Review

At first glace, Super Time Force looks like a pretty ordinary run and gun shooter with some nice retro graphics. However, every time you die, you are gifted the chance to rewind time a few seconds and fight alongside yourself. If you manage to kill the enemy that took you out last time you can absorb you previous incarnations powers. It's a neat trick but one that takes some getting used to. Fortunately, the opening minutes of the game will teach you the basics.

After an opening mission that sees you save the world from an invading robots army, the game opens up allowing you to play through the remaining five worlds in any order you like. These each take place in a different time period and the objective of each is to mess with history to try and create a better present. Whether it's stopping dinosaurs from being wiped out so they can play in the NBA or stealing the Holy Grail to help save your favourite medieval-themed restaurant chain. It's safe to say that the humour is a little bit too wacky at times.

It's the gameplay that matters though, and in this area Super Time Force shines. Working out the best way through each level becomes a puzzle in itself as there's a constantly ticking clock. Rewinding and fast forwarding to warp in more players means you can go in search of collectables without stopping your momentum. At times there can be dozens of alternate versions of you on screen at the same time and it can get a little confusing at first – especially during boss battles where the screen can fill with bullets faster than a shooter from Cave – but that doesn't last long. Having an automatic action replay of each level, showing your perfect run, certainly helps in this regard.

There's an inventiveness here that's been missing from XBLA games for a while and it's fun to play through levels again and again trying different combinations of characters. I'd have gladly welcomed more levels than the six on offer as it won't take long to see them all but that doesn't stop this from being a hugely enjoyable game that's well worth your time.

About the Review

Platform

Microsoft Xbox 360

Developer

Capybara Games

Publisher

Microsoft Game Studios

Released

14th May 2014