Games for Lunch: TimeShift
In a nutshell: Call of Duty + Prince of Persia: Sands of Time = TimeShift
2/8/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 3
0:01 A quick initial load, and a rainy futuristic dystopia appears behind the title/menu screen. Shades of
Half-Life 2's totalitarian state.
0:02 Dear lord. A quick look at the options screen shows a function for every single button, control stick and d-pad direction on the 360 controller. Some even have multiple purposes! I hope they have a good tutorial...
0:03 I can choose between Casual, Skilled and Elite difficulties. I'll choose Casual, so I can check things out without stressing out.
0:04 '
The entire building has collapsed and it was on top of a huge underground facility. This might be the cause of the citywide power outage.' As believable TV reporter-speak goes, it's not the best. The introductory cut scene features quick jumps to an attack by an unseen someone in an 'alpha suit.' Time reverses and the collapsed building is back up. 'S.S.A.M' is online. Someone is running through a hallway, screaming for everyone to evacuate. A guy in a time bubble disappears. A suit attaches itself to a guy's body. 'What are you, crazy? The suit's not ready!' a scientist says before being killed in an explosion. The suited guy is saved and teleported out using...time powers?! I'm pretty confused, but pretty intrigued, too.
0:07 'Time jump successful,' says a robotic voice. I'm in an alternate timeline of 1939. Whoops... I accidentally hit a button to skip the cut scene. Now some guy is telling me he 'didn't want to wake [me] until the suit stopped making noises.' For someone from 1939 he's pretty blas&eacure; about a guy in a futuristic super-suit. Maybe this was explained in the skipped cut scene? Anyway, our building is under attack. Time to fight?
0:08 HEAVY shades of
Half-Life 2 as I walk around the bombed-out building and a televised voice drones on about 'registration.' Resistance fighters talk in an off-handed manner about their dilapidated surroundings. Despite the wreckage, everything is kind of shiny and glossy...pretty off-putting. The camera shakes horribly with each explosion...quite annoying.
0:10 My guide and I finally make it to the meeting room, where some 'resistance fighters' drone on about their next attack.
0:12 Suddenly, a sentry busts through a wall and annihilates everyone in the room. I'm left alive and unscathed...until I move, and the sentry notices me. I duck behind something but can't figure out how to take out my weapon and fire back. U R DED. Great...
0:13 'You are a highly respected physicist with a hidden past...' says the loading screen. Subtle. Most good literature I've read doesn't come right out and say the main character has a 'hidden past.'
0:15 This sentry is hilarious. If I stand in the corner and don't take a step, it'll stare right at me without shooting. Standing and waiting makes for a pretty boring game though, so I step out and try to find something to stop it. Soon enough, I'm dead again...
0:17 Oh lord... There's a door through which I'm supposed to go to escape. So I wasn't supposed to fight back. In my defense, this seems like a less-than-intuitive solution for a game based on shooting and time control.
0:18 Heh. My escort jumps a small wall. I try to follow but I can't make it over with my puny jump. I'm annoyed, until a building comes down on the guy. I guess it's my lucky day.
