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DVD
EXPRESS
|
Timeshift Company: Vivendi Website: Official Site Estimated Street Price: $49.99/£39.99 Review By: Byron Hinson |
Timeshift
has been a game in waiting for quite a few years, I was even on the PC
beta well over a year ago before the game was withdrawn and then
recreated with a new look and a new engine but keeping the same premise
to the game, time jumping.
- Master the ability to stop, slow, and reverse time to become the ultimate weapon
- Fully textured environments featuring incredible rain effects creating the backdrop to an intense dark and gritty world of chaos
- 9 weapons each includes 2 functions that allow players to completely annihilate their competitions
- 16 person multiplayer features 14 maps to create time stopping chaos and massive destruction to an already devastated world
- Multiplayer includes 6 unique heart stopping, time crunching modes: Stop the Machine, King of Time, 1-on-1, and the classic death match/ team death match
How Does It play
| Review Quotes |
| "Vehicles are also in the game and because a lot of the levels are so linear you are simply using them to go from A to B in certain sections of the game. Yes the vehicles can be used in various puzzle segments, but the lack of open levels and some fiddly driving controls make this feel a little tacked on at times." |
Timeshift has come out at the wrong time, lets get that out of the way first. Coming up against the likes of Halo 3 and the fantastic (and my personal game of the year on the 360) The Orange Box is never an easy task. For a game that has been years in the making as well as undergoing a recent engine revamp, Timeshift certainly doesn't look like an old title, even if sometimes during the gameplay it may feel like it is.
For someone like myself who was on the PC beta of the game a year or so ago, I am very pleased with the changes that they have made as the game as it was back then was very dull and too much like every other FPS title released at the time bar the VCR controls. One thing I will get out of the way early is that Timeshift is a lot of fun to play.
As already mentioned, the game is a first person shooter with a twist, it allows you to control time. You control it by pausing, rewinding or slowing down time. Pausing allows you to run in and take weapons out of the enemies hands and then take them out, you can also use it simply for blowing their brains out and then unpausing the game to see the mayhem you have caused. The slow motion mode is used to take out the enemies or used for puzzles that I will talk about later. Finally rewind is used to get you out of tricky situations as well as puzzles.
While the game does have some puzzles such as stopping time to walk across electrified water and moving through doors before they shut the game is basically using these options for pure action, which isn't a bad thing really. The AI isn't all that great, sometimes it can be really good, even in the same vain as Half Life 2, while at other times you get the feeling they have just been put in the game to push up your hit count. While the first level starts off with lots and lots of action and a few of the basic pause puzzles, later levels expand on this and certainly are better than the early parts. The game also has a few separate gun turret sections to break up the running around between levels.
The game has a number of weapons for you to use, you can only carry three at a time though along with a few grenades. The one I have used most is the Shattegun which is just like a shotgun for close range kills and there is the Karbine which is basically a machine gun with a grenade launcher attached to it for alternative firing and that added explosive bang. There are many more weapons such as rocket launchers, crossbows and the such like as well.
The first let down in the game is the level designs, they are very linear and once again give a feeling of you always being led by the hand throughout the game. There are a lot of set pieces where explosions will happen right in front of you and blow rubble out of the way to allow you to go through it. So it is always linear, but in saying that it does have some open area battles as well, but you will always know exactly where you are heading.
Vehicles are also in the game and because a lot of the levels are so linear you are simply using them to go from A to B in certain sections of the game. Yes the vehicles can be used in various puzzle segments, but the lack of open levels and some fiddly driving controls make this feel a little tacked on at times.
Graphically the game is very pretty in a lot of ways, the year or so since the PC beta and Timeshift has shown a major overhaul and comes out looking far better than I expected it would do. Firstly it has some excellent water effects, especially the rain which is shown off in the first act of the game, The lighting and depth of field effect that have been used right from the beginning are also excellent throughout the game. This doesn't mean that everything is top notch as there are parts of the game that use low resolution textures and the characters faces could do with a bit more work as well. I also have to state that the framerate is excellent with no slowdown no matter what is happening on screen, the game also has the option for you to turn off v-sync to allow a higher framerate too if you don't mind the tearing that will then occur.
Sound is decent enough, but I have found that the voices in the game are a little too quiet for my liking, especially when there are a number of explosions going on around you. I would have also liked to have heard a little bit more chatter from troops who are hanging around on the screen. Timeshift also has a number of stars doing the voice work including the excellent Dennis Quaid, not that you would even know this as there isn't a great deal of voice work and without knowing who it was to start with you would never recognize them.
Final Comments
|
Byron's Gamertag |
TimeShift is a pretty decent title, the idea of freezing and rewinding time has been done before, but not in a first person shooter and it works quite well. I would have liked to see more advanced use of this as everything is really far too easy to do with one press of a button despite the additional options.
Graphically the game is also very good with some excellent textures and a lot of action going on around you without any slow down which is credit to the developers. The story is pretty awful though, I have to admit I couldn't even tell you what it was about at all apart from the body suit. The game is also a little too easy, mostly due to the pausing and slow-down system as you can keep running out, killing, hiding again while your suit recharges over and over again.
But in saying that I had a lot of fun playing it and multiplayer is certainly different and a lot of fun to play compared to a number of other First Person Shooters that have been released over the year. I would like to see Sierra come out with a sequel with more advanced options, but overall it is a good title, released at the wrong time of the year.
| Specs & Package | |
| Overall Score | 79% |
| Version Reviewed | TimeShift (PAL) |
| Release Date | Out Now |
| In The Box? |
1
TimeShift (PAL) DVD-ROM 1 Set Of Instructions |
| The Good Points |
Very good graphically Decent puzzles Lots of action Decent multiplayer |
| The Bad Points |
Linear Poor Story Bit too easy |
| HD Resolutions |
480p 720p 1080i 1080p |
