I think this is a new, not rubbish, Timeshift demo. It’s over on Gamershell.com There seems to be separate US & UK/Euro versions. Only the UK/Euro one had mirrors when I looked.
Is this the game they delayed for 6 months in order to add The Generic in?
I played a demo of it a long time ago and it was average in the extreme. I think it’s been re-worked, and read somewhere it was much improved. I’m assuming that’s what this is. Will see.
Yeah, it’s a much different game today than it was two years ago.
No, they delayed it for 6 months to make it better. Then they delayed it a full year after that to make it generic. So now it’s releasing against Bioshock, Halo 3, CoD4, UT3, and HL2: Ep2. And it’s the blandest looking thing you ever saw.
Good move, guys.
So played the demo through once. The level is VERY Half Life, with video screens making ominous announcements above the city streets, and the rebellion in progress below… Hard to get a feel for the timeshifting. So far, it just feels like FEAR. So on first glance, a FEAR/Half Life cross breed… Had to drop resolution to 1680 on a GTS, which is surprising. Hmm. Might replay, as the COD demo hasn’t materialised yet, but nothing’s particularly calling to me.
Is this the same as the demo that became available on XBL Marketplace last month or so? I agree that it was mildly entertaining, but will be lost in all the shuffle of shooters coming out this season.
Here’s my experience with the demo:
[ul][li] I run around until I die, weaponless and unable to defend myself. “You have died. Remember: using your suit’s ability to manipulate time is vital to your survival.” Yeah, I kind of figured, considering it’s the only interface available to me.[/li][li] I have to sit through the opening cutscene again after I start the level over. Joy.[/li][li] This time, a weapon appears in my hands as I’m leaving the initial room. Was it on the floor? Why put it somewhere I might miss, rather than, you know, in my inventory?[/li][li] Surprise, having a weapon was a lot more vital to my survival than the ability to manipulate time.[/li][li] There’s a Dr. Breen-ish character droning on about how the uprising is doomed to failure over a PA system in the background. The whole thing feels like a blue-tinted version of Half-Life 2, with bullet time. I hope time starts shifting in a more interesting fashion soon.[/li][li] Someone is shouting instructions. “I’ll cover you. Go go go!” Is he talking to me? The game hasn’t established any sort of affiliation for me yet. Nobody else is go go going, so I guess he’s my superior officer or something. “Come on, get in there!” Get in where? Towards the giant robot? I have a fucking crossbow.[/li][li] “Hurry, get in that building!” Why didn’t you say so? I enter a nearby building. “What are you waiting for?” If the game had a better track record of conveying what I’m supposed to be doing, I’d assume this was a clue that I entered the wrong building.[/li][li] The game instructs me to use the “rewind” power to reverse a tunnel collapse event long enough to get through it. It’s a bit like the Sands of Time dagger rewind, except I can move around independently during the rewind. Neat.[/li][li] I can take an enemy’s gun away during a time freeze. Okay. Now give me a reason to do that instead of just shooting him.[/li][li] I wander around lost for a while until I find another hole in the floor I have to jump through. A lot of jumping through floor holes in this game. If only they could’ve made shifting time as pervasive a theme.[/li][li] I freeze time to stop a concrete pipe from seesawing into the mud[/li][li] The aiming reticule doubles as a compass showing where nearby enemies are. That’s a slick way of conveying that data, more games should rip that off.[/li][li] You know how in every FPS they send waves of enemies at you after you take control of a turret? In this one, the enemies and the turret showed up simultaneously. It’s an improvement.[/ul][/li]Short version: it’s Half-Life 2 minus the compelling presentation, plus time-manipulation puzzles that you solve the exact same way (press right bumper!) every time.
I’ve read that the original demo was steampunk-themed. A style injection like that could really have saved my perception of the game.
The Original demo wasn’t great, but I have to say I liked it a lot more than the current demo.
The game even have a crossbow with a scope! Really!
Yeah, cheap Half Life 2 clone, but with rain and time powers. And some time puzzles instead of physics puzzles. And worse combat, i don’t like how enemies just eat lead withouth problems and when their HP hit 0, they die. And worse characters models. And…
Having played the original demo, which was one of the least compelling demos I have ever played, I think I will pass on this one.
This sounds like the same demo that is out on XBL? I played through it and it was spectacularly uninteresting. I mean, come on guys, can you rip off HL2 in a more obvious way? good point about the reticule/compass thing Jim, i really liked that as well. The timeflow thing seemed too gimmicky to be of any real use.
Honestly, normally I’d say give it a chance, but it isn’t worth it.
At all.
Well you know maybe I spoke too hastily. $4.99 Timeshift is proving quite enjoyable half an hour in, and seems to have a similar alternate tech-Nazi storyline to $30 Wolfenstein :)