Super Time Force is currently free via Xbox One Games With Gold until September 30th.
Super Time Force is a side scrolling shooter that heavily uses time travel as a mechanic. When you die, you're able to redo the level with a new character (or the same one), with the old character still around shooting bad guys and kicking ass. This means that there's quite a bit more strategy than your average shooter because you need to plan through when you want to reset your heroes.
The art and humor of the game both help it move along. The game is a very self aware comical romp that involves a leader with eyepatches over both eyes, and the plot generally involves going to different time periods to complete missions. After a required 1980s prologue, you're able to travel both very in the future and the past.
The characters itself have extremely varied play styles, which helps keeps the game fresh as you unlock new ones. Even the 3 starters have radically different modes of attack and special moves. One can shoot a barrage of 3 bullets streams, one can shoot through walls, and another charges a reflective shield.
Source: http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1521863/STF_910.png
Each one is hell bent on kicking names and taking ass. (not a typo)
The time mechanic allows quite a bit of leeway during the levels. Each stage has a maximum number of redos (30 usually) and has a time limit, but with the redos you're able to balance the time just fine. And at least early on in the game, I never had any trouble staying under the 30 redo limit.
But what really showcased the time travel was the first boss fight. The boss forced you to hit certain vulnerable points before you're able to injure him. Once prone, he takes a certain amount of damage before invulnerable again. This was a huge challenge for the time travel because each time you get more shooters on him, he advances faster. So it was a nice challenge to cover the whole boss so your previous characters can make him prone without actually knowing where to shoot.
Not sure if that made sense, but suffice it to say that the boss fight was a great challenge with the time travel.
At any rate, it's a fun game and it's definitely worth a play through if you like sidescrolling action or quirky humor. Nothing about the time travel can change the baseline game of a shooter, but it has enough of it thrown in that anyone who has any interest in sidescrollers has something to love.
Scorecard:
Category
|
Score
|
Time Value
|
8
|
Money Value
|
10
|
Originality
|
7
|
Ryplayability
|
6
|
Fulfillment
|
7
|
Final Score
|
7.6
|
Let me know what you think of Super Time Force!
Until next time,
Ryan
Images courtesy of Wikipedia except where sourced
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