Timeshift Multiplayer Demo

Time altering mechanics have a long and fruitful history in video games, ever since The Matrix came out and inspired everyone to include a bit of bullet time into the gameplay for good measure. Starting with iconic titles like Max Payne and F.E.A.R., as well as less fortunate examples that have faded into obscurity not long after, gamers went through every possible permutation and modification along the years, although few of them changed all that much.

Timeshift took it one step further and basically developed everything else around it, including the gameplay, story, puzzles and even the name itself. Hence, whether it's slowing down time, stopping it altogether or rewinding it, every form of this particular trend has been integrated into the game, together with a particularly confusing story that, to no one's surprise, involves time travel.

However, unlike most of the other releases out there that tried to make use of these mechanics, Timeshift actually managed to get it right, in the most part. Although not at all perfect, the gameplay is fun and non-repetitive, despite the linear level design and the rather incompetent AI. The weapons feel heavy and dangerous, which is why it is a real pleasure to keep the finger on the trigger and just spray high caliber bullets in slow motion.

When it comes to such a game, the multiplayer component can be quite risky to develop and integrate, because a million things can go wrong and disappoint the players that give it a try. Through some miracle, however, Timeshift makes it work somehow, without dropping the time bending mechanics either, which is saying something. Naturally, they not work as they do in singleplayer, because the matches would look quite disastrous that way, with everyone running around in slow motion and reverting time once very few seconds.

The clever part was to integrate the time gimmick into a sort of grenade that can be picked up from around the maps, which, when thrown, creates a small sphere in which everything moves incredibly slow. Thus, only those who inadvertently step into these spheres are affected by the time dilation, while the rest can just go on as usual. Naturally, throwing these grenades is the skillful part, since they can have a lot of unforeseen effects as well.

In the end, when it comes to multiplayer, Timeshift can definitely be enjoyed by everyone, even if it only includes classic modes like CTF, deathmatch and a few others. However, the slow motion gimmick works wonders and it can be the source of endless interesting situations, especially when more than a few players are sharing the same server.