Time-shifting mechanic is a hit
The weapons have all undergone a nice futuristic makeover, but essentially there’s nothing here that you wouldn’t have seen a dozen times before… apart from your main weapon… …TIME.The time-shifting mechanic has been implemented with a great deal of expertise and even though the concept isn’t new to videogames it feels fresh and innovative within the world and the scenarios you face. You see, you don’t just manipulate time, but you move through it as you do. Quite simply, time always moves with you, but you have the ability to slow it down, stop it, or reverse it and the effect of your time manipulation is on your enemy, not on yourself.
For example: In the first level there’s a pathway that gets blown up just before you’re about to cross, debris blocks your path and there’s no alternative route. So, you have to hold down the LB button and press B, which reverses time. The blockade then unravels and moves back to a time 5 seconds before, allowing you to walk through without fear of dying. That blast still happens, you haven’t altered the future, but you have given yourself time to walk through to safety before it takes place.
Click for larger imageThere are three actions that you can use to time-shift: Slow, Stop and Reverse. The time-shifting skill only works for a short amount of time (5 seconds) and the ‘Time bar’ regenerates after about 10 seconds. This means that you need to think tactically when and when not to use the skill.
There are a few simple puzzles throughout the game, where you need to use all three of these skills to get past, such as pausing time to stop the flow of electricity so you can pass safely through a body of water, but the puzzles themselves are fairly obvious and will probably only take you a few minutes to work out. The real joy of using time-shifting comes in the combat situations throughout the 30 or so missions in the game.
TimeShift is all about fast frenetic explosive combat and it revolves completely around your time-shifting skills. The action barely pauses and the skill comes from being able to react to a situation and use your time-shifting skills effectively and at a moment’s notice.
