Surprisingly, they are actually fairly entertaining. Beyond Time s graphics look old, and mimic an even older style of presentation. The game s backbone is a good copy of the slideshow-like parade of still images pioneered by Myst , and only a skeleton crew of crude animations and movies offer respite from the motionless backgrounds. Artistically speaking, the graphics aren t exactly bad, just dated, and perhaps a little artificial and sterile in appearance. No scenes are particularly memorable, nor does the game s art do much to foster an illusion of a reality.
Sound effect are sparse.
Those that exist were, like the art, unobtrusive and a bit bland. Mostly, the game s puzzles are well constructed and have sufficient clues to keep you pointed in the correct direction. Early on, the game presents you with large amounts of information, some of it useful, some not. I count myself extremely lucky to have beaten it after just 8 tries and 2 hours of calculations, notes and fiddling. Sadly, this quickly makes an original and complicated puzzle approximately as entertaining as exhaustively solving a combination lock.