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Timeshuffle
Thankfully, it’s immediately obvious that although the storytelling isn’t up to much the plot is still obvious and derivative enough to pick up. It turns out that a man called Dr. Krone has stolen one of two suits developed for the Department of Defence which allow the wearer control over time somehow.Stealing the Alpha suit, he then blows up the building and escapes into the past to use his superior technology and obvious ruthlessness to take control of the world – though he doesn’t count on the player taking the second suit and giving chase.
Like I said, it’s pretty obvious stuff really and it nicely explains why the 1930s world now has blue-glowing grenades, pseudo-futuristic machine guns and giant robo-spiders. Unfortunately, Krone’s rule isn’t that great and the world has become a bit of a dystopia with constant violence everywhere.
Obviously wanting to put a stop to this all, the anonymous player starts a one-man war against Krone. Why the player never just goes back in time further and stops Krone ever being born/stealing the suit/deciding to be evil etc. is never really explained and nor is the obvious paradox posed by Krone’s rule. That’s fair dos though – FPS games and metaphysics don’t usually go together that well. Pathologic is proof of that.
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The gameplay itself is fairly simple and plays just like any other console FPS, although I found that the sensitivity of the analogue sticks was always a bit too high even on the lowest settings. You’ve got the fairly standard CFPS set-up; one stick to move, one to look, triggers to fire and buttons for jumping, using, reloading, bashing and so on. The weapons in the game cover all the usual bases – machine guns, shotguns, pistols, grenades etc.
So far, the only dramatic thing is that the weapons often feel awfully lacking in punch. Grenades fly through the air, fizzling blue, but only kill those standing right next to them. Recoil on the weapons is practically non-existent, even when using the iron sights, and enemies often take multiple headshots to put down on medium difficulty.
Melee is also a bit tough to use and can be a bit hit and miss, if you’ll excuse the pun.
The time control capabilities suddenly become available halfway through the tutorial section of the game and are activated by holding the left trigger and pressing one of the coloured buttons. One button will pause time, while the other two will rewind or fast-forward time.
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Now, the time control gimmick could have actually made the game quite interesting and compensated for the currently lacklustre impressions I’ve had of the game. Unfortunately though that isn’t the case and the controls and overall management system only served to confuse us.
The controls themselves are the worst to blame and it ruins any sense of power or immersion to have the time-travelling, mech-suit wearing player (physicists in mechanical suits seem to be another trend lately) fumbling through buttons. Using the timeshifting stuff is almost impossible in the middle of a fire fight without taking heavy damage – which kind of ruins the point.
Thankfully, health recharges anyway and so does the meter which monitors how much power your suit has, but all this does is offer skilled players a get out of jail free card. Low on life? No problem, pause/fast forward time and let your health recharge! Low on suit power? No problem, just hide behind a crate for a second and then pause time.
Shopping
Stats: 0.031 seconds