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What do you get when you mix Marble Madness, Super Monkey Ball and the Prince of Persia
Sands of Time, well probably you get a game that looks alot like Chronovolt. Chronovolt
is a puzzle game that has you going through different times, all the while rolling your
big metal ball all over the place. Dr. Chase and his partner, Scabious Claw have together
invented Chronospheres, magically ball that have the ability to travel through time. Claw
has betrayed Dr. Chase and stolen one of the Chronospheres and has gone back in time with
the intention of changing history so that he is the new ruler of the world. Dr. Chase
is too old and weak to go chasing him, so you play as Jessica. She is young and nimble,
so he climbs all up in one of the balls and goes back to start the hunt.
The levels are taken from all different times periods, from the Amazon to ancient China.
The levels themselves are large platforms made out of rocks that are hundreds of feet
above the ground. You have to roll your Chronosphere and balance onto these platforms to make it
to the end goal. The path is never straight forward, with moving platforms, crumbling
bridges and enemy balls waiting to cause you to fall.
Lucky for you, you have some tricks of your own. Scattered throughout the levels are Chronovolts,
power-ups that gives you the power to manipulate time itself. You can either rewind time or
cause time to stand still. You will need to use these powers in order to progress. You
can rewind time to rebuild crumbled platforms or slow it down to easily navigate a moving
bridge. Or, as you frequently will, can rewind time to save yourself from a mistake. That’s
right, remember to rewind time to keep your balls from falling.
The game uses the Vita’s tilt function to navigate, although you can use the analog
stick, which I would strongly recommend if you have any intention of completing the levels.
At the end, you are given stars for completion, time, and amount of Chronovolts you collect.
Collect enough stars, you earn new levels, so expect to replay levels to earn enough
to move on. There are also new Chronosphere you can unlock, although those bloody trickers
are hidden away, deep within the Playstation Store. Boo to paying for upgrades.
Chronovolt is a simple game, making use of some good time manipulation and ball rolling,
all under a steampunk style. It’s fun for what it is, although could have been better.