TimeShift
November 8,2007 - In TimeShift’s trademark cutscene, a group of soldiers lays waste to their surroundings, vandalizing and oppressing the citizens of an already battle-torn urban area. Without warning, a mysterious being in a shiny silver suit boldly traipses their way, obviously intent on putting a stop to the destruction. Without hesitation, the grunts turn their attention and weapons on him. Unarmed and outnumbered, the man appears to be moments away from drawing his last breath, but by using his suit's unique technology, he halts the flow of time.

Moving freely as his enemies stand frozen, he has a momentary advantage in which he dashes toward the nearest soldier and yanks the rifle out of his hands. Then, in one seamless, surgical motion, he spins in a semi-circle, clubbing the robbed soldier across the face along the way, and sprays bullets into the remaining forces. When he’s through, he commands time to resume its normal course. In the blink of an eye, the squad of well-armored, heavily equipped soldiers is completely wiped out. The lone soldier clad in shining silver walks away a hero, victorious and unscathed.

This cutscene gives an accurate sense of what makes TimeShift’s gameplay special - you can temporarily slow, stop, and reverse the flow of time at a moment's notice to gain tremendous advantages in the direst situations. You really can’t deny how much TimeShift “borrows” from other more popular shooters, but the gimmick works well enough to make TimeShift enjoyable in its own right. Stick enemies with explosive torque-… er… crossbow arrows? Been there. Freeze time, sink explosive arrows into a handful of soldiers, and then watch them simultaneously erupt into fireballs of smoldering body parts? Only in TimeShift. Of course, turning enemies into helpless statues at the touch of a button makes the game decidedly easy, but it’s better to power through sticky situations (or duck out of them) than to struggle through them with trial and error.

Unfortunately, the powers and weapons you have at the end of the game are virtually the same as the ones you get at the beginning, so there’s little feeling of progression. The pacing takes an additional couple of hits thanks to bewildering level design and puzzle sequences that range from mildly interesting to downright stupid. Too much time is spent looking for hidden paths or manipulating levers–and the payoff is usually something ridiculous, like getting your character onto a chest-high platform he inexplicably couldn’t jump or climb onto. Compounding the issue, exactly why your character has this crazy suit, how the world came to fall under the oppression of the main antagonist, Krone, or what backstory is being touched on during the cutscenes is barely ever clear. So by the end, a lot of the game feels like a bunch of uninteresting fluff. Still, the core shooting, spiked with the aforementioned time shifting perks, is enough to keep playing the game for, even without much context.

On the bright side, you get to go through all these moments in some good looking and nicely detailed environments. Over the course of the game you'll see a variety of locales, from the ravaged Alpha District, to snowcapped mountains, and finally the enemy munitions stronghold. The lighting is the only sketchy aspect, as it produces razor-sharp shadows that look particularly gangly and unnatural in cluttered areas (like between blades of tall grass). But, with everything else looking altogether impressive, it's a negligible complaint. Quality electronic tracks set appropriate musical backdrops, and while none are particularly memorable, they do a sufficient job of filling the audio void. The most notable aspect of the audio package is the voice work which boasts the rare combination of good writing and credible delivery (enemy reactions to your time shifting antics are priceless), so you’ll never find yourself retching over shallow, over-delivered tripe.

No matter how you feel about competitive multiplayer first-person shooters right now, TimeShift has little chance of having a relevant impact. It features the usual string of gameplay types (deathmatch, capture the flag, team versus, etc.) which are imbued with a smaller version of the campaign's time manipulation component, but other than that it’s the definition of “standard.” Since all players couldn't possibly manipulate time in different ways at the same time, the game lets players throw time-grenades that can trap players in bubbles which may slow them down or stop them outright. It's a pretty interesting mechanic on paper, but in practice it reduces online matches to time-bubble frag-fests. It’s more novel than compelling online, so don’t expect it to get you into online shooters if you’re not already, let alone replace that other first-person shooter you’re addicted to.

TimeShift's appeal and lasting value are directly proportional to what you're in it for and what you're willing to put up with. The single-player campaign is justifiably criticized with being overtly derivative, but the time shifting component makes it just fresh enough to be worth a look. If you can overlook the frequent lever-pulling instances that bog some areas down, and can trade a comprehensive storyline for some unique shooting opportunities, then this game can and will deliver. However, if you’re already sold on major franchises like Halo, Gears of War, or Half-Life (each of which has elements ripped onto TimeShift’s code), this game might be too borrow-happy to be enjoyable.

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