Stranded: Mysteries of Time Review

I have mixed feelings about this game. The style of play takes me back to the glory years of the Sega Genesis, and I couldn’t help but get that feel throughout my experience with the game. From the opening scene, however, the control structure really set me back from enjoying the game. A small circle is the only section for movement in this portrait oriented game, and I found myself stopping from overextending that circle every couple seconds.

Without the control structure in the equation though, this Stranded brings a hefty amount of game play to the table. It’s a marriage of quite a few conventional game play styles into an old style Sega graphic design, and it just works great. The exclamation-quest design, multiple fishing/digging etc elements, and a Jurassic Park style story had me excited to continue playing this game from an early start.

It all comes back to that little circle though. Maybe I am now spoiled because of the floating joy stick for movement, but the game was lost on me because of the controls. I want to pick Stranded: Mysteries of Time up and dive deeper into the mysterious storyline, but until there are some control improvements, I simply won’t be able to get into this game.

For those of you who do well with this style of control, I recommend picking this title up and giving it a shot. If you’re like me however, keep an eye on this review. I’ll be checking for an update, and once one comes out, I’ll try and get back for another look.