Time is on my side...yes it is
So, what we’ve got here is a first person shooter, set in an alternate reality, where you control just the one player, although you often fight as part of a team. The concept of time-shifting has been used many times and this time around the developers wanted to explore “what would happen if the ability to travel through time ended up in the wrong hands.” Sounds interesting…huh?Well, the story is intriguing enough at the beginning, with some great looking cut-scenes and interesting snippets of information being offered to you pre and post battle by your colleagues, but the time-travelling tale often plays second fiddle to the hard-hitting explosive gameplay and as a result pales into insignificance.
However, the backdrop of this alternate reality has been handled superbly, with bleak rain-sodden landscapes, abandoned warehouses, weapon facilities and war-torn streets littered with debris all helping to create that post apocalyptic feel. There’s excellent use of lightening, which flashes intermittently throughout the game, creating some excellent lighting effects on the metal surfaces and puddles and the heavy use of water in the game, from dripping ceilings to large puddles, helps to add atmosphere to this gloomy environment.
Click for larger image
Click for larger imageIn TimeShift you battle a futuristic war alongside your colleagues against a number of different enemies from the Krone army, including soldiers brandishing shot-guns and Uzis, men with jet packs and electro magnetic clutch grenades, a variety of mechs and even armoured vehicles such as tanks. If you were to strip away the time-shifting mechanic from TimeShift you’d be left with a bog standard, albeit decent, first person shooter. There’s the typical array of weapons, disguised under fancy names, such as the knuckleduster (the pistol), the GearMaster (the shotgun) and the Echo Rifle (sniper rifle). In addition there are rocket launchers and cross bows and a few slight variations on weapons you will have seen in other first person shooters, such as the Surge gun, which allows you to fire an energy charge at an enemy. Each weapon has a secondary fire, from the likes of a flamethrower to grenade and there are also a number of grenades that can be tossed, including the impressive swarm grenade, which is essentially a mini-drone that fires electrical bolts at opponents.
