PLATFORM: PC, PS4/5. SWITCH, XBOX ONE/SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Originally released in 1995 exclusively for the 3DO, Killing Time puts players in the shoes of a college student who is trying to find a mysterious Egyptian water clock which had been found by his professor but then inexplicably vanished after a visit from Tess Conway, the person who had funded the professor’s expedition. Visiting the Conway Estate on Matinicus Isle, it quickly becomes apparent that power-hungry Tess is trying to use the power of the clock for her own benefit, but something has gone terribly wrong and the island is now crawling with ghouls, mutants and other abominations…
The mid-90s were full of Doom clones, and it’s fair to say that Killing Time fits into that category, but its 1930s setting and unusual way of telling its story – through ghostly visions of live actors who appear on screen at various intervals – give the game its own identity. Gunning down mobsters and monsters while exploring a creepy island and solving the occasional puzzle is the sort of thing that never really gets old, and Killing Time throws a fair amount of campy humour into the mix as well, giving a little bit of extra entertainment value.
Killing Time: Resurrected combines elements of both the original version of the game and its 1996 PC counterpart, bringing artwork and enemies that were previously exclusive to each edition together into one package for the first time. The notoriously clunky controls have been updated for modern controllers, textures and lighting have been improved, and the whole thing runs much more smoothly than ever before. What hasn’t changed, though, is the game’s difficulty. The actual gameplay isn’t tricky, but the game’s map – even though it’s divided into distinct areas – is quite confusing to navigate. There’s no hand-holding whatsoever, so it can be difficult to figure out which part of the sprawling estate you need to visit next. Fortunately, as the game is nearly 30 years old, plenty of help is available on the internet for those who might need it! Another cracking effort from Nightdive Studios, Killing Time: Resurrected sits comfortably alongside their work on Doom, Quake, Powerslave Exhumed and the Turok series as shining examples of how to update classic old-school first-person shooters for the modern era.
