Timeshift Review (360)

Another game Lost in Time

When I saw the trailer for Timeshift I thought this game looked absolutely stunning, serious eye candy with the added promise of time manipulation. This game looked like a proper next gen contender for game of 2007. Fast forward a couple of months and this full game landed on my doormat to review. I was a happy bunny, but since the retina burning trailer there had been a few outstanding FPS`s out on the old 360- namely BioShock, The Orange Box and of course the mighty Halo 3.

This magical ?Beta? suit actually talks to you, and gives you hints, as well as allowing you to manipulate time

Before I compare Timeshift to any other game on the console, let me tell you what it is all about. Well, in some kind of homage to sci-fi classics such as The Terminator and Timecop ,it is your job to save the world/future after a certain Dr. Krone, has meddled with the space time continuum (or some such Star Trek/ Dr Who jiggery pokery). Armed with some wicked weapons that certainly pack a punch, the basic gameplay chugs along nicely like a hi-def version of Killzone or Black. But the ace up Timeshifts sleeve is the fact you are wearing some kinda experimental suit (how come these things are never tested before we get to put them on?). This magical ?Beta? suit actually talks to you, and gives you hints, as well as allowing you to manipulate time. It’s basically a three pronged version of bullet time. You can freeze time dead, slow time down and finally rewind time. Now if this was an unlimited feature, then this game would be far too easy, so you only get limited bursts of each, and even these vary. For example, if you slow time down, you get considerably more time to leg it behind some hapless enemy and drop a grenade into his pocket before retiring to a safe distance before going back to real time and laughing at the mayhem you cause.

So far so good then, this game does look stunning and contains some awesome set pieces, but is let down by some of the most obvious hand holding, or dumbing down I’ve seen in a game in a long time. It is also pretty linear and not all that long. The time bending controls are fun-but the game actually tells you when to use them. Which is great if you have never played a video game before in your life, but most gamers would have figured out when to use your ?powers? after a couple of attempts.

So back to my original paragraph, and the answer is ?nope? this is not a contender for game of the year, it does have potential to bring out a sequel that would absolutely rock, once Sierra make the difficulty match the 18 certificate. A lost opertunity, then, but still worth a punt if you have already finished the aforementioned games.