Chronovolt

Overview

Chronovolt is steampunk 3D marble game developed for the PlayStation Vita by Playerthree. In it, Jessica Chase must travel through the past in a rolling Chronosphere to recover her uncle's research from the dastardly Dr. Scabious Claw. The game features 27 levels over three locations periods, including Mayan temples and ancient China.

Its initial release was in Europe on November 21st, 2012, as part of the launch of PlayStation Plus for Vita, with the North American release following at the end of December.

Story

The discovery of time energy, named chronovolts, has allowed Professor Chase to create the chronosphere - a rolling one person time machine. But before he can put it to use, his research partner, Dr. Scabious Claw, betrays him, and steals the chronosphere and its blueprints. Thankfully, the professor has a spare, and tasks his niece Jessica with going after Scabious in it, to recover the blueprints and find out what Scabious is actually up to.

Gameplay

The player must guide the rolling chronosphere through the treacherous paths of each level without falling off them, getting to the timegate at the end to progress. Various obstacles hinder the player, including moving platforms, collapsing floors, enemy spheres and doors requiring keys to open. Certain levels also introduce a time limit towards the end, as Jessica must race to the timegate to reach it before it closes.

To assist her, Jessica can employ the powers of the chronosphere to get out of difficult situations, rewinding time to recover from a fall or other mistake, freezing moving objects, or firing a time shot to disrupt enemies. Before they can be used however, the sphere must be powered up by collecting chronovolts scattered throughout the levels or recharging at a charging station.

The player's performance in a level is rated with three stars, one for just completing it, one for collecting all the chronovolts, and one for completing it within a given time. The stars are used to unlock new levels, and to progress the player will sometimes being forced to go back and replay previous levels to gain more stars.

DLC

The game launched with a Chronospheres Pack, offering four alternate chronospheres with a different look and various gameplay benefits. DLC level packs are also planned.