Hype: The Time Quest

Hype: The Time Quest is an adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft and was released under the Playmobil Interactive series of products. The game, released in the year 1999 along with Alex Builds His Farm (1999), is based on the medieval castle toy series from Playmobil. The U.S. version of the Game Boy Color version was supposed to be released in June 2000,[5] but was delayed for over a year. The game revolves around Hype, a 22-year-old knight in the service of King Taskan IV, following a quest through time to return to his own time in order to save the kingdom from the evil black knight Barnak. Hype's adventures therefore take place in the same kingdom throughout four different periods of its history. The game was directed by Alain Tascan and featured thirty-two different voice actors,[6] as well as original music by Robbi Finkel.

Hype: The Time Quest
Cover for the original 1999 English language release.
Developer(s)Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher(s)Ubisoft
Director(s)Benoit Galarneau
Designer(s)Alain Tascan
Patrice Désilets
Martin Raymond
Writer(s)Phillipe Debay
Guillome Lemee
Platform(s)Windows, Game Boy Color, PlayStation 2
ReleaseWindows
Game Boy Color
PlayStation 2
Genre(s)Adventure, role-playing

Plot

Following the end of a civil war, king Taskan IV of the kingdom of Torras, invites all citizens to a banquet. During the celebration, Hype, champion of the kingdom of Torras, is rewarded by queen Lyzoth with the Sword of Peace for his loyalty, under the kind eye of his fiancée, Vibe.

The party turns short when a mysterious black knight riding a black dragon suddenly appears and demands the throne. Hype confronts the knight, but is easily defeated. The black knight then uses its magic to turn Hype into a stone statue and sends the statue back in time.

Two hundred years ago, during the reign of the king Taskan I, Hype's statue appears in the courtyard of a young apprentice magician: Gogoud.

Initially trying to turn the statue into a knight for working at his own service, Gogoud successfully restores Hype to life. Upon learning from Hype of his ordeal with the black knight, the wizard changes his mind and agrees to help Hype, mentioning that a jewel currently held by the king Taskan I is said to grant the power to travel through time.

After obtaining the jewel and charging it with power from the sky to restore its ability, Hype and Gogoud soon discover that the jewel actually only allow Hype to advance of a small leap through time, meaning that he will have to find more jewels to be able to reach later eras.

Each era that Hype will explore is set in the same kingdom, Torras, and each era has a different ruling king, with the era's number matching the king's.

  • Era I is set on a sunny summer day. A civil war is however raging between the king Taskan I and the templars of the Monastery.
  • Era II takes place during a dark night, possibly in summer. Taskan II, more open-minded than his predecessor, has decided to open the kingdom to strangers and founded new institutions to further increase attractiveness of Torras, including a new colosseum called the Field of Courage for fighters, and laboratories for scientists.
  • Era III is set in autumn. People have lost faith in the Taskan's rule, and a civil war has burst out between the Field of Courage, the Laboratories and the Fortress.
  • Era IV, befitting of the black knight's influence, is a hellish landscape, with a yellow-orange sky, and a land that has become desolate and destroyed with a fiery sky above. Most areas are heavily guarded by the black knight's army enforcing his law, while places deemed unnecessary such as the Monastery, Laboratories, and the Field of Courage are closed off.

Detailed story

Era I

In search of the royal jewel, Hype successfully infiltrates the fortress using a secret passage through the sewers and meets the king, only to learn that the magical gem has already been stolen by the monastery. Mistaken for a templar, Hype is captured by the guards, stripped of his equipment and sent to the oubliettes.

In jail he meets with Talbot, an actual templar from the monastery, who agrees to open the door of the monastery if Hype helps him escape. Hype steals the keys of the executioner, frees the templar, then exits the undeads-infested oubliettes only to be stopped by Granslak, a guard always bursting in a sadistic laughter so tall his body spreads over the two floors of the throne's room. After defeating the giant guard, Hype takes the first dragon's breastplate as a trophy and leaves the fortress heading towards the Monastery.

Although the door to the Monastery is opened as promised, Talbot has turned on him and set up an ambush to steal the breastplate. Hype however defeats the templar and his allies, then reaches the top of the highest tower of the monastery where the royal jewel is located, guarded by an invincible overly fat monk called Mhasse. Hype defeats Mhasse by making him fall down the tower to get him stuck in the ground, and finally acquires the jewel.

Hype quickly learns that the jewel cannot be used without first being powered up with energy from the sky. By offering the breastplate to the dragon Zatila, he earns his lifelong loyalty and both fly off. Once the jewel has been charged, Hype travels through time.

Era II

As soon as Hype arrives at Gogoud's manor, he discovers that the place has been invaded by soldiers from the Laboratories. Hype learns from the wizard's diary that his friend has been kidnapped by the Laboratories' leader, a bearded dwarf magician called Rajoth. Hype infiltrates the laboratories, confronts and kills Rajoth and frees all the magicians he was holding prisoners.

A freed Gogoud tells Hype that he will have to find a new jewel, the jewel of mankind, for a new time leap. Sadly that jewel is part of the treasure of the Field of Courage, the new colosseum of Torras that can only be entered with a signed pass. Gogoud advises Hype to see with the brigands to get a fake one. The brigands' leader, a woman named Karon, tells Hype that she is willing to help him in exchange for a favor. Hype has to go back in time and tell the truth to Karon's father, the king's architect : the king will not pay him for his work, so if he builds a hidden tunnel to the treasure room of the Field of Courage, Karon and her brigands will be able to avenge him by stealing the gold there.

Hype goes back to Karon and gets the signed pass, enters the arena and defeats a gladiator. But there is one last obstacle before they can safely enter the treasure room : a huge three-headed dragon. After defeating the first two heads that attack simultaneously, and then the smarter third head afterwards, Hype obtains the jewel and a new armor, the mythical armor, then exits the Field of Courage.

The jewel is charged the same way as in the previous era, and Hype travels through time once again.

Era III

Hype meets with Gogoud, to know where the next jewel may be. Gogoud mentions a forgotten city, out of time and space, where the jewel is located. However, it can only be accessed from a dolmen in the forest, the location of which is currently unknown. The brigands led by Nolhin, Karon's daughter, are currently searching for it in the forest.

Hype also briefly meets Rave, the female champion of King Taskan III, who wants to see the knight as soon as possible. Hype infiltrates the fortress again and meets with the King, surrounded by two familiar faces from the previous era : the king's councelor Enost, a wizard that Hype freed from the laboratories alongside Gogoud ; and the protector of the young prince Taskan IV Senekal, the gatekeeper of the Field of Courage, now a simple monk after going through various hardships in his life. Hype learns that he actually is the cause of the civil war, since as his legend grew so did the legend of the dark knight, and as a result the people of Torras have lost faith in their king. To redeem himself as well as secure the future of his own king he has to go back through time, win Senekal's weapons, then bring them back to him in this era in the monastery, where the young king will be safe.

After completing his task, Hype meets with Gogoud and learns that the dolmen has been found. Hype manages to activate the portal at the center of the stone circle and enters the city. There he is surprised to find his old friend the dragon Zatila, who reveals himself to actually be the one chosen by the gods to be the keeper of the jewel, and that he can only give it to Hype if he is pure of heart. This means Hype has now to face the dark part of himself, the antithesis of virtue, a doppelganger. Hype is victorious again, and Zatila reveals that the dark knight is actually a fallen god called Barnak.

Hype and Zatila go on to charge the jewel and Hype travels through time again.

The almanac quest

Sadly the trip to the era IV is short lived : the black knight Barnak knew of Hype's coming-back by reading the records of the history of the kingdom, and has set up an ambush with his army of black guards. Hype however manages to escape the ambush by traveling back in the past.

Not surprised to see the knight returning so quickly, Gogoud and Nolhin understand the problem and mention three books, the almanacs, held by the monastery, the fortress and the laboratories. Following their advice, Hype proceeds to infiltrate and steal the almanacs to falsify the information regarding his story within, in such a way that Barnak will think him dead.

While trying to get the almanac of the fortress, Hype learns that the king's wizard, Enost, has betrayed him. He is actually trying to prepare the coming of the dark night in his new black tower only accessible from the sky, having taken the almanac with him.

With cunning and the help of Zatila to reach the tower, Hype manages to retrieve all almanacs, leaves them to Gogoud to falsify his legend and give them back to Nolhin to put them back at their original location to think that a simple brigand stole them and Hype would be clear. Hype travels through time to era IV.

Era IV

Thanks to an advertisement in Gogoud manor's hidden room, Hype goes to Torras' inn where he is finally reunited with his betrothed Vibe. Vibe has been secretly forming an army to begin an uprising against Barnak, but cannot try anything as long as the king and queen and the leader of the royal guards are held prisoners in the oubliettes. Hype gets a key from Vibe to enter the dungeons, once deep within the dungeons in the execution room. Hype finds the king and frees him, then goes deeper to find the queen and Bhobard, their faithful knight. He activates the lever and opens a secret gate that leads to the back of the fortress. The king warns Hype not to worry about them but to pursue his quest. He also tells Hype that the black guards were never able to get into his room for some reason.

After Hype frees the prisoners, the ghost of Gogoud appears to him, to tell that Barnak is actually intending to use a dark ritual during the upcoming eclipse that will allow him to extend his domination forever and that to stop him Hype needs to meet with the gods themselves in the forgotten city. Hype meets with the god Drareg that gives him a final jewel, and also mentions one last step needed to counter Barnak's ritual : Retrieving all battle standards from across the four eras.

Hype manages to charge the jewel, recover the standards, then goes on to face the black knight on top of his tower. Upon arrival at the tower, though, Barnak's black dragon kills Zatila from behind, leaving Hype unable to leave the tower anymore.

Hype eventually defeats a cyborg Enost, Voydh the black dragon and their master, the black knight, before finally countering the ritual.

The land is finally restored to its former beauty, and Gogoud tells tales of the peace returning to the land, and Vibe and Hype living happily for the rest of their lives.

Reception
Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
GBCPC
GameProN/A[7]
GameSpotN/A8/10[8]
GameSpyN/A80%[9]
GameZoneN/A7.6/10[10]
IGNN/A7.8/10[1]
Nintendo Power[11]N/A
Aggregate score
GameRankings80%[12]76%[13]

The Game Boy Color and PC versions received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.[12][13] Nintendo Power gave its GBC version a score of four stars out of five, over six months before its U.S. release date.[11]

References
  1. Lopez, Vincent (December 9, 1999). "Hype: The Time Quest (PC)". IGN. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  2. "Hype: The Time Quest (2001) Game Boy Color release dates". MobyGames. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  3. "Hype: The Time Quest - Game Boy Color". IGN. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  4. "Hype: The Time Quest (2001) PlayStation 2 release dates". MobyGames. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  5. Harris, Craig (May 19, 2000). "Hype: The Time Quest (GBC; Preview)". IGN. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  6. Daniel B. (2003). "Hype: The Time Quest (PC)". Mr. Bill's Adventureland.
  7. Olafson, Peter (January 3, 2000). "Hype: The Time Quest Review for PC on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on February 9, 2005. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  8. Wolpaw, Erik (December 2, 1999). "Hype - The Time Quest Review (PC)". GameSpot. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  9. Madigan, Jamie (December 18, 1999). "Hype: The Time Quest Review (PC)". GameSpy. Archived from the original on February 15, 2002. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  10. Lafferty, Michael (December 30, 1999). "Hype: The Time Quest Review - PC". GameZone. Archived from the original on January 15, 2006. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  11. "Hype: The Time Quest". Nintendo Power. Vol. 140. January 2001. p. 131.
  12. "Hype: The Time Quest for Game Boy Color". GameRankings. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  13. "Hype: The Time Quest for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
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