TimeShift – 360 – Review

A title that has
done its time in development hell and then some, TimeShift at best could’ve been
merely an average budget-quality title, and at worst a disaster. However, the
development team at Sabre Interactive gave the game the old college try,
switching publishers from Atari to Vivendi, who gave them an extra year to bring
the game up to standards. The end result is a very polished shooter with some
fantastic elements and innovative play. There are some areas where the
game doesn’t fully live up to its potential and falls into ho-hum territory; however, the game as a whole is a solid shooter with some great concepts, and is
a lot of fun to play.

Instead of
presenting you with a backdrop for the storyline through cut scenes, TimeShift
tells you the story as it’s going, letting you fill in the blanks as to what is
happening. You work in the lab at a facility that is working on time travel
through the use of a suit (S.S.A.M.), when one of the scientists in charge of
its development shanghais one of the devices and goes back in time, destroying
the lab in the process. As everything is going to hell in a handbasket, you put
on another suit and are sent back to an arbitrary time, specifically 1943.
However, whereas World War II would be in full swing in the normal course of
things, the 1943 that you’re sent to is substantially different from anything
you’ve seen, with futuristic weaponry and vehicles alongside bombed out
buildings and resistance fighters. Turns out this scientist from the future
messed with the Space-Time Continuum and asserted himself the absolute ruler of
the past, and it becomes your job to fix the past and take him down.

While your brain
may be spinning in a time paradox after that convoluted story description, take
solace in knowing that the gameplay is much easier to get a grasp on, but no
less complex. Obviously, the big key element in TimeShift is your ability to
control time. While slowing down time is not really a new thing in video games,
or even first-person shooters for that matter, it has never been done with the
sense of focus and polish as TimeShift handles it.

In the game,
you’ll gradually begin to use time in certain ways, starting out innocuously by
slowing down time or stopping it completely to get the drop on your foes.
However, you’ll begin using it in more complex ways as you progress through the
game. You’ll be able to steal weapons from your enemies and watch them look
around in confusion, reverse time in order to keep from getting hit with a
sticky bomb, and essentially become extremely powerful with your time
manipulation abilities.

However, the game
does have some problems in the execution of the single-player campaign. You’ll
have to solve puzzles in order to progress, but the linear nature and simplicity
of them keep the game from realizing its full potential. You’ll typically be
presented with the same kind of situations and the game will tell you exactly
what to do in each of them, taking away any kind of sandbox feel.

Additionally,
some of the weapons throughout the game are unnecessarily powerful, like the
crossbow, which is fast to load, has a generous scope, and typically capable of
one-hit kills. The weapons lack balance, making it so that once you pick up a
certain one, you won’t have to use any other ones, or even your time abilities,
much of the time.

The game has some
pretty cool online features as well. Whereas the time-based features would
usually be impossible to do on an online scale, the game works around it by
using time grenades. With time grenades you create a dome-shaped enclosure where
one enemy will be forced to experience one of the time manipulation tactics at
your disposal. For example, you can throw a stop time grenade at your foe and
have him freeze and take him out, or you could be even more crafty and throw a
reverse time grenade right as he shoots a rocket at you, reversing it and
sending it right back at him.

There are the
requisite game modes like Free-for-all and Capture the Flag modes, as well as
some new ones like King of Time, one person has unlimited time attacks but is
the sole target for all other players, and Meltdown Madness, where you have to
use time to either slow down your reactor’s meltdown time or speed up your
opponent’s. The new modes are a blast to play and the time elements will
definitely offer some innovation online.

Graphically,
TimeShift is a pretty good looking game, rivaling any other title in the FPS
genre. The character models look pretty good, and the game boasts some pretty
nice special effects. The environmental textures are excellent, with some
realistic deformable terrain elements. There are some great time bending
elements that show up in the visuals too, like raindrops stopping in mid-air
when you’ve stopped time.

The sound in the
game is pretty decent, with a slightly repetitious score and some weak voice
work and cheesy elements (the “creepy singing child” cliche rears its head in
the intro cutscene). However, the sound effects are done pretty cleanly and the
game generally isn’t an earsore.

TimeShift is a
pretty solid shooter, and while there are few design flaws that prevent it from
being an instant classic, there is a fun and unique shooter here that has grown
leaps and bounds from where it was a year ago in its development.

Review Scoring Details for TimeShift

Gameplay:
8.0
The
time elements are very well done, giving you a true sense of power and time
manipulation. However, there are some balancing issues with the weaponry, and an
overly linear feeling throughout.

Graphics:
8.5

TimeShift is a pretty sharp game, with great environmental textures and some
cool special effects.

Sound: 7.0
There
are some cliched elements and weak voice acting, but the game generally sounds
decent.

Difficulty:
Medium

Concept:
8.0
The
story is slightly inane and hard to follow, but the well handled time
manipulation elements are much appreciated.

Multiplayer: 8.5
Some
great time-based elements and game modes, TimeShift is a blast online.

Overall:
8.0

TimeShift isn’t perfect, and has a ways to go before it can be considered a
revolutionary interpretation of time-based first-person shooting. However, those
who take the plunge will find a solid and unique shooter that’s well worth their
time.