TimeShift Preview

Introduction

I’ve had this demo sitting on my hard drive for a long time and finally decided to play it. Was it worth it? Will I buy the game? Read on to find out.

Overview

For those new to the game, Timeshift, as the name suggests, allows you to control time. You have three options:

• Slow Time
• Stop Time
• Reverse Time

Slow time gives you approximately 13 seconds of slow time. Perfect for those shots that need deadly accuracy etc. Stop Time is needed, yes needed, to pass certain points in the game, more on that later. And lastly, Reverse Time, which I admit at first I was unsure why I would use it but for looking around corners etc and finding out what’s there it’s quite useful.

I won’t bore you with the story because more information can be found on the PlanetPhillip TimeShift page.

You can apparently use the time shifting to take superior guns out of your enemies hands but I didn’t get to do this.

Gameplay

The developers claim that they intend the players to use their timeshifting abilities very regularly, more than that, some situation actually require them. In this demo there are two situations a fire and the forcefields. In the options you can choose whether to have the game give you Time Hints.

The weapon concepts are very good and the overall visual and sound quality is good. Enemies seem to flip between clever to stupid, but no more than most SP games. The two cut scenes are smooth and well produced. They don’t seem to interrupt the gameplay too much. I’ve played the demo probably twenty times to try and get the images and movies I wanted and it’s still quite fun.

More About The Enemies

There are a few things I want mention about the enemies. They swear, yes they actually swear at you. Next it’s possible to shoot their gun out of their hand. When facing you with no gun they raise their hands in the air and the body posture is one of surrender. (See image) Don’t be fooled, they will pickup their gun as quickly as they can. They also seem to be able to hide behind things. For example one got behind a lamp post. When I approached and move to one side he moved to the other, keeping the post between him and me. It didn’t help him of course but still it was a nice touch.

Below is a short video I created showing some of the time effects. If you prefer the higher-quality .wmv version you can download it here: TimeShift Preview Video

Conclusion

Unlike many demos, I didn’t get bored with Timeshift, but am a little concerned that the time shifting elements are emphasized too much.
Was it fun? Yes. Will I buy the game? Yes.

Screenshots

Click on the thumbnails below to open a medium size image. All images taken from the demo.