Timeshift Review

[phantomdesign]

I haven't finished the game yet, but here are a few notes . . .

Graphics: 3/10
The quality is shit. Sure it's "detailed" as are most modern games, but when you just look at stuff it's just bland, weird, ugly, or wrong somehow. Just look at this screenshot for example . . .

The car is ugly & shaders look like wax; the weapon looks bland and unoriginal, the terrain is low poly, etc . . . The overall look isn't much better than a generic game from 6 years ago.

Gameplay 4.5/10
The gunplay is unexciting; less exciting than most games. After a few hours you finally get two sniper-rifle type weapons that finally have some accuracy.

Time-shifting abilities are occasionally interesting at scripted moment, but there aren't many "creative" uses for it & the only real effect on battles seems to be to make them cheaper. There was a vid where you shoot a barrel off of something and then ride it back up . . . I've been looking for opportunities like that and basically only found the one that's in that video.

The feel of the game is a bit wrong too . . . it just feels cheap. It gets even cheaper in the driving sequences.

Overall, everything gets really repetitive and uninteresting very quickly.

Story 2/10
The story starts off looking like it could be interesting (mostly the intro-movie), but after a few hours you wonder what the hell happened to the story.

 

[Barney Fife]

I bought the download version if this lousy game because I thought I would save time, despite the fact; GameSpot gave 6.5 rating in their review, solely for support of PC and FPS gaming.
The freaking problem is that; first, their download manager is full of ads which, degrade connectivity and after you download almost a half a gig and you start to setup the game; another download starts (2GB) at this time in 20-50KB/s.
After 8HRs of sleep and 2 freaking hours waiting later (10HRs); I thought, this time I'm going to really set it up, just to find the 2GB file came corrupted. Game would not install.
Now, you kind of have an idea of how I feel; I sent a (Dear John) letter asking my money back. They said "It'll take 10-12 days for refund" I called my bank to put stop payment to it.

10-12 days my butt.

 

[phantomdesign]

Played some more trying to give it a chance. The outdoor natural areas are a bit nicer than the earlier levels, but still unimpressive. You also seem to all at once get like 5 better weapons (sniper rifle, explosive crossbow, rocket launcher, and some sort of fire/plasma gun, soon followed by a machinegun/flame launcher).

I'll bump graphics to 3 and gameplay to 5, but still unimpressed and my ADD is taking over slowing progress (have to play it in segments because of how uninteresting it is). I'll finish it for the rest of you to see if it gets any better.

 

[Lucid]

The graphics are pretty good from what I played of the demo.
And the destruction you can cause with your guns is pretty nifty.

 

[elrasho]

U guys are wrong, this game is alot better that what you make it out to be. The graphics are good, just not Crysis good (everyone will be comparing ANY game genere to Crysis graphics now).

I have played about 5 hours and thouroughly enjoyed it. Yes its repetitive, but play it on hard and you will see how important the Timeshift capabilities are. The AI is really crap though, but hey its loads of fun stopping time then going up to three guys and melleing them then starting time and watch their asses fall to the floor

As a full retails game dont buy it, wait till it goes cheaper and ull like it. Its a stop gap between now and COD4/UT3.

 

[Hellrider]

The car reminds me of doom 3 engine..

 

[VictimOfScience]

The demo sucked and I deleted it very quickly. There is too much elsle coming out this month that is worlds better than this generic tripe.

 

[phantomdesign]

I'm sticking to my original assessment on graphics. I'm not talking high-poly models, grit, high-res textures, cool shaders at all. The overall feel and look is just wrong. For example, Half Life 1 has better VISUALS (graphics) because what they did have was very well done.

I changed my mind a bit about gunplay but not completely. After a few hours into the game they FINALLY introduce you to some new weapons and the gunplay gets interesting.

 

[DESSTROYER]

so uh they make this all great looking game, then release a horrible demo and decide to completely re-do the game. a year later it's supposed to be all really great and much improved, and it turns out to be the same crap :/

 

[TwwIX]

I wouldn't call the game bad but it is disappointing.
There's practically no storyline and the hero is a ****ing mute.
I can understand why they delayed it and went with the different art direction even though it still has some steam punk elements in it.
Why did they scrap the storyline and waste the great voice talent along with it though?I mean they had Dennis Quaid voice the main guy and Michael Ironside the baddie.Wtf comes to mind.
Oh well,there's plenty of other games coming out this month.

 

[Barney Fife]

I'm still trying to get my money back.

 

[iizbl4ck]

i guess im not going to get this game, they made it seem like they were going to release something that was soooo much better than it was a year ago. Turns out it may be a lil better than before but its disappointing that it didnt live up to the hype.

 

[phantomdesign]

I started playing Neverwinter Nights 2 (single player only; I can't afford the time of an online RPG) . . . so I don't think I'll be finishing timeshift.

 

[iizbl4ck]

i have decided to get the game jus to play it and see what all it has to offer and also try not to compare it with crysis.

 

[MRG]

A few months back, I got around to downloading the TimeShift demo. It was after about 15 minutes or so of playing, that I exited out in disgust & uninstalled the demo. Swearing that I would never play this POS demo again or god forbid the retail game itself.

Well, perhaps I spoke a little too soon.

While at the mall today, I stopped by the local game store. You know the one i'm talking about, the one that always seems to have underage Halo 3 fanatics working there. Since most of the games in stock tend to be more expensive than elsewhere, I hardly ever buy anything from that store. However, they do always have a Bargain bin in the center of the store with very low priced games, even if they do tend to be just mostly low budget, junk. Every so often though, they will have a good game on sale.

Thats where I found TimeShift, with a $9.95 price tag. Hehehe.. It was a mis-priced game, as I saw the same game on the shelf going for like $35. I bet some 16 year old kid spent an hour "browsing" the games, where as he was really picking the price tag off of one game to put onto another, so that when he came back at a later time with money, he could then buy the game. So I guess I owe him thanks. Well I buy it & head home. It installs without a problem, so I first apply the newest v1.2 patch & then head ingame.

I think the game looks & sounds rather good. OK, so maybe it's not Crysis, but it's still rather run. I think the overall lighting & ambient sounds are pretty well done. While true, the game isn't exactly "realistic" looking, in terms of graphical quality, I do think they did a pretty good job with the weather effects & the RTL from the lightning. I was also impressed with the destructible enviroment, even if it is of a limited nature. Still, seeing my rounds blowing chunks of concrete or plaster off the walls or pillars, lent a rather nice dose of realism to the game. The same going for NPC's. I learned that the hard way. I was under fire so I took cover behind a pillar with part of a wall attached. The next thing I knew, the pillar & wall was pretty much gone due to the enemies incoming fire. I died.

The health effects & what happens when you take damage, are the best I have seen in a FPS game to date.

There is a lot more I could say, but I don't wait to spoil it any more than I might already have. Since I have only played for around 30 minutes, I don't yet have an accurate impression of the full game itself. I will say that I find it to be much more enjoyable than the demo was.

-MRG

 

[Asuka]

Ya i rented this on the 360, beat it fun little game with some cool parts. But ya its a real shame they didn't capitalize on the story potential and gameplay elements more. Just think how bad it would have been if it was released back before they got the extra funding.