Any Button Gaming

RETIMED by developers Team Maniax is a 2-4 player arena shooter game.   The game was released on Nintendo Switch September 20th and will be released on PC via Steam in 2019.  I had the pleasure of trying RETIMED on the Nintendo Switch platform.  

Style wise it has a familiar feel to games like Super Smash Brothers just on an indie scale.  The characters have limited space due to the closed nature of the game play area.  The goal the other games in this genre is to get more points than your opponents.   There are some differences to the well known game however.  First there are only 4 characters to choose from.  Next each character shoots a gun.  Third there is no melee abilities in this battle.  RETIMED is also unique in how the characters handle potential danger.  

“When a player is in danger, time slows down and a time bubble is created around the player. Now there is enough time to react and try to dodge the deadly projectiles. These time bubbles generate exciting alternations between fast-paced movement and tension-filled slowmotion moments“

https://maniax-games.com/Retimed/

According to the games website, developers Max Striebel and Annika Rüegsegger got the inspiration for the game from the “slow-mo” feel of the battles in the movie The Matrix.  From there they began to work on their ideas and before long RETIMED was born.

When you start the game, you start in what appears to be the house of the characters.  You have the option of selecting one of 4 characters:  Bintain, Psycho, Yowi & Violet.  The characters have a very stylized look.  Some appear to be animals and others humans.  For those of you who like to customize your characters, when selecting your character you have the option of also choosing which outfit they will wear.

At this point the other 3 players can join you.  As mentioned previously this is a 2-4 player game.  There is no AI component so single player games are out. There are 3 modes you can select:  Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Tournament.   Both Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch have the options to play a single map or compete in a championship.  While Tournament has the options of Best of 1, 3 or 5

Once you start the game you are given the option of a few locations for the match.  Each location on the map has a description on the side of your screen.  Each map will have different structures and areas for you to move around, that can also help or hinder your game play.    The goal, as mentioned earlier is to be the person with the most points.  Each time you eliminate your opponent you get a point.  The first person to 6 points wins the match.

The music that plays during the character and map selection has a “cute” upbeat nature to it.  Like a lot of other games the developers have also embraced updating the game for the current season.  So at this time of year you will hear a holiday song and see decorations in the characters home.  These decorations, however do not extend to the maps.   The music also changes in the maps and has a bit of a frantic nature to it.  After a while I found it annoying and turned the sound down.  This did not seem to hinder the game play.  

RETIMED turned out to be surprisingly fun.  Even with only 2 players, the mechanics of jumping around the screen in order to shoot your opponent is quite entertaining.  Each character can only hold so many bullets and there is a set respawn rate so you need to be strategic when trying to get to the reload point.  There were a number of times my opponent was able to get me as I tried to get to the only bullet pack left on the map.  Each character also has the ability to do a quick speed move.  This can be helpful when you are just out of reach or when you need to dodge an incoming bullet.  

I found using the joy-cons in the sideways position tricky so I would recommend utilizing one of the controller accessories to give yourself a full controller.   The game does have this option in the  settings.  Also unfortunately there is no information on what button on the controller does what so you will want to experiment when you first start.

It can be a very fast paced game depending on the skill set of the friends you are playing with.  We often found ourselves laughing as we dodged bullets from one but ran into bullets from another.  The targeting takes a bit of getting used to.  Each character shows a stream out from the gun that will give you the direction the bullet will go.  The one trick to this is that the stream often matches the colours in the map so it’s easy to lose where your gun is pointed (and also because the gun is so small).  

If you are an esports fan, the developers have also added the game to the Swiss Made Games League where you can compete for prizes.  Currently you can qualify for the Finals and have a chance to win a Bitcoin.  For those of you who are users of Discord, a channel has also been set up.  Click on the link located on the games website to get an invite.

Overall an enjoyable game and one that groups of friends can definitely have a lot of fun and laughs while playing.  I would recommend that you connect your switch to a larger TV so that the characters are easier to see, however the smallness of the characters on the Switch screen did also add to the fun.  Would I recommend getting this game?  Yes, if you have a group of friends that like to get together for some lighthearted and fun competition then this would be a game to add.

Have you tried RETIMED?  Let us know what you thought in the comments below.

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