Time Traveller (Commodore 64)

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Time Traveler was made in 1989 by Animated Pixels for the Commodore 64 and was sold within the light fantastic bundles. In the game's story the player is part of a resistance group which tries to fight a dictator by travelling back in time to three world wars in which the resistance tries to change the political climate and the balance of power. The player's time machine is portable and thus allows going back and forth to the three relevant time frames.

The game is composed of three levels which are all concerned with shooting flying objects. Ending the third level will cause the game to loop back to the first level. The player uses a full automatic weapon with an unlimited supply of ammunition. The difficulty increases each round. The aim is to survive each round by waiting until a counter reaches zero. If flying objects leave the screen, a damage counter increases. If this counter surpasses a certain threshold the game is over.

In the first level biplanes are shot. The second level takes place in open water where helicopters are fought. Finally intercontinental ballistic missiles are shot from space.

Personally I like the game. The presentation is well made. The hit detection works properly. In my opinion the difficulty increases at an adequate pace. The scoring system and the score board offer some replay value. I think the story is silly and isn't thought through very carefully. Amongst the games inside the light fantastic bundles this is my favorite.

The cover is beautifully drawn but represents the game quite badly as the player is not a pilot but an air defense gunner.