Third time lucky for TimeShift?

Forget Prince of Persia's rewind ability. That was basically an "undo" feature that got you out of trouble if you fell from your perch. In TimeShift, it can be used as a real gameplay mechanic because the Quantum Suit allows you to move freely within the distorting timeframe. One section we saw had us hiding inside a building while amassive mechfired at us from outside. We were about to run along a bridge between two buildings when it was torn apart by the gunfire. Uh-oh. But rewinding time allowed us to run along the bridge as the fire constructed it again (reversed, see?), until we were safely across and in decent cover at last.

There are also environmental puzzles to overcome. Rewinding the slanting animation of a suspended pipe can allow you to jump inside it and hitch a ride to a higher platform as it moves in contradiction to the way the real-world has taught you to expect. Your weight is still calculated while time is being reversed, but the inertia of a large object is likely stronger, allowing you to progress.

This freedom has caused some trouble for the developer - for instance when a player unexpectedly decides to stand on a collapsed column and rewind time to spring him like a catapult for miles... but as all the eventualities have been considered, you can expect a lot of fun from TimeShift's unique selling point. The team has even coded special game over screens for those "I've just trapped myself forever by standing where a pile of barrels was and rewinding time" moments. Dumbass.

Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.