TRAVEL. Which is actually just loading up various minigames which may or may not involve any amount of pinball playing, but the variety is nice. The time travel ranges anywhere from prehistoric times to the distant future, and on top of that you can have a "missed warp" which will send you to a surrealist world outside of time. The game doesn't explain that, I just think that makes the most sense, but you're here for pinball, not a story.

The gameplay is kind of a mixed bag, because the pinball physics itself isn't very intuitive. You'll find yourself at the start setting the ball up to smash it in the general direction of where you're aiming, only to end up nowhere even close. Getting past that, though, the board you're on is really wide, like 3 pinball tables wide and 2 tables tall (the center one being 3 tall, with an extra bottom section) The center table is the only one you can lose your ball in, the other 2 tables only sending the ball back to the center. Despite all this leeway, you'll actually find yourself losing balls at a normal pace compared to other difficult pinball games of that era. Getting to grips with this game's handling will mitigate that significantly though.

The time travel mechanic is a great way to add variety and keep the game from going stale. You'll get either mini tables or a minigame to complete for a chance to gain an extra ball and/or bonus points, Their aesthetics and music change significantly too, and ones with countdowns will even speed up the music and background animations as time starts to run out. Speaking of music changes though, if you're going to play this game for a single thing, make it the music. Specifically the main table music, it's just so good, I cannot stress to you how amazing and catchy it is. It really gives you that exciting retro sci-fi adventure vibe that games of that era so loved to emulate, and it adds so much to making you want to keep playing the game.

I absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend this game if you're in the mood for some gimmicky pinball fun.
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Depth 8 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 5/5 Submitted: 11-02-18 Review Replies: 0

9.2

Pretty fly for a pinball game jmascis14
Overall: 9.2
I've had a special place in my heart for pinball games since the days of my youth when I pretty much played them religiously. Due to this coupled with the fact that I've become a retro gamer in recent years, Time Cruise for the Turbo Grafix 16 certainly tickled my fancy, especially after I'd played and enjoyed Devil's Crush for the same system. I, for one, must say that this game certainly did not disappoint me.

Depth: 7
For a pinball game on a home console, Time Cruise has a surprising amount of depth to it. The main table is divided up into six "sub-tables", there are multiple minigames, or "Extra Ball Challenges" to that you can initiate, and of course there's plenty of neat accessories and obstacles. All of these combined leads to play sessions that last relatively longer than with most other pinball games.

Addictiveness: 9
With all that this game has to offer, one will probably find him/herself coming back to this game multiple times. Due its aforementioned depth and length of game play, it will serve as something more than a simple diversion from boredom and become an engaging experience.

Graphics: 8

The game's visuals do quite the job of conveying the sci-fi theme it was going for. While the general color of the table consists only of a couple shades of brown, the bright colors of its many accessories provide a vibrant contrast without becoming an eyesore. However, one gripe I do have is that the "sub-tables" all look rather similar, at least upon first glance. More consistent color pallets can be found in the minigames. Though not as detailed as Alien Crush and Devil's Crush for the same system, the sprite work is also well done.

Sound: 8

From what I can tell, Time Cruise's soundtrack has a bit more variety than Devil's Crush and Alien Crush. The main tune (i.e. the one that plays on the main table) is good enough that you can thoroughly enjoy it without really getting tired of it.

Story: 4
One of the only major shortcomings of Time Cruise is its rather lame story. Essentially, a scientist receives a cryptic telepathic message from an alien and he decides to travel through space in his "shiny silver time-travel pod" (that's literally how it's described) to find the source of it. It's basically a flimsy attempt to shoehorn a story into a pinball game. While it does explain the theme of the game, it doesn't really have much bearing on the actual gameplay, so this is something that can be easily overlooked.

Difficulty: 6
While I can't say it's an extremely difficult game, it does have a fair share of challenges in the form of the minigames which involve guiding your ball through a maze. They tend to be harder than the actual pinball table and can be rather frustrating at times. While some may argue that this slows down the gameplay too much, I personally don't mind them (aggravating as they may sometimes be) and I find that they make a fine addition as an extra layer the depth that makes Time Cruise great.