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Timeshift Review (continued)
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Manufacturer: Sierra
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ESRB Rating: Mature
Platform(s): Windows XP, Windows 2000
Release Date: October 30, 2007
Average Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
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Retail Price: $19.99
Online Sale Price: $9.97
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More User Submitted Timeshift Reviews
Date: 2007-12-18
Fun Game - for beefed up PCs only
I remember playing the first demo for this game a year or so ago. This final version has greatly enhanced graphics from that demo. If you don't have a powerful PC, then I would not recommend this game. Also, the installation program advises you to download the "special" Timeshift NVidia video driver - DON'T DO IT! Its really not necessary and it will mess up your system if you are running video in SLI mode.
Despite the goofy install, the game is worth playing. The timeshift gimmick is fun and some of the levels are challenging without being too frustrating.
Date: 2007-12-08
Not bad at all. Fun, and a little distracting. Looks great too
This is a classic shooter with no visible story. As lots of folks have pointed out, it is amazingly derivative of lots of other games out there. There is a moronic Utopian/Distopian guy talking through it just like Half Life 2. There is time manipulation (really slow motion more than anything else) like FEAR and many others. But in reality, its actually quite a decent shooter.
It kind of reminds me of SIN Episodes, in that its not massively original, but its really kind of good actually. Not a classic, but a worthy addition to any collection. Certainly as good as the massively overhyped and under delivered Crysis train wreck.
As a couple of other reviewers pointed out, its not worth the premium price. This game is a classic example of great technology and a stupid story with no real objective. The artwork, graphics, movement, AI and general gameplay are all quite good. But unfortunately, its wasted on a non story that doesn't go anywhere.
Date: 2007-12-02
Huge amount of fun!
Timeshift may not win any awards for creativity, but it was an incredibly fun game that I was totally immersed in. The time shifting function was not unlike F.E.A.R.'s, except Timeshift added the ability to stop and reverse time. And the dystopian atmosphere of the game was very similar to Half Life 2.
Single player mode is very important to me as I'm not into internet-based games, and Timeshift definitely does not disappoint. I like to play these games fairly slowly, explore everything as I go, and, with a game that has great visuals -- like Timeshift -- I probably spent 20 to 25 hours playing.
It's hard to put into words exactly what I liked about Timeshift. But I guess it's similar to what I liked about HL2; the feeling that you have physically visited a well-realized world, not that you've simply been playing a game. I personally love crawling through holes in the ground and finding your way through an elaborate environment that spans from a broken-down city to the beautiful countryside, and caves, a zeppelin and then back to the broken down city. When a game feels like an epic odyssey, you know you've enjoyed that game.
There are a couple of things that kept this from being a full 5 stars. The AI is generally excellent but occasionally limited. It says the wrong thing at certain times. Also, it is oftentimes too easy to dodge the opposition. For example, in some cases you can hide behind a closed door, let your health rebuild and then open the door and fire away. And then repeat until all are gone.
As others have mentioned, the crossbow makes it quite easy to take the opponent out. But, by the same token, it's a very fun weapon to use in certain situations as it is so effective. The scope function on the crossbow is like nothing I've seen; very impressive.
All in all I loved the game and found it hugely entertaining. The sound and music are fantastic. The visuals are different from usual, muted and almost matte; but absolutely effective and beautiful. So if you like games like Half Life and F.E.A.R. you will enjoy Timeshift. The puzzles in Timeshift are not super complex, but you do need to think in multiple dimensions to solve them. And the puzzles are the type that after you figure them out, you have a smile on your face, and are thinking "oh yeah, now I see!"
Date: 2007-11-30
Fun, but a bit short considering the premium price
This game ran well on my 4 year old Pentium 4, 6800 Ultra, machine. The same machine totally choked on Crysis. I felt Timeshift was a little short, less than 10 hours. The play reminded me of the original Half Life with respect to big hokey buttons to push and levers to pull to make things happen. Some of the weapons seemed unsatisfyingly uneffective, with entire clips needed to down an enemy while other weapons were deavestating. The quad vehicle was a joke, at least on my computer, it was very difficult to steer and run, and there was almost no motor sound until you let up on the throttle and then you got a little fart sound. All the other sounds were fantastic (I have a Turtle Beach sound card and 5.1 surround). I had no crashes, the game played smooth and like a movie.
Date: 2007-11-12
May very well be the best FPS I have ever played
I almost missed this release amid the huge slew of first person shooters which came out recently. While I have not hit the new episode of Half-life 2, I have played the first episode as well as Bioshock recently. I would say this game tops those easily.
Lets start with the pro's:
1. The game was built for both XP and Vista, so none of that sad little marketing ploy of "You need the amazing powers of Vista to play this." The visual difference for games such as Shadowrun and Halo 2 wasn't enough to merit an upgrade and it is good to see that this game appeals to everyone (unless you are a Mac user, not sure if it is available for that).
2. Looks absolutely amazing and runs very smooth on my machine. I recently went through a pc upgrade for some new gaming. Using a Core 2 Duo, 8800 GTS, and even just 2 gigs of ram, this game looked wonderful. I haven't seen quality like this before in any game. While Half'Life 2 did very well, Timeshift's use of focal distance, blurring effects and water reflections was amazing.
3. The control worked well in this game. I love games where you can load it up and start playing immediately without fiddling with buttons for the next few hours. If you have played any PC FPS before, you will fall into this easily enough.
4. Gameplay. Odd that this is actually last on my list of Pro's, but it is the last thing I see when starting a game. The reason I value this game over any Half-Life or Bioshock is simply the amazing gameplay. The use of time powers to reverse, slow or stop time is incredible. While you may play those annoying teeter-totter puzzles of Half-Life just so Valve can show off a physics engine, the added dimension of time gives this game a complete edge over the competition.
While these powers did make combat interesting, I didn't feel that they unbalanced the game. Even on the normal skill level I sure died enough times to prove that.
And the con's:
1. I had a score of rather nasty crashes when I tried to play with the game settings. I use on board sound in my machine, which usually sounds like total garbage in any game. I went into the sound settings to attempt to turn down the default quality, and locked up my computer. After resetting and starting the game once again, ALL of the default configs were gone. Sound, Video, Control, everything was wiped and would not restore.
Attempting to manually fix everything caused one of the worst error messages I had ever seen. How often does a game dump you into a debug screen full of what looked like assembly code?
I did a reinstall and never touched the settings again, game worked well after that but I was too scared to try and fix my sound or play with my video modes after that.
2. I felt a distinct lack of plot details when I started into this game. You pick up bit and pieces as you go along (Much like the tape recorders in Bioshock) but I miss the days where you started at the beginning of the story and followed it along. Having to read a plot summary later to fill in gaps isn't my idea of a very deep gaming experience.
Overall, I loved this game. I never touched the multiplayer aspect of it, but I would assume that since you wander around and shoot things in both modes, the multiplayer works well. From what I have read, the use of time powers makes an interesting experience.
If possible I would give this game 4.5 stars due to the lack of an engrossing storyline as well as my crash issue. But then again, most gamers would shell out the 15 bucks and buy a decent card to avoid this issue altogether.
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