[h1]Overview:[/h1]
'[i]Time Break 2121[/i]' is a first person shooter where you manipulate time in order to defeat enemies and progress further in the game. It's directly inspired by '[i]SUPERHOT[/i]', a game also themed around bullet time although way more polished than '[i]Time Break 2121[/i]'. Don't get mislead by the description on the store page as it says and I quote: "[i]Whenever you stop, time flows; you move, it stops.[/i]". Now it doesn't actually do this as moving doesn't stop time, it only slows it down. Play as Jax, a 28 year old man that took part in something called the "Time Break Project" lead, a project designed to alter individuals by planting a chip inside them in hopes to create super soldiers that would protect the city. With already existing debt that had to be paid off, Jax's sister who worked with the project, convinced him to join stating that his participation would solve their financial problems.
Although the project itself [i]did[/i] work and super soldiers were made, there also came plenty of setbacks costing the lives of many people (including Jax's friends). The ones who [i]did[/i] make it began protecting the city and all was well until their superiors ordered them to execute a group of civilians to address an "overpopulation" problem. Clearly against the inhumane request, Jax and the others refused and eventually ended up fighting against the ones who created them but came out severely overpowered. Jax somehow survived and is the only one that can possibly fight against the evil corporation that created him. The game actually isn't bad and has some pretty decent merits but unfortunately it's littered with too many flaws that make it more frustrating than fun.
[h1]Gameplay:[/h1]
Like I previously mentioned, '[i]Time Break 2121[/i]' plays like '[i]SUPERHOT[/i]' but rather than slow time when you're standing, you actually slow time when you're moving. So it's basically a reverse '[i]SUPERHOT[/i]' that actually doesn't play too badly and is quite challenging. The goal is to either kill all the enemies or get to the end without getting hit. Much like '[i]SUPERHOT[/i]', enemies (for the most part) die in one hit but so do you. This means playing the game in real-time is pretty much impossible and you [i]have[/i] to utilize the bullet time mechanic in order to progress. Enemy bullets are extremely fast and some of them shoot in quick succession. It forces the player to practice different types of playstyles in order to beat a level but sadly comes out short for a good number of reasons.
Now, many of the problems lie within the gameplay itself creating a game that becomes increasingly frustrating to play not because of the game being difficult by nature, but because the game has many design flaws that make it more unfair than not. To start off, the world is extremely detailed, which is fine and all if you do it right, but the world here is so bright with lights scattered every which way making it incredibly hard to track incoming bullets even with their long tracers. The bullets themselves are barely visible and the tracers don't help much if you can't even tell where they end. There's a reason why '[i]SUPERHOT[/i]' took place in a mostly colourless world, this is that reason.
The other issue is the collision detection. I can't even count how many times I got stuck on something or ran into something completely invisible just to get shot shortly after. The level design in this game is futuristic needless to say, but everything is so jagged and has so many bumps that it made me wonder what was wrong with just having a flat wall? Rooms are also filled with objects whether it's furniture or debris or anything that can cause the player to get stuck. It's nice that the world doesn't look empty and lifeless, but for a game that relies on a clean layout like in (again) '[i]SUPERHOT[/i]', then it ends up being a detriment.
Then comes the biggest annoyance that I've come across, the corpses. Yes, you'd think corpses would be a [i]good[/i] thing but here, they're just there to cause a cheap death. The one thing that killed it for me when it came to this game was the fact that the corpses have collision. For whatever reason you can get stuck on a corpse while trying to dodge bullets and they can even mess up your aim. Sure they disappear shortly after you kill them but when you're moving (which you'll almost always be doing), they end up staying [i]way[/i] longer than they should before finally despawning and you're most likely still fighting another enemy or two so you end up getting stuck trying to manoeuvre around already hard to see bullets just to die because of a stupid ragdoll.
There's also some platforming sections which aren't [i]too[/i] bad but let me just say that the movement in the game is [b]not[/b] suited for platforming. The overall game is difficult and I managed to get to the end and beat an onslaught of enemies that was almost impossible unless I somehow managed to get them to shoot each other. It's almost entirely luck-based and guess what you get when you finally beat the game? Nothing. Yeah, how satisfying. '[i]Time Break 2121[/i]' I feel like could've been a great game and it actually isn't bad in some respects, but the flawed gameplay mechanics and overall game design just overshadows the semi-decent concept of bullet time.
[h1]Controls:[/h1]
The game controls fine I guess but it's locked at 62 frames making gameplay feel choppy and hitting enemies awkward. There's a dash function that does somewhat come in handy but gunplay itself feels underwhelming and not very satisfying. There also aren't any control settings besides mouse sensitivity which is only accessible when you're in a level. Really...?
[h1]Graphics:[/h1]
Again, done really well but makes the game harder to play. The whole sci-fi look is pretty neat and the weapons and enemies also look pretty cool. Lighting and shading is amazing and make the world look beautiful. Video settings (unlike controls) thankfully are available but for some reason always defaults to a specific resolution when returned to the main menu. Whether or not you're windowed mode or are playing a resolution that's anything [b]but[/b] 1680x1050, the game will always change it to fullscreen 1680x1050. This becomes annoying because it basically means any resolution setting is useless. It even cuts off the right side of the screen. I'd like to play with my own preferences please and thank you.
[h1]Audio:[/h1]
Kind of cool taking into account the whole sound distortion when it comes to time suddenly slowing down. It sounds awesome and the music also isn't bad. The problem is that there's no volume options. There's no way to lower music volume or any volume for that matter and the music plays obnoxiously loud throughout the entire game with no way to change it. My only question is, why is there literally no sound options? It's one thing to have an on or off button but to not have them at all? Now that's a new low.
[h1]Conclusion/TL;DR:[/h1]
'[i]Time Break 2121[/i]' is a first person bullet time shooter directly inspired by the more popular (and refined) game '[i]SUPERHOT[/i]' but implements reversed mechanics where the player slows time while moving rather than standing. It's not a bad game and offers quite a challenge but is riddled with many game flaws that can turn many players off. It has bad and unnecessary collisions, graphics so detailed that it makes dodging bullets confusing and every issue mentioned about the game, '[i]SUPERHOT[/i]' doesn't have. Honestly if '[i]Time Break 2121[/i]' just did what '[i]SUPERHOT[/i]' did, it'd be a great. But with how it is right now, it plays good on a conceptual level but doesn't actually do it very well in practice. To think it used to cost a hefty amount as well, I'm glad I was able to at least play it for free because honestly if I had to pay the amount needed to play this game before, I'd definitely say just get the other game.
