Time Gentlemen, Please! (video game)
Encyclopedia
Time Gentlemen, Please! is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Zombie Cow Studios. It is the sequel to the freeware
game Ben There, Dan That! and was commercially released on June 22, 2009. As with the first game, Time Gentlemen, Please! was created using the Adventure Game Studio
engine.
The game features a darkly humorous, at points surrealistic setting. Of note is the consistent referencing of other classic adventure games: posters from Sam & Max
and Full Throttle were seen in the first episode, the characters often quote dialog from e.g. Monkey Island
or Day of the Tentacle
, Ben refers to Dan as "the Glottis to my Manny
!", and the first episode features a zombie child called Gilbert
. The game also satirizes the "adventure game logic" (i.e. carrying around a variety of useless items in hopes of combining them to be useful), with Ben and Dan often breaking the fourth wall
and directly referring to not needing certain items in their inventory
.
marathon, Ben and Dan find themselves transported aboard an alien spacecraft. Eventually, they discover the spacecraft was simply a mockup built in a warehouse, designed to keep them busy. The plan was crafted by the future selves of Ben and Dan, who had traveled back in time to install their earlier selves as leaders of a mind-washed world.
Time Gentlemen, Please! continues from this point; Ben and Dan accidentally convince the world to simply watch the Magnum, P.I. marathon, eventually killing off the entire world population. Realizing this was a mistake, they decide they must go back in time and prevent the creation of the coathanger such that their future selves would have never been able to teleport them to the fake alien craft. After discovering the time device their future selves used, they spend two weeks (relative to themselves) travelling through time to attempt to correct their error, but instead find themselves having made things worse, as in 1945, Adolf Hitler
has come to rule the world with his army of anthropormorphic dinosaurs due to the power of the Golden Coathanger. Hitler captures the two and takes the time device away, using it to further assure his power but further damaging the time stream. Ben and Dan work through the time paradoxes in order to defeat Hitler and recover the time device. Realizing now that preventing the creation of the coathanger is disastrous, the two go back in time and stop their earlier selves before the coathanger is invented. However, this creates yet another paradox and causes the universe to disappear. God appears to the two, noting how they have mucked about too much in the timelines and that he will have to reset the universe for them. The two find themselves back at their flat and their world returned to normal.
named the game one of the "best of 2009 so far" in August 2009. PC Zone magazine in the UK said: “It's one of the most outrageous games I've ever played and for that alone I love it.” IT Reviews gave it a Recommended award, and commented that “the puzzles are pitched so adeptly that they're almost always satisfying to solve with nary a hint of frustration. This fact, plus all the laughs, the slabs of layered-on sarcasm and the wonderfully off-the-wall plot, makes Time Gentlemen Please a joy to meander through.” Total PC Gaming magazine simply stated: “Let us remind you of the price of this gem: 2.99. Buy it, you tight wad.”
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
game Ben There, Dan That! and was commercially released on June 22, 2009. As with the first game, Time Gentlemen, Please! was created using the Adventure Game Studio
Adventure Game Studio
Adventure Game Studio is a free software development tool that is primarily used to create graphical adventure games. It is aimed at intermediate-level game designers, and combines an Integrated development environment for setting up most aspects of the game with a scripting language to process...
engine.
The game features a darkly humorous, at points surrealistic setting. Of note is the consistent referencing of other classic adventure games: posters from Sam & Max
Sam & Max
Sam & Max is a media franchise focusing on the fictional characters of Sam and Max, the Freelance Police. The characters, who occupy a universe that parodies American popular culture, were created by Steve Purcell in his youth, and later debuted in a 1987 comic book series...
and Full Throttle were seen in the first episode, the characters often quote dialog from e.g. Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island is a graphic adventure game developed by Lucasfilm Games and published by the same company after its name was changed to LucasArts. The game spawned a number of sequels, collectively known as the Monkey Island series...
or Day of the Tentacle
Day of the Tentacle
Day of the Tentacle, also known as Maniac Mansion II: Day of the Tentacle, is a 1993 graphic adventure game developed and published by LucasArts. It is the sequel to the 1987 game Maniac Mansion...
, Ben refers to Dan as "the Glottis to my Manny
Grim Fandango
Grim Fandango is a personal computer game in the graphic adventure genre released by LucasArts in 1998 and primarily written by Tim Schafer. It is the first adventure game by LucasArts to use 3D computer graphics overlaid on pre-rendered, static backgrounds...
!", and the first episode features a zombie child called Gilbert
Ron Gilbert
Ron Gilbert is an American computer game designer, programmer, and producer, best known for his work on several classic LucasArts adventure games, including Maniac Mansion and the first two Monkey Island games. Gilbert was also co-founder of Humongous Entertainment and its sister company Cavedog...
. The game also satirizes the "adventure game logic" (i.e. carrying around a variety of useless items in hopes of combining them to be useful), with Ben and Dan often breaking the fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
and directly referring to not needing certain items in their inventory
Inventory
Inventory means a list compiled for some formal purpose, such as the details of an estate going to probate, or the contents of a house let furnished. This remains the prime meaning in British English...
.
Plot
The events of Time Gentlemen, Please! continue from Ben There, Dan That!; in the first game, while attempting to rig a makeshift television antenna made out of a coathanger to watch a Magnum, P.I.Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
marathon, Ben and Dan find themselves transported aboard an alien spacecraft. Eventually, they discover the spacecraft was simply a mockup built in a warehouse, designed to keep them busy. The plan was crafted by the future selves of Ben and Dan, who had traveled back in time to install their earlier selves as leaders of a mind-washed world.
Time Gentlemen, Please! continues from this point; Ben and Dan accidentally convince the world to simply watch the Magnum, P.I. marathon, eventually killing off the entire world population. Realizing this was a mistake, they decide they must go back in time and prevent the creation of the coathanger such that their future selves would have never been able to teleport them to the fake alien craft. After discovering the time device their future selves used, they spend two weeks (relative to themselves) travelling through time to attempt to correct their error, but instead find themselves having made things worse, as in 1945, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
has come to rule the world with his army of anthropormorphic dinosaurs due to the power of the Golden Coathanger. Hitler captures the two and takes the time device away, using it to further assure his power but further damaging the time stream. Ben and Dan work through the time paradoxes in order to defeat Hitler and recover the time device. Realizing now that preventing the creation of the coathanger is disastrous, the two go back in time and stop their earlier selves before the coathanger is invented. However, this creates yet another paradox and causes the universe to disappear. God appears to the two, noting how they have mucked about too much in the timelines and that he will have to reset the universe for them. The two find themselves back at their flat and their world returned to normal.
Development
The game was designed by Dan Marshall and Ben Ward.Reception
Critics mostly praised the game for its humour and writing, while its jokes were considered controversial and "not for everybody". IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
named the game one of the "best of 2009 so far" in August 2009. PC Zone magazine in the UK said: “It's one of the most outrageous games I've ever played and for that alone I love it.” IT Reviews gave it a Recommended award, and commented that “the puzzles are pitched so adeptly that they're almost always satisfying to solve with nary a hint of frustration. This fact, plus all the laughs, the slabs of layered-on sarcasm and the wonderfully off-the-wall plot, makes Time Gentlemen Please a joy to meander through.” Total PC Gaming magazine simply stated: “Let us remind you of the price of this gem: 2.99. Buy it, you tight wad.”
External links
- Game entry on the Zombie Game Studios website
- Game entry on the Steam download platform
- Game entry on the Adventure Game Studio database