Way more fun than Halo 3!
How they could give Halo 3 a whooping 9.5 and this game 6.5 is just plain insane, even labeling Timeshift as a run-of-the-mill FPS. I got bored by Halo 3 after 30 minutes, and this game I could not leave until I played it through. I think that answers which game is more run-of-the-mill in my opinion. So, unless you are a brand-whore who just likes games that are hyped and have a marketing budget big enough to buy a small country, then check this game out! Ok, enough ranting... :)
About the game: The big new thing in the game is as you know your ability to control time. Unlike other games that has introduced slow-motion effects already, you can in fact now both stop time completely as well as reverse it. This leads to some interesting puzzles, and fun strategy elements.
The flow of time also has an effect on how you interact with your surroundings. So you can for example walk on water while time is frozen, or go through fire unharmed. Some puzzles use time in a pretty clever way, for example in one level you need to reverse time in turn for airflow from a vent to reverse so that you can be blown to the right direction.
Although the game has various time-based puzzle elements, its first of all an action game. The puzzles never keep you for long, and you will soon be back into action. During action scenes time control is an important factor as well. The difficulty level is quite high, so without controlling time you will be toast pretty soon. Your time controlling ability make you pretty much God-like, however it's balanced well by only allowing you to use it in short bursts. At first I was a bit disappointed by the strict limitation, but after some time it's pretty clear the feature is well balanced and gives you the exact right mixture of time-changed and normal gameplay.
I like the graphics as well, the real-time shadows looks exceptionally cool on some levels, and it has all the newest graphical features you would expect as well as great animations. The graphics is not exceptional like for example Bioshock, but neither mediocre like Halo 3.
The story is pretty poor, and you are talked through it by some voice that's pretty uninspiring and also very low so you probably wont notice it at all through all the sound effects and background chatter. But, who cares about the story anyway? The game flows pretty well, and there's not much backtracking or getting lost.
There's a large and well balanced arsenal of weapons that needs to be picked wisely as you can only carry a few at a time. Most weapons has a secondary fire mode, and your survival is often dependent on your ability to use the various weapons and modes wisely. Running and gunning like mad will get you killed pretty fast.
If I were to criticize the game, I would say the whole time shifting idea is interesting, but in practice you will most of the time only slow down time to score easier kills. So, in fact the whole foundation of the concept is a bit weak. But, it somehow pulls it off through the various time based puzzles.
All in all, a very entertaining experience, and I'm glad I gave this game a chance! :)