Idea I: you are stuck in an infinite loop, every-time you die you are reset to the beginning (with all your memories in tact). pockets of the universe are collapsing, you have to escape the area before it completely turns into nothingness.

Think of audio surf -except there is no music and the only way to survive is to memorize the pattern.

Idea II:You are a virus in the virtual world, the hacker is trying to delete you, trapping you in the partition if he can keep you there for more then 10 seconds you are deleted.

Think of it as a dual stick shooter but with a 10 second time limit to kill the monster-spawners (which will unlock the doors) to the next room.