TimeShifters Reviews

🥚

the timesplitters we have at home. has a few things going for it, but lacks a lot of the charm that made its inspiration so endearing. the level design is pretty forgettable, usually just a series of rooms with nothing all that interesting in them. sometimes it can be a bit disorienting when there aren't all that many things making a room feel notable; sure, the pub has the pool tables, but there are multiple rooms where those pool tables are present. they also aren't entirely friendly to navigate due to some design elements, like npc placements (which sometimes are just spawns that occur directly in front of you and give you little time to react) or the design of some encounters themselves (such as one enemy which looks a lot like a world object that can kill you very quickly, and likely before you realise what's actually shooting you.) some of the story levels require multiple playthroughs to play well, but not in a good way. there's also the issue of the visual and audio design; at best, it's bland and uninteresting. at worst, it can be kind of creepy, and not in the way that i think the devs intended. the animations can also look very amateurish, and the character select animations usually lack that proper characterisation to them that made those in the original so charming. audio-wise, it's a toss-up between sound effects recycled from their inspiration, very stock-sounding sounds, and a soundtrack that's fairly forgettable. to be fair, as this is an indie project with a very small team, this is relatively negligible. there's also a lack of depth to the gameplay; many of the guns feel about the same, just with different visuals and sound effects, and the ai is more miss than hit, usually standing still to shoot at whatever it wants dead, with the effect usually more depending on what weapon it's holding. they also don't seem to need to reload ever, which makes an npc with a shotgun feel far more deadly than it should. positives, however, there are still a few things to enjoy about this game; there's a lot of things in the environment that are surprisingly interactive (i was genuinely impressed when i discovered the pool table was fully functional), there are more thought put into the challenges than just shooting ranges, and sometimes there's funny little environmental gags like placing an enemy facing a vending machine. there are some more unconventional weapons, too, though these often feel like you're handicapping yourself as at least half of them don't feel near powerful enough to warrant using against ai. for the price, you get a lot of content and an honestly interesting look at a cute indie game inspired by some cult classic shooters, but beneath the surface there's a lot to be desired. i would recommend it if you were a fan of the old rare/free radical shooters and all, but if you don't have that investment, there's nothing for you here.

Its just TimeSplitters, but instead of Cortez I have some pub crawling British twat as the default character.

Looks like Timesplitters, but really doesn't live up to it at all. Game feel is pretty poor, and the level designs are annoying and uninteresting. The art is clearly going for a style, but I think it's pretty rough to look at, and the game in general on both art and tech sides doesn't have much polish. I obviously didn't get very far in, so maybe the later levels or the multiplayer content has more going for it. I just saw all the reviews saying it was Timesplitters PC and was let down. It is very cheap though, and has a lot of extra content, so it might be worth it for you anyway.

[h1] In the early days of the PS2, the developer Free Radical surprised us with a technically impressive first-person shooter: Timesplitters. Is the indie developer FossettGaming able to revive that old nostalgic gaming feeling? Spoiler Alert: Yes & No[/h1] [h1] Additional Info:[/h1] [table] [tr] [th]Content & Value[/th] [th]I completed TimeShifters in 3.9 hours after acquiring every achievement in the game. For those who want achievements: This game is quite easy to 100%[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Mode[/td] [td]Single Player & Online PvP including Leaderboards[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Controller Recommended?[/td] [td]No, this is perfectly playable with KB+M[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Is it worth buying?[/td] [td]Yes, even without a discount. Don't forget to download the free Expansion Pack in the DLC tab[/td] [/tr] [/table] [quote]Follow our Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116/] IndieGems[/url], to see more high-quality Indie reviews regularly.[/quote] [h1]In-Depth[/h1] [h3]Story & Details[/h3] Starting in secret, you infiltrate a Russian research laboratory with a sniper rifle and silenced pistol, steal confidential data, and explore the hidden complex inside a dam and even in the wild west. These are only a few of the plot segments you may choose from at the beginning of the game / story mode. You won't be ignored for long, though, as guards and surveillance cameras, among other tricks, are aimed at you (assuming you haven't destroyed or turned them off), the alarm goes off, and you are forced to remain silent. The narrative is not sequential; rather, it is customized for each of the game's plot segments. In contrast to TimeSplitters 2, this game does not have a "real" story mode with cutscenes. You select a level, get three sentences of introductions and then go off into the Timesplitter-like gameplay loop of shooting, collecting the loot at the end of the level and make it back in one piece. Your life energy is relatively limited (depending on the difficulty you choose), there are no medipaks for miles around and reset points don't exist in the levels, but to be fair: they're relatively short (5mins each level). So you have no choice but to proceed with caution and find one of the rare armored vests as quickly as possible. On the other hand, you will come across plenty of weapons and ammunition along the way: killed enemies always leave their arsenal behind, and there are also nice gadgets such as cups, plates/knifes to throw or mines hidden in some corners. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3407430870 But blind raging isn't the goal of your mission; you have a number of goals to accomplish, but they're all essentially the same: collecting something at the end of the level and come back. Along the journey, more mini-tasks are introduced, such as using a gun to shoot a helicopter out of the sky or killing a specific amount of zombies. Be cautious because more attackers will spawn to murder you on your way back once you acquire the item at the end. Personally, I wish there had been more "story snippets" at the mission select screen rather than just three sentences, or at the very least, more tasks inside a level like in TimeSplitters 2. Story is definitely not the strongest suit of TimeShifters, but I don't see it too critical, since its his first Indie attempt. The range of scenarios is Timesplitters 2's unique trait, and you get that and more here as well. You will finish numerous tasks (apart from the story mode) in various areas during the game's duration. Kill alien invaders on a desert planet, eliminate snipers in the skylines, drive your vehicle around a racecourse, play bowling, or put an end to cowboys and their alcohol (?) barrels in the Wild West. The most enjoyable aspect of TimeShifters is undoubtedly the missions. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3408057649 The ingenious thing (apart from the mostly lovingly designed ambience with matching background music): Almost every era has its own weapons. In the 23rd century, you shoot around with plasma guns, make the western town unsafe with a revolver and shotgun, kill mobsters with a Tommy gun or tear massive tin robots off their feet with a guided missile launcher. Gameplay-wise, it's exactly what you'd expect from a TimeSplitters 2-like on PC via Steam, and even better, it offers a free expansion for you to claim: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1638460/EXPANSION_PACK_1/ [h3]Gameplay, Feel & Criticism[/h3] Using the weaponry is simple: you can use the zoom to deliver accurate shots or rely on the semi-automatic spray and pray. You also use different buttons to control the two firing modes of some weapons separately (e.g. grenade throw and normal shot for the semi-automatic). The best thing about TimeShifters is that the enjoyment continues long after the story mode credits have rolled. In addition to hunting the aliens to hell with a friend, the increasingly challenging levels entice you to replay by providing other characters/ways and more fun. Each mission in a single scenario offers extra characters who give different ways to do the task (for instance, one character goes left, the other right). Apart from the narrative, the Multiplayer & Map Editor menu features also entice you to stay. The Multiplayer mode offers pure action: Here you fight in leagues with numerous maps against a varying number of nimble bots or players around the world. The focus is not always on the body count typical of Deathmatch, sometimes you have to occupy marked zones or even play... Football. In the first two Timesplitters, you have to destroy all the windows in a level within a limited time frame (sometimes using bricks), fight off countless waves of undead without leaving a predetermined area, or sneak through areas with a silencer and sniper rifle. Don't worry: everything is here in TimeShifters as well. [h3]Conclusion[/h3] What a stunner of a first-person shooter: it's amazing what the developers at FossettGaming can achieve. While Timesplitters already offered convincing technology and plenty of first-person fun, TimeShifters takes a spot in almost all disciplines, except for the story. A story mode, rich in scenarios, weapons and a wide variety of characters, lacking in depth and cutscenes. Tons of arcade and challenge missions and the diverse multiplayer variants will not let you go so quickly - also because the difficulty level goes way up in the higher levels. Only the story (I just wish there was more depth) and a few story levels (too small) are a bit of a complaint. On the other hand, the visual and acoustic aspects are pleasing on both platforms: the atmospheric soundtrack and the varied, always fluid visuals are the ingredients for a gripping first-person shooter. [h2] There is only one piece of advice for fans of first-person shooters, especially if you want to support indie developers: Buy it! 9/10 [/h2]