TimeShifters
- June 1, 2022
- FossettGaming
- 5h median play time
Get on Steam"TimeShifters" is a Science Fiction Arcade game that offers both single-player and multiplayer options, including PvP. The game features fast-paced combat with a variety of weapons, and challenges that involve interactive environments and unique objectives. Players can also create and share their own levels using the mapmaker and Steam Workshop. The game includes 9 story missions, over 30 challenge missions, and multiple online game modes.
PC
Reviews
- Captures the nostalgic feel of the TimeSplitters series with similar gameplay mechanics and humor.
- Offers a variety of challenges and a map maker, providing additional content and replayability.
- Great value for the price, with frequent updates and a dedicated developer responding to community feedback.
- The game is plagued by technical issues, including bugs, crashes, and unpolished graphics.
- Story mode is short and lacks depth, with linear levels that can be completed quickly.
- AI behavior is often poor, and the gameplay can feel repetitive and simplistic, lacking the charm of its inspirations.
- story62 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 84 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The story aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting its brevity and lack of depth, often describing it as a thin, nonsensical collection of time-travel tropes reminiscent of older titles like TimeSplitters. While some appreciate the nostalgic gameplay and variety in challenges, others criticize the missions for being repetitive and lacking engaging objectives or character development. Overall, the story mode is seen as a fun but shallow experience, primarily serving as a backdrop for the more entertaining challenge modes.
“The humor very much captures the style of Timesplitters, and so do the story levels and challenges, as many other reviews have mentioned.”
“Its a super fun Timesplitters throwback, with some story levels, plenty of challenges to complete, and lots of goofy characters.”
“For £4, you are getting a killer soundtrack, 32 fun challenges, and of course the classic story.”
“The story is a nonsensical jumble of time-travel tropes that fails to engage or entertain.”
“The main story is very easy on all difficulties (really good for FPS newcomers), but the story is very short and there are no bosses in the game.”
“This is obviously a Timesplitters inspired game; it's just not as long nor does it have any story to it, you just move through similar looking environments as in the original but the only goal is to find an item and bring it back to the beginning of the level.”
- gameplay18 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 28 % negative mentions
The gameplay in Timeshifters is characterized by a mix of fast-paced action and clunky mechanics, with frequent crashes and graphical glitches detracting from the experience. While some players appreciate the nostalgic feel reminiscent of classic titles like Timesplitters and GoldenEye, many criticize the repetitive nature and frustrating design choices, particularly in the map maker and mission structure. Overall, the game offers a blend of fun and frustration, appealing to fans of the genre but lacking polish and consistency.
“The gameplay is very Timesplitters-like, and whole levels are references to games (Timesplitters included).”
“There is a decent chunk of gameplay here and this is clearly a small team's passion project; it's fun and works pretty well.”
“The game is fast-paced with an easy-to-learn control layout, featuring stealth mechanics introduced in one of the later story levels. The guns are quite powerful and reload quickly, which might be surprising if you're used to more grounded shooters, but overall the weapons manage to balance themselves out and are quite fun to use.”
“It's a buggy, unpolished mess with repetitive gameplay, frustrating design choices, and a map maker that feels like an afterthought.”
“The gameplay in Timeshifters is a repetitive slog.”
“Timeshifters is pretty rough around the edges, with frequent crashes, sudden difficulty spikes, and a few awkward gameplay concepts (especially in the challenges).”
- graphics12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game's graphics evoke a nostalgic PS2 aesthetic, blending charmingly blocky visuals with a unique art style reminiscent of classic shooters like GoldenEye and TimeSplitters. While the design reflects a passionate homage to retro gaming, it suffers from frequent crashes and glitches, and some players note the need for improved graphical options. Overall, the visuals are a mixed bag, appealing to fans of the genre but lacking polish in execution.
“This game is full of a true fan's passion, and you can see and hear it in every little detail, from the intentionally blocky graphics to the meaty gun noises.”
“The graphics, the weapons, the mood—everything fits old shooter games.”
“From the retro graphics to the level design, all of it has been made well.”
“Frequent crashes, graphical glitches, and broken mechanics are commonplace.”
“The file sizes are huge given that the art style is incredibly lazy, for lack of a better term.”
“Graphics are certainly accurate to PS2 games, which is clearly what they're going for, but some graphics options should be included, like anti-aliasing.”
- music9 mentions
- 56 % positive mentions
- 11 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received high praise for its quality and fitting themes, with many users noting its nostalgic feel reminiscent of classic titles like Timesplitters. Reviewers appreciate the engaging soundtrack, which enhances the overall experience, especially considering the game's low price point. Overall, the music is described as a standout feature that contributes significantly to the game's atmosphere.
“The music is great.”
“For £4, you are getting a killer soundtrack, 32 fun challenges, and of course the classic story.”
“I relaxed for 5 minutes to this music long enough to realize that I was going to be okay.”
“Music: 9 (the music fits. I love the main theme. Feels like Timesplitters to me.)”
“Music: 9 (the music fits. I love the main theme. Feels like Timesplitters to me.)”
- stability8 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- -25 % neutral mentions
- 88 % negative mentions
The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with many users reporting frequent crashes, graphical glitches, and overall buggy performance, particularly with the mapmaker feature. While some players have experienced a smooth gameplay experience, the consensus leans towards the game being unpolished and prone to issues, especially when utilizing community-created content.
“The game runs smoothly overall, but when using community Steam Workshop maps that spawn a lot of NPCs, it can be quite taxing on hardware. Still, I find the game to be very enjoyable and would recommend it on sale.”
“I appreciate the stability of the game; it rarely crashes and performs well even during intense gameplay.”
“The game maintains a solid frame rate, which enhances the overall experience and keeps the gameplay enjoyable.”
“When I first played this, it was a buggy mess.”
“Frequent crashes, graphical glitches, and broken mechanics are commonplace.”
“The mapmaker, touted as a major feature, is a buggy and unfinished mess.”
- humor8 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a mixed bag; while it features creative and funny elements like unique weapons and character selection dialogues reminiscent of classic titles like Timesplitters, some players feel it lacks the charm and polish of its inspirations. Overall, the humor is described as sharp and engaging, contributing positively to the gameplay experience.
“On one hand, it's a cheap game with a neat art style, a fair amount of both normal levels and special challenge modes, and funny weapons such as the akimbo LMGs, plates thrown as if they were shurikens, and the pint launcher.”
“The humor is sharp, the gameplay oh so grand.”
“Selecting characters is funny as hell and original too (character selection dialog only).”
- optimization3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- -33 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
Overall, optimization is a mixed bag; while some users report smooth performance, others experience significant FPS drops and lag spikes, particularly on lower-end hardware during enemy wave challenges. Improvements in this area are needed for a more consistent experience.
“Beyond the one minor hiccup in performance, I'd say this ran perfectly fine.”
“I'd also like to note a performance issue - at least on lower-end hardware, during challenges that involve waves of enemies, you will get a very noticeable lag spike in between waves as the enemies spawn in.”
“Optimization could definitely be improved; I get constant FPS drops.”
“I'd also like to note a performance issue: at least on lower-end hardware, during challenges that involve waves of enemies, you will experience a very noticeable lag spike in between waves as the enemies spawn in.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is considered moderate, with a score of 6, largely influenced by the availability of online play and potential future additions like split-screen or bots. While some players find it simple yet enjoyable enough to revisit, others feel that their experience may vary based on multiplayer options.
“Replay value: 6 (mileage may vary depending on the amount of online play and if split-screen/bots are added later. I'm more old school as far as multiplayer goes.)”
“Replay value: 6 (mileage may vary depending on the amount of online play and if split-screen/bots are added later. I'm more old school when it comes to multiplayer.)”
“It's simple but replayable!”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly in challenges like playing multiple rounds of blackjack, which rely heavily on RNG and detract from the overall enjoyment.
“My only gripe with it is a challenge where you have to play multiple rounds of blackjack, which is completely RNG-based. Instead of being fun, it just ends up being tedious.”
