Time Rifters is an underrated masterpiece of a game which really deserves way more attention than it seems to get.

The general premise is as so: if you took a regular first-person-shooter, and then mixed it with time travel, you get this game. Basically, you get a gun, get some upgrades, and run into an arena and shoot cubes. The cubes can't hurt you, but are always trying to escape. Your goal is to destroy them before they escape. Unfortunately, there's a problem. There are way more cubes than you can handle at once. So what do you do? Well after your first run, you play the arena again with a different gun and upgrades (if you want). HOWEVER! Your previous run is also with you. So while you do something different, your previous playthrough is recorded and you're effectively fighting alongside yourself. Repeat this up to three times to try and clear the arena.

The game is split into three distinct chapters, each with five levels. You can't really "lose". Your only goal is to get through the five arenas while destroying as many cubes as possible in hopes of getting as high of a score as possible. As you can see, the gameplay is somewhat simple. However, it is VERY fun. There's a lot of puzzle aspects where in each run, you have to pre-plan where you want each of your runs to go, and then give them the correct weapons, and finally execute on your plan. It is incredible fun, and if you want more content, there are a plethora of daily challenges which, while they seem like a cluster-f**k at first, are also extremely fun to play through once you've played a couple. I can't stress it enough, the gameplay is really fun.

Let me quickly cover the other bits before I finish this review. There is barely any story, and while the game eludes to one existing, I barely understood it. It's not important, so it doesn't matter. The music in the game is really fun. It's a lot of techno and dubstep (I think) tracks that really fit the game's mood and each level's atmosphere. My personal favourite from the OST is "Dragonfly". Finally, the graphics. The graphics for the actual guns, cubes, etc, aren't anything extremely impressive. They look good, don't get me wrong. However, the levels are a completely different story. They look gorgeous. Each has its own distinct feel and atmosphere, making them stand out from one-another. They're all extremely memorable in terms of looks, and there are several which look really good (levels 1-2. 2-5, 3-4 come to mind).

All in all, Time Rifters is the closest thing to an "underrated masterpiece" of a game that I've played. There's a lot of creative stuff here, and it's not just a tech demo. The actual game is extremely fun, and a lot of effort has been poured into the game's levels and gameplay. Listening to some of the developer commentaries, I can see how much effort they put into the game and the kind of love and passion they've poured into making this game. This is my personal pick for my favourite first person shooter, and is something I can see myself playing more and more over the coming years, despite having finished the game multiple times over.

Gameplay: 9 / 10
Story: N/A (The story is barely of any importance)
Music: 9 / 10
Graphics: 7 / 10

Final Rating: 8.5 / 10 (Excellent)