TIMEframe Review

What can i say about TIMEframe? Probably one of the most original games I’ve ever played. A civilization has gone, all that is left are ruins and monuments, you live out the last ten seconds of the planet’s life, that’s right 10 seconds! Although its 10 seconds, every second is played out in one minute so you get 10 minutes and everything around you is in slow motion, you still with me? good.

You start off in a central temple with pedestals all around with only one manuscript for any brief explanation of whats going on. You can venture out which ever way you want into a vast and wonderful landscape with only small glimpses of the civilization that used to occupy the planet. You come across various buildings and areas which hold manuscripts describing the history of the people and their knowledge. After a few minutes you glimpse an object that has just appeared in the sky, soon it gets closer and closer until it finally hits, you are witness to the destruction of the planet by asteroid.

TIMEframe is played in 10 minute time loops, each time the asteroid hits you start again but with the knowledge of the previous timeloop. The area to explore is barren but quite stunning at the same time, with only a few buildings dotted around the landscape. Over time you soon come to understand what happened to the people and what the impending doom is all about. The first time the asteroid hits it’s a surprise you don’t see coming, the second and third and so on until you finish the game however gives you an eerie sense of foreboding now that you know whats at stake.

Graphically the games polygonal look gives it a more traditional look when compared to todays “realistic” looking games. Theres not a lot of the scenery moving until you get up close and realise they are just moving very slowly, a nice touch on the TIMEframe aspect of the game.

The music is by far the best part of this game, made of a beautiful arrangement of classical guitar, cello and violin, the music sets the mood lovingly for the end of the world, a mix between discovery and sadness the music is a big part of the unfolding story of the game. As far as game sound though there are practically none whatsoever which in any other game would be unforgivable, but just having the music and ambience play is enough for this game.

The controls are your basic WASD or gamepad, I chose to play with a keyboard and mouse but the gamepad is easily redefined. A basic control method is all that there is in this game with only one button to push apart from walking around.

Although it’s a unique game, I cant say that there is any replay value once you are done with the game, it seems initially short at first but the 10 minute timeloops do add some time to the game but still only adds up to just over an hours gameplay, but for the small cost of the game I’d say its worth it.

All in all TIMEframe is beautiful game with a unique story line and one I am happy I got to play. If it wasn’t for the shortness and re-playability issues, I’d have given it a higher score but even so I highly recommend this game for anyone to try, but for a small cost.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary PC code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.