Ironically, what this game needed was simply more time.
The story goes that at some point in the future, a secret science facility invents a suit that protects its wearer from the side-effects of time travel, i.e. being squished into a singularity by gravitational forces. Of course, one power-hungry jerk in your team can't resist temptation and steals the suit to travel back in time to achieve world domination but just before your reality collapses, you manage to get into the second suit and follow him into the past in an attempt to stop him.
Or at least that's what happened if you want to believe the manual, the actual plot barely figures into the game at all and without that back story, you're basically oblivious as to who you are, where you are and why you are there. The complete lack of a story figuring into the game is without a doubt its biggest problem as it kills any atmosphere the developers try to create and what good is saving the world when you could care less if it was destroyed after all.
Gameplay-wise TimeShift closely follows the blue print laid out by the Half-Life series, without ever achieving its excellence though. The level design while utterly linear is quite diverse and sends you through a variety of environments from war-torn, urban cities to facility complexes and more open-ended, natural environments. To cover ground faster in some of the wider areas, you'll be given a small buggy as well, however it doesn't control quite as well as you'd want to.
What seemingly stands out about the game is that your fancy suit lets you manipulate time at your will as long as its energy level is not depleted and while games like Max Payne and F.E.A.R. certainly have done this to death by now, TimeShift tries to mix it up with the ability to not only slow down time but stop it completely or even reverse it. In reality however, you'll use the latter two mostly for some of the puzzles which mostly fall into the pattern of halting time to press two switches at once or crossing a pathway of otherwise moving platforms. The shooting doesn't feel that much different from other games of this type as you'll quickly revert into a routine of finding cover, slowing down time, popping up to take a few guys out and jumping back into cover. This is especially true after you find the crossbow, which kills every grunt enemy with only one shot and is easy to handle thanks to your time-manipulating abilities.
That said, the actual gameplay is certainly fun, the enemy A.I. is challenging enough (if you didn't have that crossbow that is) or at least knows how to point a gun at you and the level design, while monotonous at times, is interesting overall. Again, the main problem is the constant irritation the game creates by not giving you any background as to why you're doing what you're doing, but it's possible to look past these problems and treat TimeShift more like an old Quake game.
The story campaign clocks in at a sizeable 9-12 hours to finish and will leave people who managed to care about the underdeveloped and flat characters with a bit of a cliffhanger, opening the possibility for a sequel. Additionally, the game features multi player for up to 16 combatants with standard modes like deathmatch and capture the flag as well as the unique meltdown madness in which players have to throw chrono-grenades at the enemy team's machine to slow down its countdown. Upon impact, Chrono-grenades create a small sphere which will trap players in time, making them easy targets. All in all, the multi player is quite fun, but the back-end is lacking severely compared to its competitors like Call of Duty 4, Unreal Tournament 3 and Team Fortress 2.
The presentation is a mixed bag, to say the least. The graphics, while somewhat derivative and a mix of Half-Life 2 and Doom 3, are quite nice actually and there are some neat features the developers manage to get out of the third UnrealEngine. Most of the textures are crisp even close up, the draw distance for the more open levels is impressive and the game features some great particle and rain effects and explosions. Some of the environment is even dynamically deformable and will let everyone know where a heavy gun-fight has taken place. Character-animation is rather stiff however and the game's cut scenes using the game engine are utterly lifeless and lack a whole lot of polish. You'll also encounter a few instances of texture pop-ins and flickering as well as clipping issues and screen tearing.
The sound design is not up to par with current standards however. Sound effects from weapons, environments as well as the voice acting is underwhelming and boring, which coincides with the lackluster dialogue, and the mixing is inconsistent, making conversations hard to understand in fire fights (which, while somewhat realistic, doesn't help gameplay at all). In the same vein, the musical score is just as unimpressive and forgettable, rarely adding anything to the already hardly present atmosphere.
As it stands, TimeShift is a matter of missed opportunity. The game had potential to become a surprise hit if it was given a few more months or even just weeks to flesh out the story and iron out presentational quirks. Instead we got a competent but derivative shooter with an unmemorable story mode and multi player that just isn't up to standard any more. It's enjoyable while it lasts, but don't expect it to stick with you any longer than that.