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Game Review – TimeStill (Zack Banack)


It is. It was. It will be. Time is always moving, always flowing. But what if we had the power to stop it? TimeStill, a puzzle platform game by Zack Banack, can. Well, at least it can within the game.

The game starts off at a slightly odd menu. The words quickly move back and forth, simulating some sort of retro game style. You’re given some strange text and the main game starts. You’re a little ball with a trail, and the ground tiles seem to follow you when you move. The goal of the game is to collect all the shards while avoiding the obstacles such as spikes, bullets, and lasers, which are all very common in a platform game. But there is a cool twist, you can stop time with the Z key. This power allows you to easily avoid obstacles and use them to your advantage. For example, if you stop time you can then use a bullet as a platform to get up towards the goal. Unfortunately like anything, this power has limitations. When time is frozen it can also freeze obstacles in their place. Lasers are stuck until you unfreeze them and they are harmful when frozen.

Right away you can tell there are a few cool effects. The graphics are very abstract and fitting. They change colours every level, and turn a ghostly white when time is frozen. I found the main platforms that rotate towards you to be distracting and hard to see where they end. Whether this was intended or not, it adds confusion to the game play. If you play the game if full screen it makes it a little easier to see everything that’s going on.

There is no music except for some creepy, echoey background noises that fit well with the sounds. Even though the game lacks a lot of music, the quiet and mechanical sounds fit in very well and really set the atmosphere.

The game play itself is quite challenging. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what you need to do to get to the goal, other times your completely lost. The movement and controls are very simple; Arrow keys to move and jump, and Z to freeze time.

I personally love platform games, but when the levels get complicated (level 9 on) the game starts to get painfully hard and make you want to scream at the game for not going left when you press the left key! If you’re into puzzles then this game is for you, and don’t be fooled by the first 8 levels, it will get harder.

The game is available on GameJolt and at YoYo Games where it was featured.  The game may not be for everyone, especially highly stressful people. But one thing is for sure, you’ll get stuck on the Nth level.

What do you think?

6 Comments

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  1. @Andrew Brophy: That’s because you are always choosing “New game”, and you have to choose “Load game”. The “Yes-No” question asks you if you want to overwrite the saved game.

  2. I still haven’t played this game…

    Come to think of it, I haven’t played a Game Maker game in like a month or something.

    It’s a well written review, indeed.

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