Xbox 360 Underrated Gem: Timeshift

This is a series of gameplay vids I'm doing highlighting overlooked games for the various consoles I own.

Timeshift is a FPS that follows more of the feel of Half-Life than Halo, and that gives you the ability to alter the flow of time.


The story follows...Well, I'm not actually sure what's going on in the majority of the story in this game, and story based gamers will be sorely disappointed. They have story elements, but you'll be scratching your head over them throughout most of the game. This may seem like a big loss to some of you, and will turn you off to this game, but even with a weak story, the game is still fun to play.

As much as I like the story in some FPS games, it all just comes down to there are enemies shooting the hell out of you, so shoot the hell out of them back. It's fun gameplay that's the true motivator in gaming anyways, and from a gameplay standpoint, Timeshift is very solid.

The single player mode is lengthy, has good action, and the time shifting abilities feel like more than a gimmick. Sure, there are some scripted gimmicky events that force you to use them, but aside from those, they become a part of how you play the game. Slow down time in the heat of battle to give yourself the upper hand against your opponents, or pause time to let your health refill. Get a grenade stickied to you? Rewind time to right before it was thrown and move out of the way.

The only flaw in the time abilities is that there's only one button that controls the time abilities, and most of the time the game automatically switches to the one it deems as the most important one to use at the time. You can switch between them yourself as well, but it feels a little clunky. It's sometimes helpful when the game chooses for you, but other times it causes you to choose slow when you want to pause, and vice versa. Overall, it usually works pretty well.

The biggest complaint I've read about this game is that fact that you've seen it all before. Overall, this game has a lot of the Half-Life 2 feel to it. There's something about it that reminds me a lot of HL2. That being said, yes, the game isn't 100% original in feel, but it is still a fun FPS game, and it's worth a look for those who don't put a huge amount of emphasis on story, or even realism in their FPS games.

Overall it has it's flaws, and it won't be the greatest FPS you've ever played, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this game. If you're a member of the CoD generation of gaming, who judges any game no matter how uncomparable to CoD, you won't find much here for you.

Timeshift is also available on the PS3 and PC

NOTE: I only took this game online once back when I still had a Gold subscription to Xbox Live, but I don't remember much about how it played online. It's been too long.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• Xbox
• 360
• Underrated
• Gem
• Timeshift
• Microsoft
• Video
• Game
• First
• Person
• Shooter
• FPS
• Saber
• Interactive
• Sierra
• Entertainment

[AngryLoo]

I had this game on PS3, I didn't finish it but I got quite far in it and, well... it was OK. Enjoyable mediocrity is how I'd describe it. I certainly wouldn't consider it an underrated gem.

[thetomtom360]

just so you know this game was very very good it just didn't get the publicity it deserved

[teh2Dgamer]

@ghosthunt4123 Yes, Mediocre Warfare 2 was definitely not better than just about every other FPS this gen. Would you people quit buying bland crap? I'd call CoD a plain vanilla shooter, but that's not fair to plain vanilla.

[ghosthunt4123]

@IGB06255 black op's but not mw2

[lolmechy]

I would not use the term "underrated gem" but its still a fun game.

[IGB06255]

this owns the Call of duty Series 100 times

[Ben0itZ]

I loved this game, the graphics were awesom and multiplayer was also really fun they should have released it the same time as cod4

[teh2Dgamer]

@MikeReiner Or to rephrase, I'm afraid the new DX game will make DX fans forget about their dislike for IW.

[teh2Dgamer]

@MikeReiner I hope it's good to, but it'll probably be good in a non-Deus Ex way. Invisible War watered down enough of the original's elements to get more mainstream appeal, but my fear is that the new one will make DX fans forget about IW (which I really enjoyed too don't get me wrong, and taken by itself it's still a great game IMO).

[MikeReiner]

@teh2Dgamer Certainly not baseless assumptions. Like I said, cautiously optimistic.

Between Thief 4 and the new DX, Eidos has a lot to live up to.. probably impossible.