Timeshift (Page 2 of 2)

Not everything has changed, of course; the core gameplay elements of the original are still around. You take on the role of a time-dancing warrior whose unique, full-body S.A.M. suit (short for "Strategic Systems for Adaptable Metacognition") allows the wearer to manipulate its position in time. S.A.M. -- which will be a sort of character unto itself, as compensation for the game's voiceless protagonist -- can either decelerate, stop, or reverse what goes on around you. But there's a catch: it can't affect your own actions, just everyone else's.

That means that your actions have consequences that you cannot undo. Get shot, and you can reverse time and extract the bullet from your abdomen, but the damage to you and the suit is done. Fall from a rooftop, and you may be able to reverse the motion of a passing bird for a few brief heartbeats, but your body won't swing back from its plummeting course. The purpose of the S.A.M. suit in TimeShift won't be to undo your mistakes; it'll be to provide you with a new method of interacting with your environment.

Delicious shaders

Delicious shaders

And thanks to the game's engine and AI, that environment is eminently believable and hellishly entertaining. Stop time in the middle of a rain-drenched engagement, and it isn't just the bullets that freeze in the air -- it's the thick droplets of rain. Move close to one of them and look through it, and you'll see the world realistically distorted through its lens.

Dash up to a frozen enemy, grab his rifle away from him, then duck around behind him and restart time, and watch his shocked reaction as he looks at his empty hands, then up to where you used to be. Chuckle as he grabs another gun from a fallen comrade and runs over to where he last saw you, then rewind time so he's back where he started and plug him at close range.

It is the detail of a game that makes its world convincing, and TimeShift, despite its admittedly implausible subject matter, still manages to suspend disbelief with its gorgeous visuals and sweet AI. But it's a title's gameplay that makes it worthy of the triple-A designation, and it's in that gameplay that, if Saber has done its job this time around, TimeShift should truly shine. Considering its rocky history, the game has a lot to live up to -- and this time, Saber can't turn back the clock if things go wrong.

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