Platform: PC,
Xbox 360 Genre: First Person Shooter Publisher: Atari Developer: Saber Interactive ETA: Spring 2006
TimeShift
Time
has been a popular topic in science fiction for decades.There have been countless stories about people traveling to
the distant future, or being visited by someone from the future.In recent years, the concept of people going back in time,
changing history, and as such, creating a different future have become
quite popular, and it is just such a premise that players will be
greeted by as they play TimeShift, a FPS currently slated for the PC,
and Xbox 360.
So,
who is the game’s hero, and how does he get himself into such a
temporal predicament?In
TimeShift, players take control of retired Colonel Michael Swift, who
has been chosen by the US government to test their Quantum Suit and
Quantum Transporter, which together can allow someone to travel through
time.As the test is about
to start, a mysterious group attacks the laboratory,
and as this happens, Col. Swift is temporarily sent to the year
1900. Upon his return he discovers that somehow the timeline has been
altered and things are no longer as they were.Now players have to figure out what happened, and find a way to
fix it.
Tapping
into this time travel theme in the narrative, the game’s developer,
Saber Interactive, will incorporate time into the gameplay mechanics of
TimeShift.Basically,
players will be able to stop, slow down, and reverse the flow of time
in-game through the use of Col. Swift’sQuantum
Suit, as they navigate each level.To a degree this sounds vaguely reminiscent to some of the time
manipulation found in the Prince of Persia games, though in this case it
doesn’t appear that this gameplay feature is intended as a sort of
mulligan option.
The
suit will also serve a more conventional role over the course of the
game.More obvious
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abilities
will include acting as armor while under enemy fire, as well as
protecting Swift from
nasty time distortions.However,
if players constantly dabbling with time, the suit will run out of
power, and be unable to provide any sort of protection.
While
players are messing with time, and blowing things up, they can expect to
play through approximately 35 different missions, all with some spiffy
visuals.This game has been
in production for a while now, so we’re slowly seeing TimeShift come
together for its June release.It’s
no mean feat to try and stand out in a genre as congested as that of the
first person shooter, but hopefully this use of time manipulation will
do the trick for TimeShift.