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  1. Who says twin-stick shooters have to be sci-fi? The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines from developer tinyDino Games and publisher Quantum Astrophysicists Guild brings the twin-stick gameplay formula to a fantasy setting. Instead of shooting bullets, you're tossing swords, firing magic bolts, and of course dodging barrages of enemy attacks as well. Throw on a time manipulation mechanic and you've got a fairly unique action game. You play as Gregor, newly appointed member of the Eternal Fellowship and an Ambassador of Time. However, shortly after your induction, the order's capital city is destroyed, and you're the only hope for setting things right. It's a decent setting for the gameplay but not much more—beyond your initial introduction to side characters and regions it's hard to feel too invested in the story. However, if you do want to get into all of the backstory available, there are hidden lore books scattered throughout the game which add some context and storytelling. The fractured nature of finding these books still makes the writing a bit dry, but there's at least more to the story if you're willing to work for it. The Ambassador features some non-linear progression. After the initial tutorial level you're allowed to tackle the three main worlds in the game in any order. Each world is made up of a variety of levels, but they're all fairly short—in fact there's a time attack challenge for every level with a time limit generally under a minute. Additionally, you can pursue other bonus challenges in each level, such as not taking any damage, not using recovery items, or finding all of the aforementioned lore books. So even though a single playthrough of The Ambassador won't last longer than a few hours, completing everything that the game has to offer by replaying it repeatedly will certainly fill your timeline. The gameplay itself mostly has the twitchy action that you'd expect from a twin-stick shooter, but there are a few important wrinkles. For one thing, you can't spam attacks wildly—when you throw your weapon, you have to wait for it to return to your hand whether you've hit something or not. You need to be a little more thoughtful in your approach, especially if you miss and are left weaponless for several seconds. You can, however, also swap to your magic weapon, most of which are a little more rapid-fire, but at the expense of mana (mana gradually regenerates). This ammo-focused approach can make the gameplay feel a bit slow at times, but it's a unique change of pace from the typical twin-stick shooter and provides its own engaging challenges. Aim is paramount so as not to leave yourself exposed and weaponless, so instead of prioritizing speed, the game focuses on precision, which forces you to approach enemies more thoughtfully. You'll also unlock a number of weapons, magical weapons, and armor as you progress through the game, allowing you to customize your approach a bit. There's a good amount of variety available here and sometimes changing your weapon loadout is the best way to handle new or powerful enemies. The other key aspect of the game has to do with Gregor's time manipulation abilities. You're able to temporarily slow down time around you, making it easy to avoid incoming attacks or perfectly line up your own. The effect will only last for a couple seconds and needs to recharge after it's used, so you can't go crazy spamming it. Just like the "ammo" system you need to plan your moment to use your time abilities well, since it's also your only real defense (no blocking or dodging for Gregor, unfortunately). It's a clever way of wrapping up offense and defense capabilities into one effect, though the timing can be a little tricky at times—some enemy attacks happen so quickly that you'll need to anticipate the attack to actually get away in time. It makes the combat a somewhat more thoughtful dance of attacks and dodging rather than just barrages of bullets like many twin-stick shooters. All that said, The Ambassador can feel rather repetitive at times. There isn't a huge variety of enemies or environments, and if you're not pursuing the speed or no-hit challenges the levels can feel somewhat rote pretty quickly. Even if there are some unique concepts in the gameplay structure, the game doesn't inject enough unique challenges into the action itself to make individual stages feel distinct. If the gameplay does click for you though there's also the BloodHenge mode available after you beat the game once, which is a survival mode that pits you against waves of enemies. It's perfect for score-chasers but for anyone else it only highlights how repetitive the gameplay can feel after a while. The game's retro presentation is solid, though there's not much more to say about it. The pixel graphics are decent but there's not much in the art design that stands out, and the soundtrack is much the same: the music isn't bad but there's not much you're going to remember about it. The bigger enemies and boss creatures are a little more impressive at least, though obviously those are rare to see. The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines mashes together its own timeline of influences—twin-stick shooter, fantasy setting, time manipulation mechancs—into a unique but underwhelming package. This isn't one that you'll likely play for the presentation or story, but the gameplay has some fun ideas, even if its repetitive nature drags. Players looking for a new take on the twin-stick formula that is slightly less frantic might enjoy seeing what The Ambassador has to offer. Rating: 6 out of 10 Timelines Review copy provided by publisher The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines will be available on the Switch eShop on August 13 for $14.99.
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