Time Recoil Review for PlayStation 4

Time Recoil by 10tons (Tesla vs Lovecraft) is a wickedly cool mad dash through hundreds of enemies ideally all in slow motion. Slowing time being the players only solace in this intense top-down one hit kill shooter. Set on challenging you time and time again, all the while being interesting, fun, and exciting.

Premise: Alexa is a unique individual in a reality where time travel is all too real and devastating. Her first and most crucial “super power” for the storyline, unlike anyone else, is the ability to survive travel freely back and forth through time- everyone else is limited to one round trip. Alexa’s actions in the past recoil into the present to which she returns. On each return the reality is different causing Alexa to constantly explain what she did and why (we never see her side of the conversation though) then her counterparts recap everything for the player and set up the next mission.

Alexa is actively traveling back to stop a disastrous attack on Paris by Mr. Time, the big baddy of the game, and his time based super weapon before he controls the whole world. Somewhere in the ruins of Paris is the home base of the rebel resistance called the “Recoilers.” Alexa travels back from the Recoilers’ base tweaking the past, obtaining information, stealing technology, killing key members of the opposition, rescuing scientists, and all the while trying to track down the villainous Mr. Time.

Gameplay:
KILL TO SLOW TIME. This is the crown jewel of the game, slowing time with each kill encourages the player to chain kills together to build up Alexa’s specials powers. First power to be unlocked is a dash that only requires two consecutive kills to enable. Then, a wider variant at 4 kills able to break through thicker walls and hit more henchmen. The next two subsequent powers are the really fun ones, but I’ll save the best for last like the developers. At six chained kills a Time bomb can be released that devastates most things it contacts. Eight kills gets you a glorious time freeze, slowing time to a near stand still. Combat in the time freeze is similar to popular speed based superheroes- merely placing frozen objects on a collision course with the currently frozen assailant. Despite the dual stick controls this game’s combat is so seamless and fast paced it’s hard to stop playing. The game tells you how long each level takes but the clock slows when in slow motion, so you take down a level in 30 seconds but were in slow mo the whole time it could tell you only a few seconds have passed and it feels that way. The puzzles are simple and based on using your powers to conquer a given obstacle, so the flow becomes very natural.

Conclusion:
Time Recoil lives up to its name with the two biggest pillars the game stands on being time travel and gun fire. It goes deeper than a name though it might just be the closest to time travel any of us get. Each time I sat down to play- it was like time travel and an hour had passed. This game is a great way to pass time quickly and I would definitely recommend it as being worth your time.

Pros: Incredibly fun, Fast paced murderous puzzles in slow-mo, Time travel, super powers
Cons: Too brief of a story, Contained only one animated cutscene, dual-stick control

Rating:
8/10

Here is the Time Recoil Trailer:

Time Recoil is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam, .

Greg Vander Velde

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I've been a life long nerd and video game junkie known to associate with the likes of Link, Nathan Drake, Batman, and Master Chief. I'm a filmmaker by profession, but spend lots of time behind a controller escaping the real world. @GregVelde on Instagram/Twitter/YouTube

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