

Best Story: Time Hollow
Ethan Kairos wakes up on the morning of his seventeenth birthday to find everyone he knows behaving as if his parents went missing twelve years ago. But that's impossible -- he just had dinner with them last night. Or did he? With the help of a supernatural hollow pen, Ethan must isolate and alter moments in the past to resolve this paradox, but his attempts to set things right sometimes deepens the rift between past and present while a malevolent force threatens to consume the people he cares about most.
This is the premise of Junko Kawano's latest game, Time Hollow, and the story that develops as Ethan searches for the truth is every bit as engaging as her last adventure, 2001's Shadow of Destiny. The complex time travel mystery exhibits all of the important elements of good storytelling. The plot is unusual and compelling, while the characters are sympathetic and well developed, leaving you caring what happens to them -- a critically important quality in a story about the protagonist's attempts to save his friends and family. Tension builds throughout, with the actions Ethan expected would fix the present only deepening the problems and raising the stakes if he fails. It all peaks with an exciting climax and a satisfying, poignant conclusion.
If Time Hollow were a novel, it would be a page-turner. As a game, some players have complained that the puzzles are lacking, but that might be missing the point. Time Hollow unapologetically puts story first and allows the gameplay to follow, resulting in an interactive storytelling experience that delivers the player the same urgent need to find out how it ends as a New York Times best seller.
Runners-Up: Overclocked: A History of Violence, Dracula 3: The Path of the Dragon
Readers’ Choice:
Overclocked: A History of Violence
With a much larger PC gamer base than the Nintendo DS, it's no surprise that the popular votes were cast for PC adventures. Even so, there was nothing straightforward about this vote, as the backwards-winding Overclocked edged out its closest competitors. All genres were well represented, with The Lost Crown and A Vampyre Story claiming the honourable mentions.
Next up: Best Writing – Comedy... the envelope, please.
Continued on the next page...Time Hollow
Platform(s): DS
Sam & Max: Season Two
Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360
Also known as Sam & Max Beyond Time and SpaceOverclocked: A History of Violence
Platform(s): PC
The Experiment
Platform(s): PC
Also known as Experience112The Lost Crown: A Ghost-hunting Adventure
Platform(s): PC
A Vampyre Story
Platform(s): PC
The Immortals of Terra: A Perry Rhodan Adventure
Platform(s): PC
Also known as Rhodan: Myth of the IllochimStrong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People
Platform(s): Mac, PC, Wii
Lost: Via Domus
Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Quest for Glory II VGA remake
Platform(s): PC
Casebook: Episode I - Kidnapped
Platform(s): PC
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Platform(s): DS
Dracula 3: The Path of the Dragon
Platform(s): iPad, iPhone/iPod Touch, Mac, PC
Also known as Dracula Series: Parts 1-3Yay!!! At least “The Lost Crown” got honorble mentions.
It HAS to win “Best Sound”, though!!! ![]()
Tragic.
That last one of day one will not do anything to stem the tide of mind-numbing inanity taking over as a “concept” appreciated by adventure gamers.
It’s not true, developers! Please, disregard! Heed not the death knell!
Jonathan Boakes! Matthew Clark! Arberth! Save Us!
Heh… apparently I’m a “traditionalist” because I share your sentiment.
I take back everything I said about being able to predict the Award results. It now seems to me (and of course I may be way off) that the people who voted are not the same crowd populating the forums… for instance, Overclocked was severely criticised on the adventure forum.
Actually, Overclocked is the only game I’m happy about that it won.
Funny. My votes and all the awards are a perfect match so far. The jury has a good taste.
Fienepien. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that people who voted are not the same crowd populating the forums. By that crowd you probably meant the active members of the forums. But then again there are a lot of “lurkers” like me, who read the forum very often but participate rarely. And yet I feel that I’m part of the AG community and part of the forum population. One more thing.
Overclocked was criticized but that’s no surprise. People give negative feedback much more often than positive one. IMO a game has to be of a superb quality before you start to see a lot of positive feedback.
Ascovel, I’m also happy Overclocked got an Award, I thought it was a great game. Correct me if I’m wrong, I still feel that the game was received much better in Germany.
Askobar, yes, I meant the active members. Btw, I do remember your nickname from the forums.
Of course silent lurkers are also part of the AG community, so did we just hear them vote for the Awards in large numbers or did the active forum members change their minds?
Bear in mind this wasn’t simply a forum poll. Whether silent or active, forum members represent only a small part of AG’s overall reader-base, so these poll results include plenty of other people out there we don’t generally hear from. Not everyone who casts a ballot attends the rallies. ![]()
Critised by some, praised by others. Yey Overclocked!
Way to go!
*screams O-V-E-R-C-L-O-C-K-E-D with the funny stuff cheerleaders have in their hands*
I was surprised “The Lost Crown” didn’t win the Best Sound design, which Jonathan Boakes’ is known for. But Iw as so ecstatic that “The Lost Crown” won the best setting!! I thought it had it and it did!!! ![]()
The most obvious question presents itself: how many PC adventure gamers own DS-es?
I´ve got to say I´m quite satisfied with the results. Not all the games I voted for got to the list, some aren´t even runner-ups, but all in all, I believe the results are fair, from the overall point of view.
Hey, AG staff and readers,
now that the the final results are in, I’d like to take the opportunity and say ‘Thank You’ to the staffers and readers who voted for (and awarded) Overclocked. The team here at the HoT WHQ is happy that the game was amongst the nominees in four categories, and recieved recognition.
Personally, I’d like to thank you all for the ‘Best Writing - Drama’ Award. It’s a meaningful thing to a writer to see work recognised and appreciated (by both staff and readers). I’m pleased that some of what I’ve tried to put into this difficult project has found its way to you, our audience.
Congratulations to all winners!
MG - I thank you and whole production team for the opportunity to play a game I thoroughly enjoyed, despite some minor drawbacks. For me, Overclocked was one of the most enjoyable experiences (in AGs) in 2008.
Ok - you’ve done it Adventure Gamers! Aside from waiting for Momento Mori and Sill Life 2, I’m going to buy Overclocked tonight (Oh god, thank you, a download from your site, no blasted DVD to find and install) and Time Hollow. I can play Time Hollow on the plane when I go visit my parents. I can play Overclocked at my parents.
I like the whole award thing - clever and informative. Nicely done. It gives me ideas.
Great feature!
I missed though:
1) The best puzzle
2) The coolest easter egg
Enjoy both Time Hollow and Overclocked mszv, they are truly little adventure gems ![]()
Best puzzle would be awesome!!! And best easter egg, except I would be thinking a game from the past. ![]()
Best puzzle was in the original set of awards, but the nominators didn’t come to a consensus on those to put up for a vote after all the nominations were tallied, so it got scrapped. We thought of it, though! ![]()
Some fantastic games. Wonderful write-ups, too. Games I hadn’t heard of before sounded utterly brilliant. It gives a guy some small hope that things aren’t as bad as they’ve seemed lately.
Thanks to the AG Staff for all of the time and work that went into this presentation. And I like the clever use of the name ‘Aggie’ for the award. Fantastic picture, too.

