TimeShift

A bit of backstory is probably necessary since the game has been in production for roughly four years. GameZone first reported on the game during the pre-E3 media tour in 2006 (Pre-E3 2006 First Look Preview). Sierra/Vivendi had acquired the title from Atari, and had given the developers some latitude in revamping the title. Literally, the game was seven bugs away from being sent to Microsoft for approval (Q&A), which is a precursor to releasing the game to retail.

Then World of Warcraft happened in a huge way. It was a tidal wave that just kept growing, surpassing even tsunami size in terms of cash flow. Unprecedented is a good word to use when referring what financial impact WoW had on the games division at Vivendi. Ok, so what does that mean for a title like TimeShift, which is a first-person shooter and not a massively multiplayer online title. Well … lots. With the cash flow, those in charge of the games division reapproached the TimeShift dev team, headed by lead producer Kyle Peschel, and asked what they would do to the game if they had more time and money to build the game any way they wanted.

In rapid succession the game's 2006 release date was thrown out, and the game will actually ship this coming fall. But that was just part of a huge game revamp. Sierra showed off the new product during a spring media event on held this past Tuesday, April 10 in San Francisco. GameZone.com was on hand and the changes made to the game in the course of past year have been immense.

A TimeShift environment in 2006

A TimeShift environment in 2007

Here’s a quick breakdown of the transformation that the game has undergone:

2006: Focus groups determined the story was merely Ok, and the main character was cliché in appearance and personality. 2007: Story is rewritten completely; the main character is now encased in a futuristic SAM (Strategic Systems for Adaptable Metacognition) suit and has a sleek, high-tech appearance. 2006: Pre-Unreal 3 engine powers a Steampunk environment. Yes, it looked good but … 2007: Steampunk look is completely gone and the Havok 4.5 engine powers up an environment that does not merely raise the bar in terms of graphics, it launches the bar into orbit.

“It should go beyond poly count,” said Peschel, “it should be a visceral experience.”

Go beyond poly count? You bet. In 2006, enemies have a poly count of 2,500. The new look gives redesigned enemies 5-10 million source polygons. The environment is alive. You can see individual rain drops hitting the ground. If you freeze time, you can walk through the rain and see how it all looks individual and extremely realistic.

2006: The opening levels were deemed weak. 2007: Brand new opening levels “to immerse gamers in the darker, grittier world.”

The dialogue, along with all the graphical assets, was trashed. That was somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 lines of recorded dialogue simply relegated to “do not use” bin. Other changes included a revamping of the time controls scheme, taking it from three buttons to one. The vehicle used a year ago was awkward and a three-wheeler. It has been replaced by a rugged 4-wheel ATV.

“Everything was refabricated graphically from the ground up,” stated Peschel. “I’m talking about a hard reboot. I’ve changed everything.”

TimeShift still centers on the premise of a man using a suit that controls time (stops, slows or reverses) to basically take over the world. The hero, the player-controlled character, is put into a beta suit (the next-gen suit) and is on a mission to stop the bad guys. That means controlling time. While the game is rather linear, as Peschel stated, players will have the exploit the environmental elements in a non-linear way. Paths through the bad guys may have several solutions. But if you are thinking this will be a cake-walk, think again. The ante, in regards to the enemy AI, has been raised in a “much more aggressive” way.

While the game will be available on the 360 and PC, the game was shown on the 360. The multiplayer elements are still intact, tweaked a little bit to incorporate time suspension tactics into the mix.

When the project was delayed, it was easy to start seeing the cutting edge of the concept and graphics in 2006 as starting to dull. TimeShift was in danger of not leading the FPS pack but rather falling either in step or behind the leaders. It’s a new year, and the game is brand new. Was the time taken to re-develop the game worth it? Absolutely. TimeShift should be on top of every FPS fans wish list. Not only that, but this is a game that while extremely bloody (yes, you can blow apart an enemy with a grenade in a very visceral manner, then reverse time, put him back together, circle to the side and dispatch him with a headshot – that should speak to the heart of how violent the game is), has elements that will redefine the phrase “next gen” when speaking to the graphical power of any game. It is truly a remarkable visual feat.