NDM
10-29-2007, 03:28 AM
May 2, 2005 - I was having a conversation the other day about how gaming needs more titles with gimmicks, even if they're cheesy ones. Take 100 Bullets, for example. The premise in the comic book was that you were sent a briefcase with a gun and a 100 bullets, and you could kill one person without getting arrested for murder. When Acclaim decided to make a game out of this, they took out the ammo limitation, and it became a standard shooter. But then the publisher folded and the game was canceled. Perhaps they'd angered the gods. The point is, a little innovation and risk can go a long way, all the more so in this age of sequelitis and franchise dominance. Enter TimeShift, due out in October, an initially standard-looking shooter, but for the fact that the player has complete control over the flow of time.
Now, you may already be forming comparisons to the new Prince of Persia games, but it's a very different dynamic. Instead of having a limited number of rewinds that pull you out of a pointy abyss, time works in both directions, and you draw the power from a regenerating meter. And not only can you go back and fast forward, you can also stop time or slow it to a crawl.
Naturally, stopping time uses up your suit's power the fastest, since it's probably the most useful tool in the arsenal. During the presentation, Atari showed us one example of a log you have to run up and jump off of to clear some boulders that are blocking your path. The problem is that the log is on a natural lever and dips down before you can get to the end of it. However, by freezing time, you freeze the physics involved, and you'll clear it easily.
To be fair, though, TimeShift doesn't look like another run-and-gun shooter with a cool idea tacked on. Your control of time looks like it's integrated into gameplay--not for just a few obligatory jumps. Judging by what we saw, you will have to make extensive but careful use of the feature, because there will be a lot of heavily-armed enemies to fight, minefields, bridges about to detonate, and several set pieces. One featured an explosive train car that had to blow open a door, only there's a guy in a tower with a rocket launcher who will blow it up before it gets there, ruining your mission. Being able to rewind time rewinds him, so if he hits the train car, you're not toast. Just run it back a few seconds and take another shot at him.
With time control on your side, the designers can stock the areas with a more realistic level of defense and security. The big bad guy can have a heavily fortified base, with sniper towers, trenches, Howitzer-sized guns and roving patrols. You can't work your way in, picking them off with a sniper rifle. You'll have to dive right in and make a mess.
And boy, does it get messy. In this version, targets hit with heavy weapons will gib in a way I haven't seen since the good old days of Quake. I mean exploding bodies. This ain't for the kids. Manipulating time allows you to watch the flying ragdolls in excruciating detail, right in front of your nose, and you can hit them multiple times, basically turning their bodies into skipping stones. There will be around 10 weapons in the final version, each with an alt fire and melee attack, but you'll only be able to carry up to three at a time. They felt this was a more realistic approach to a shooter, and it works pretty well. Bad guys drop the weapons they're using, and you can swap on-the-fly as circumstances dictate.
We got to see a pistol with a full auto mode, a sniper rifle, assault rifle with a grenade launcher alt, a crossbow that shoots fuzzy energy bolts, and a laser-guided rocket launcher. Although it's not an otherworldly arsenal, every weapon looks futuristic, and the pistol has a brutal, spiked hand guard that should put a dent in even the most uncooperative enemy. It also sounds like you'll be able to grab a guy's weapon when you freeze time and turn it against them before they even get a chance to blink.
Screenshot:http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/3992/timeshift20050502043749ef5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Demo(GamersHell):http://www.gamershell.com/downloads/init.php
Triler:Version 1(movie):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRsCjxout40
Version 2(demo):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIeZ7N3PoA4
My opinon: Graphic look good suprise me that it not requeires DirectX 10! Good plot so i think the game is going to be good, for me the person who loves first person shoters!;-)
Now, you may already be forming comparisons to the new Prince of Persia games, but it's a very different dynamic. Instead of having a limited number of rewinds that pull you out of a pointy abyss, time works in both directions, and you draw the power from a regenerating meter. And not only can you go back and fast forward, you can also stop time or slow it to a crawl.
Naturally, stopping time uses up your suit's power the fastest, since it's probably the most useful tool in the arsenal. During the presentation, Atari showed us one example of a log you have to run up and jump off of to clear some boulders that are blocking your path. The problem is that the log is on a natural lever and dips down before you can get to the end of it. However, by freezing time, you freeze the physics involved, and you'll clear it easily.
To be fair, though, TimeShift doesn't look like another run-and-gun shooter with a cool idea tacked on. Your control of time looks like it's integrated into gameplay--not for just a few obligatory jumps. Judging by what we saw, you will have to make extensive but careful use of the feature, because there will be a lot of heavily-armed enemies to fight, minefields, bridges about to detonate, and several set pieces. One featured an explosive train car that had to blow open a door, only there's a guy in a tower with a rocket launcher who will blow it up before it gets there, ruining your mission. Being able to rewind time rewinds him, so if he hits the train car, you're not toast. Just run it back a few seconds and take another shot at him.
With time control on your side, the designers can stock the areas with a more realistic level of defense and security. The big bad guy can have a heavily fortified base, with sniper towers, trenches, Howitzer-sized guns and roving patrols. You can't work your way in, picking them off with a sniper rifle. You'll have to dive right in and make a mess.
And boy, does it get messy. In this version, targets hit with heavy weapons will gib in a way I haven't seen since the good old days of Quake. I mean exploding bodies. This ain't for the kids. Manipulating time allows you to watch the flying ragdolls in excruciating detail, right in front of your nose, and you can hit them multiple times, basically turning their bodies into skipping stones. There will be around 10 weapons in the final version, each with an alt fire and melee attack, but you'll only be able to carry up to three at a time. They felt this was a more realistic approach to a shooter, and it works pretty well. Bad guys drop the weapons they're using, and you can swap on-the-fly as circumstances dictate.
We got to see a pistol with a full auto mode, a sniper rifle, assault rifle with a grenade launcher alt, a crossbow that shoots fuzzy energy bolts, and a laser-guided rocket launcher. Although it's not an otherworldly arsenal, every weapon looks futuristic, and the pistol has a brutal, spiked hand guard that should put a dent in even the most uncooperative enemy. It also sounds like you'll be able to grab a guy's weapon when you freeze time and turn it against them before they even get a chance to blink.
Screenshot:http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/3992/timeshift20050502043749ef5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Demo(GamersHell):http://www.gamershell.com/downloads/init.php
Triler:Version 1(movie):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRsCjxout40
Version 2(demo):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIeZ7N3PoA4
My opinon: Graphic look good suprise me that it not requeires DirectX 10! Good plot so i think the game is going to be good, for me the person who loves first person shoters!;-)