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TimeShift

So where's the real beef then?

With time manipulation reduced from a central theme to a gameplay mechanic and backstory element, what remains is a solid, lengthy, if sometimes repetitive shooter. TimeShift has all the technical prowess you'd expect from a modern DX9 game, and especially on the harder difficulty levels, its combat provides enough challenge for anyone. You'll regularly face unfair odds, and have to rely on your timeshifing powers to survive and advance. Get ready to die a lot before you get the hang of timeshifting, because difficulty is turned a notch or two higher than most other FPS's.

Close combat can get messy

Enemies can lose their fighting spirit, but only momentarily

Luckily you have more weapons in your arsenal than just the ability to bend time: there are nine arms, grenades and the occasional turrent-fixed gun you can use to dispatch the bad guys with. You can only carry three weapons at a time, though - available ammunition, mostly looted from dead enemies but also available in munition dumps, often dictates which weapons you carry and which ones you leave behind. Melee is typically overpowered, as clobbering the enemy with the butt of your rifle kills them faster than shooting them with the pistol or the ubiquitous carbine.

The game has a somewhat unhealthy fixation on weapons that, well, fix onto you and blow you to bits after a few seconds. There's no way to dislodge them, so enemies who can't reverse time will scream in panic before they die, which can make you feel a bit uncomfortable about using Clutch Grenades. The game forces you to commit other questionable deeds as well: awed by your superpowers or melee proficiency, enemies sometimes surrender and cower in fear for a while. If you spare their lives, the ungrateful sods will soon pick up any gun they can find and start shooting at you again.

This guy used to be a yoga master before joining the Krone Korps

The only way to ensure a clean hit on a jetpack trooper is to cheat

TimeShift's violence is creative, detailed but often unnecessarily graphic. You can knock or shoot off your enemies' helmets, run them over with a Quad buggy and pause time for the perfect sniper shot that blows up a jetpack trooper's fuel tank. Blood spatters on your visor in close combat, even small explosions tear enemies to shreds and leave gibs lying everywhere, and even when dead bodies remain in one piece, ragdoll animations leave them in disturbingly contorted positions.

Multiplayer: living and dying in a bubble

TimeShift has a fairly basic multiplayer game - all game modes feature respawning and either free-for-all deathmatch or red team vs. blue team in deathmatch or Capture the Flag games. The game's currently very sparsely populated multiplayer lobby is powered by GameSpy, and there's unfortunately no dedicated server available, which doesn't bode well for the game's future. There are, however, two distinctive and welcome features to the multiplayer experience: first, the host can modify various environmental and player variables such as gravity and weapon damage, and second, timeshifting reaches multiplayer as well in the form of Chrono Grenades.

The small and hectic Deadly Wind map is set in an aircraft test chamber

Caught inside a Chrono Grenade time bubble

Chrono Grenades come in three flavors, the same as your time bending powers in the single player game: time slow, time pause and time reverse. In effect, time slow and pause grenades function very similarly to flashbangs and stun grenades in other FPS titles, creating a bubble that either slows down or immobilizes anyone caught inside. The time reverse grenade creates an impenetrable barrier that reflects fire back to anyone shooting at it, effectively acting as a shield. Finally, you can protect yourself from the effects of time slow and pause by using your suit's Time Shield, at the cost of some mobility and firing speed: a bubble appears around you, slowing anyone inside as well as slowing down both your own and enemy fire.

The Sky Hook map, suspended in mid-air, is great for sniping matches and impressive falls

Trench Warfare has fixed support weapons and trenches for closing in and taking them out

Both Chrono Grenades and the Time Shield use your timeshifting energy bar, which fills slowly, and none of the effects lasts more than ten seconds. You also need to first pick up grenades on the playing field to use them. Weapon spawn points are similarly scattered around the maps, so prepare to lose a lot of matches until you've memorized each map. With colorful time bubbles, rocket explosions, grenades, trip mines, beam weapons, flame throwers and automatic fire going off constantly, the smaller indoor maps feel crowded and spammy. Outdoor maps such as Trench Warfare have fixed turret weapons to encourage defensive strategies and team play.

Page 1: IntroductionPage 2: Gameplay and MechanicsPage 3: Single and Multiplayer CarnagePage 4: Hardware and PerformancePage 5: Summary and Scores

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