Plagued by lengthy delays and a first attempt that just didn’t have what it takes to go head-to-head with the PlayStation 3’s launch day shooter (the addictively enjoyable Resistance: Fall of Man), TimeShift has been reworked into a playable and often enjoyable first-person shooter with an interesting sci-fi twist. Sierra takes us into a possible future or alternate past as a hero who can bend time takes on a number of enemies to get his revenge on the man who wronged him. The problem is that even with a futuristic gimmick, this one remains to be fun-yet-familiar action game.

TimeShift has a story somewhere among the shooting and time-bending but you wouldn’t really know it because rarely does the game stop to explain why you’re chasing the game’s villain through space and time. You see, you play a physicist who returns to his experimental facility only to find that he and all his colleagues have been betrayed by Dr. Aiden Krone, who steals an experimental Beta Suit that allows him to make a Time Jump across the space-time continuum. The problem is that Krone’s betrayal has altered the course of history as we know it and he has installed himself as ruler of an alternate reality where the rain hardly stops and the last good citizens of the Alpha District have started an uprising against Krone. Wearing a Beta Suit, you jump into time to stop Krone once and for all. It sounds like an interesting setup, doesn’t it? The problem is that these bits of information are all pieced together by the game’s manual and the few cut scenes that pop up throughout the game.

A wrinkle in time

The game really begins after you Time Jump into the back alley of an alternate 1930s. You find yourself disoriented as the echo of gunfire can be heard in the backgrounds and explosions that have chunks of concrete raining down around you. You are rescued by a group of resistance fighters that are struggling to restore order and put Dr. Krone in his place. Joining the resistance, you pick up arms against Krone and his vast army that includes futuristic mechanized monstrosities. So you can imagine you have your hands full and it’s certainly not going to be easy.

Thankfully, you’ll have an interesting arsenal on your side. Your list of weapons includes pistols and machine guns but also guns like the ScatterGun (a sort of shotgun) or the ThunderBolt (a crossbow that shoots an energy bolt). You can use laser trip mines or toss grenades that can actually stick to the enemy’s armor. The weapons come with their primary and secondary fire and attack capabilities and they simply make the shooting acting fun.

Please be kind ... rewind

Still, what sets this game apart from every other first-person shooter is the Beta Suit. The suit has the capabilities to bend time (called TimeShifting) such as the ability to slow time, reverse it, fast forward time and even stop it altogether. By pressing the L1 button you can activate the TimeShifting power of the suit but the three different time manipulating abilities are mapped to the face buttons. These abilities are used to solve the game’s puzzles. To race through a corridor that will explode if you ran through it on your own would mean certain death but if you were to rewind the exact moment the corridor explodes and you can safely run through it. Timeshifting also plays a role in making the action more diverse. The Time Stop feature, for instance, allows you to freeze everything long enough for you to walk up to an enemy and snatch the gun from his hands. 

Time is on my side 

Even with these neat abilities and cool weapons, the game seldom feels fresh enough to rival recent first-person shooters like Call of Duty 4 or Halo 3 for the Xbox 360. In fact, the various locales you’ll visit throughout your adventure just lead to scenarios that have that been-there-done-that feel to them. Of course, there are moments that really drive home the feeling that you’re playing a different kind of shooter. It is these moments (many of which come later in the game) that make this game fun enough to see through to the end. There’s also a good multiplayer mode to look forward to when you’re done with the single-player game.

TimeShift is actually a pretty game and there are times when the visual effects and character models do look really good. Then again, the character models can look a bit odd in certain places and sometimes the faces look really unrealistic. At least the backgrounds look amazing and there’s diversity in the locales you’ll be visiting. The game also uses rag-doll effects and puts them to good use. You won’t help but giggle at grenades launching enemies up in the air or watching them flail their arms comically when you toss a sticky grenade on them. The game’s sound, sadly, is a forgettable aspect of the game that doesn’t add a good soundtrack or stellar voice acting. The game does offer detailed sound effects that sound good when you play the game on a good sound system.

TimeShift for the PlayStation 3 is a by-the-numbers first-person shooter that might not be as amazing as it could have been but this is still a very engaging action game with enough sci-fi shooting action for fans of the genre. Yes, the PS3 has seen better (on launch day, no less), but for those who like their shooters with an interesting twist then this is definitely a game you will one to pick up. The more casual fan of the genre should just give this game a nice weekend rental.

Gameplay: 7.5
The strafing and shooting is typical of most first-person shooters but it’s the TimeShifting ability that adds variety to the gameplay. Still, this gimmick isn’t inventive enough to save it from a confusing story or the occasionally been-there-done-that level design that mixes in with the game’s most stellar moments.

Graphics: 8.0
Visually, we’ve seen better on the PS3 but what is seen here isn’t so bad considering there are some wonderfully detailed backgrounds and, of course, the dazzling special effects. The character models can look a bit bulky at times and some faces just don’t look as good as some others.

Sound: 7.5
The game’s soundtrack is not as good as it should have been and the voice acting sounds phoned in but at least it’s not too horrible. There are some excellent sound effects that sound amazing if your console is hooked up to a great sound system.

Difficulty: Medium
Even in the game’s medium difficulty setting, the enemy can overwhelm you and many of them can shoot more accurately than your allies. There are also some challenging situations that will have you glad that there’s a checkpoint save.

Concept: 7.5
The Beta Suit’s TimeShifting abilities make for some inventive gameplay moments and pausing time enough to snatch an enemy’s weapons from them is always good for a laugh. Still, bending time is the only element that sets this shooter apart. There’s a good online multiplayer mode, though.

Multiplayer: 8.0
Up to 16 gamers can take each another on in the game’s online multiplayer mode that is actually very good despite a few slowdowns here and there. The game mode types are typical Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch variations and you can always modify multiplayer game modes to add variety to the matches.

Overall: 7.5
While not as brilliant or as stunningly beautiful as other first-person shooters already available, TimeShift is still a fun shooter that plays up the action rather well. Despite a disorienting story that will leave gamers confused by the plot, it’s the action and time-manipulating gimmick that will hook gamers in long enough to see it through to the end. It’s a fun game but the PS3 has seen better.