- Graphics & Audio
The graphics in Timeshift are excellent for the year it was released. The rain effects are extremely good as are the character models, environments, weapons, etc. The only real disappointment with the technical aspects of the visuals are the ground textures especially if it is supposed to be a natural turf like grass. Artistically the graphics are the usual bland nondescript environments that don't stand out with their dull color palette of a bunch of greys, browns, and silvers. The audio is comprised of good sounding weapon effects and explosions. Voice acting is delivered in a flat, average way. It's not bad, but not terrible or memorable either. The music is also decent, but doesn't stand out in any way.
- Controls
The controls work well and about as you would expect for an first-person shooter. The main difference here is, of course, the time manipulation from whence the title of the game comes. You can slow down, stop, or reverse time with the push of the L1 button. Usually it is defaulted to slow down time, but if you want to select a specific one regardless of what the default currently is you have to hold L1 and press Square, Triangle, or Circle for slow down, stop, or reverse, respectively. You will definitely make a lot of use of your time manipulation powers in battles as well as for solving some fairly interesting puzzles which breaks up the potential monotony of the otherwise great shooting action.
- Story & Characters
Unfortunately the story and characters of Timeshift are just as nondescript and forgettable as the environments and you will quickly not care about any of it.
- Weapons
The weapons are all pretty fun to use and you will likely enjoy them all for different reasons. The first three weapons you use early on are standard stuff such as the KM-33 (pistol), KM 2103 Karbine (assault rifle), and ShatterGun (shotgun). All three are effective, but unassuming. Shortly after that you'll come across the long range weapons: Echo Rifle (sniper rifle) and ThunderBolt (scoped crossbow). My favorite of these was definitely the ThunderBolt and I used it to snipe for the rest of the game after I acquired it as it was extremely effective even at medium range. The last four weapons are used off and on depending on the situation usually: E.M.F. Cannon, Bloodhound (rocket launcher), Hell-Fire, and SurgeGun. The E.M.F. Cannon was a fun to use weapon best for medium range that fires "projectiles of magnesium" which usually gibbed the enemies you shot with it. The Bloodhound was really only used for taking down helicopters in a few spots in the game and the SurgeGun was only really useful for the final boss battle. My favorite weapon was the Hell-Fire because was super effective at killing quick with it's incendiary bullets and even also had a flamethrower as a secondary attack.
In the end Timeshift is a solid FPS that has it where it counts most: the shooting. It is a fun game that would stand out a lot more if we didn't live in an age where the FPS genre is super saturated with great games, but as it is we do and because of that a lot of people have overlooked this game. If you love FPSs then you'll likely enjoy this one too, but in this competitive genre it doesn't standout enough which is unfortunate.