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Do the Goldeneye legends live up to their new product? Quickly becoming a preference to all gamers, the First Person Shooter genre gets better with every new franchise, especially with this new game out for all systems: Timesplitters 2.
Timesplitters 2 starts out with two marines (of sorts) in the future who lead a major offensive against time-terrorists called “The Timesplitters”.
It begins with them attempting to retake a space station from these fiends. A cinema plays out as the two marines dispatch wave after wave of the offenders. They finally reach the main bridge where the Timesplitters have begun taking special “time crystals” into random times in the past and future. Now my marines don’t take this very well, and your character decides to follow the criminals into the portal with his wits and enough bad @$$ to go around. Of course, this is only the beginning of what sets out to be one wild ride.
Timesplitters 2 basically is a game that sets you in multiple time periods doing an assortment of tasks, but mostly gunning things down. This proves to be a very, very cool thing and sets this game apart from and above the rest. You’ll find yourself wielding everything from a 1920’s Tommy gun to a 2040-something laser blaster. On the other hand, you’ll find yourself using these guns in such atmospheres as 1920’s Chicago (mafia central), a Planet X, and even Neo-Tokyo. These and more prove to be very creative and incredibly designed. I found myself thinking to myself, “Hey, it’d be sweet if-“ then I tried it and it worked. One of the great examples of this was walking up to a pool table and shooting all the balls in to the holes with the one white ball on the table. It’s simply amazing.
The depth of the programming definitely stands out where other shooters didn’t see important. That definitely adds a ton of replay that most wouldn’t even see as relevant. Besides this, each section in the single player campaign (each time period) has its own story, and a good one at that. The time periods each put you in the shoes of a character who is caught in a dilemma, and you have to help them through it. These dilemmas mostly revolve around “he hates me and sends all these guys with big guns to kill me”, but they also add a bit more than that to keep you gripped.
My favorite character was probably the western hero Elijah, because there wasn’t a person in town who wasn’t looking for him, and he prided himself on that detail. Examples like these help the player connect and feel more justified; not to mention they add motivation. And these little excerpts vary and include everything from a Mafia rat to the opposition of mass-producing robots. The size of the single player campaign isn’t massive with only about 10 missions, but the variety will make you forget this completely. Besides, the single player campaign is definitely the only single player aspect to this game. You have things like random challenges put in front of you in challenge mode, to scores you have to make within a time limit in arcade mode. These modes are where you’ll find the majority of the single player fun.
The amount of creativity put into these modes is bursting at the seams. The mode has you running around doing things like throwing bricks into windows in a time limit, to retrieving all of Jojo the monkey’s bananas within a time limit while dodging flaming zombies. This might sound pretty random, and oh man is it that, but it’s so fun you’ll forget how stupid it might seem. You’ll be trying to beat these missions long after the single player mode. And all of these modes are worth it with unlockables galore. Earnings range from new levels, to new playable characters, and cheats you can enable.
Determination and motivation is there to keep going since you’ll find such things as a snowman as a playable character and more. All in all, the single player is definitely there with more options to go by than any FPS on the market. Now, the other portion of the game: multiplayer. Forget Halo, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, and even Red Faction 2; this is where it’s at.
The first thing you’ll notice on the multiplayer aspect of the game, is the amount of modes possible to use. With everything from Team Deathmatch to Monkey Assist and Assault, there’s no hint of shortage. All the modes like Deathmatch and Capture the Flag (called Bag in this game) are fun, but the new modes are so much better and unmatched by the classics. Things like a mode where a pack of monkeys helps the losing player are classic and as creative as it gets. Giving you a much needed break from the rehashes, these modes become instant classics. How many times have you seen someone mow down a monkey wielding a minigun to be quickly doused back by a gingerbread man? This brings me to my next point, the immense amount of playable characters.
It’s possible to pick from a floating top half of a snow man being supported by a magic carpet, a tree person, one of the many mob bosses, and my personal favorite, a monkey. It’s just hilarious to see an ally gunned down by a man in a chicken suit. Or leading a group of monkeys against giant calamaris. Puts great images in your head and provides for insanity points. To add to both of these aspects, there are plenty of options and ways you can add your own touches. You can make your own weapon assortment, bot assortment, and tons of options to fiddle with.
All these prove to add even more depth to a deep multiplayer. Finally, we move on to the levels in multiplayer. Not only do you get some of the levels from the single player campaign, but you get all new levels, and even levels from the first game. The majority of the levels are brilliant with many places to discover to your advantage. Not only this, but some of the levels (actually most) are huge. Ranging from a mountain valley training camp, to a military base set in a snowy environment, it never gets old. I couldn’t believe how many ways I could maneuver these levels and how much fun I had playing in these levels.
In conclusion, Timesplitters 2’s make-up is some of the most brilliant, deep, and expansive that it’ll keep you coming back for more long after other FPS’ enter the market.
Unfortunately, games aren’t welcomed by only great gameplay, graphics play a part also. When considering Timesplitters 2’s graphics, there’s nothing to gripe about. All of the bazillion character models playable in the game are well crafted and offer a massive variety. Such details as the holster on the back of a cowboy to the nuts and bolts on a robot are good eye candy. Even if the character models do seem cartoony, you’d be crazy to complain with the overall results.
Next, the levels look spectacular. Each time period is captured perfectly with details like a looming subway in the 1920’s scene, to the massive pistons in a robot factory. You won’t doubt the liability of where you are for a second. The programmers even added such little things like when you shoot a sign suspended by chains in the Wild West era, it will make a ping noise and wobble back and forth. This is simply amazing to behold. And when the guns start shooting, this is where the game’s graphics really shine. Seeing a group of lasers whiz past your head and a nearby robot stumbling to the ground is astounding.
Also, the death animations are smooth and life-like. When you first see a soldier, after being shot, slide along the wall onto the ground sitting, you’ll know they took their time with these things. These aspects and even the menus were well crafted in the building of the game. All in all, these graphics will wow you for a long time.
A FPS isn’t known for its sound in most cases, but Timesplitters 2 excels in this subject. The score for each setting is memorable to say the least. These songs will more than likely get caught in your head, but you won’t mind it being there as they are quite enjoyable. Each song also does a phenomenal job of fitting the setting it’s assigned to. When you hear the muted trumpet blaring in the arrangement for the 1920’s setting, you’ll know these guys did their homework. Everything from techno for the future, and a slow James Bond-like song for the spy levels supply great music that you won’t soon forget.
On the other hand, the sound effects displayed are often awe inducing and well distributed. Catching a sniper in the scope of your gun firing at you is enjoyable, yes, but then the sound of the bullet whizzing by your head right before you unload on him is even better. Each gun has its own unique sound and is believable and well orchestrated. The sounds they found for things like the Tommy Gun to a gun that shoots lightning are very cool. When looking back at the sound aspect, you won’t want to miss this one.
Simply put, Timesplitters 2 handles like a dream. The controls on this game are extremely well laid out. It took me about 5 minutes to get the hang of this game, but I am a veteran of the FPS genre, but even still, the controls aren’t hard. When looking back at Turok and Agent Under Fire, you wonder why they didn’t follow this example. With the normal joystick for movement, and the C-stick for looking, it’s a snap to move around. Many FPS have followed this example, and Timesplitters 2 has no problem with duplicating this scheme, and it does it well.
Not only this, but switching between weapons with the D-pad is well handled, especially when considering Agent Under Fire. I had so much trouble with the switching in Agent Under Fire that I often found myself dead in a skirmish because of that error. Reloading is easy to reach the button in time of need. As expected, using objects is easy, and no problem. The crouch in Timesplitters 2 is well placed, and this was also a good choice for the control scheme. Compared to other FPS, it’s simple to crouch any and every time you need to. This is the downfall of many FPS, and it certainly isn’t in this game. Even though the red button might be small, it’s just as easy to access when needed. Unlike other games, the triggers are simple to use. I only had miniscule problems with the controls. In the end, Timesplitters 2 overachieves this aspect.
I don’t even know why I have to address this subject, but the replay in this game is immense. Some things in this game have never been tread upon before with the challenge mode and such. The game provides enough replay with all of its modes to fill another game. Multiplayer mode has enough options for you to keep finding new ones months after the game comes out. Not only this, but the multiplayer is so fun you’ll be bringing friends back time after time. The singleplayer is definitely enjoyable and provides for enough variety to keep you coming back. I haven’t even mentioned the mapmaker. This option, though not terribly deep, allows you to create some insane and intense environments. You can add everything from green strobe lights to multiple pillars and crates. It really gives you that much control. The mode allows you to place spawn points, capture points, and so much more. The only complaint I had with this mode is the fact that levels could only be one story tall, and the fact you couldn’t add more items like the huge artillery guns you can wield, and not much more.
All in all, you can’t gripe about the mapmaker considering that no other FPS has attempted this before. All in all, this game provide enough replay to last a year, and all of you still clinging to Perfect Dark can move on now.
Well, I wish this game wouldn’t end, and I know the next chapter won’t be out for a couple of years (if there is another), but this really is one of the best games I’ve ever played. Forget Halo, this game is an infinite more amount of fun. Halo might have its vehicles, and Red Faction might have its Geo Mod, but this is an even more original experience. Timesplitters 2 is a must have for gamers; if you miss this one you’ve missed one of the recent best. I’m definitely adding this one to my Top 10.
-- Anonym. Contributor, PGNx Media
---- Oct 30, 2002
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