SUPER TIME FORCE!! Sounds like a name ripped straight out of the pages for some cheesy 80’s action movie (love those films 🙂 In a way, that’s kind of what this game is like: ridiculous, futuristic (yet 8bit-ish), a bit over the top, and balls to the wall. It’s like contra meets….Prince of Persia? I don’t really mean PoP in terms of the platforming, there’s no wall running or any of that; but when I first discovered the special little niche of this game, it reminded me of the sands of time.

You start off at the beginning of the level with your choice of 3 characters: your assault guy (Jean Rambois), your tactical shooter gal (Aimy McKillen), and your shield guy (Shieldy Blockerson…yep that’s his name). Each character can charge their ability or rapidly tap x to use it. For example, Jean uses an assault rife: tap x to shoot (faster you tap the faster you shoot), hold x and release and it’s almost like a mini gun. This method of charging your ability also carries over to your tactical shooter Aimy (which can shoot through walls), and Shieldy (which can give you a protective barrier).

Still with me? Ok cool. Seems simple enough at first, but the niche of super time force is TIME TRAVEL! You start off with a set number of lives/characters to use (30). If you die, don’t worry it’s ok. Just simply hit B on the controller and the action freezes.  You can rewind/fast forward with your triggers and bumpers; this can be done to take you all the way back to the beginning of a level or just a few seconds earlier. RIGHT HERE, that’s where it felt like PoP to me. If you make a mistake, which you will, and just want to rewind to a few seconds earlier….well you can.

There’s one other little trick to this whole time travel thing: you can spawn as many characters as you can (up to your life limit), at the same time. I’ll try and explain this: say you come to a wall that is rather strong, and it’s eating away at your level timer. Stop time, rewind, and spawn another character (on top of the one you’re using). Both characters are almost stacked on top of each other, with combined fire power and special abilities. You can imagine the combinations: several assault, several tactical, and shieldy can make a deadly force.

There are some things that weren’t so great I felt like I should mention. The game is tough, not dark souls tough, but it can be a bitch sometimes. You get those 30 guys (lives) to use, but I went through almost half of them within the first few minutes of the first level. It takes some getting used to. You can’t just run through a level as one little hit from an enemy kills you. However, this can also be a good thing. The game forces you to plan your actions, which characters are good for which situations, and makes you learn as you play. You become one bad mother…. (well you know) if you combine: 3 Jeans, 3 Aimys, and 3 shieldys 🙂

Now this sounds just ridiculous, but trust me it’s a sh!tload of fun. For the first time ever, for me anyways, I recorded a video using my xbox one to run you guys through some basics and show you what this game can do. As an xbox exclusive, at 14.99, this is a buy for me.

The Good:  

• Ridiculous, over the top retro feel
• Time travel implemented well
• Great blend of action and strategy

The Bad:

• One hit kills you- Very difficult

Super Time Force is available exclusively on the Xbox One digital marketplace.
All Super Time Force Images copyright CAPY Bara Games

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