TimeSplitters 2
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 2:03 pm
For every average game in a genre that introduces nothing new to it and follows every cliche in the book but still goes platinum and gets a truckload of crazy fanboys (coughimtalkingabouthalocough), there's a game in the genre that does it one better but hardly gets any public attention or recognition. "I've never heard of it, so it must suck." The fanboys will say.
Thus, TimeSplitters 2 was brought to all 3 current consoles by Free Radical Design, a team made up of key members of the Goldeneye crew, the game that defined objective-based gameplay in first-person shooters. If this game had gotten some advertising...
Story
The game's story mode goes like this: In the year 2401, a hostile and hideous race of aliens known as the Time Splitters wishes to destroy the human race by any means possible. The Space Marine Corps were sent to fight back, but then the Splitters built a time machine and travelled to the past to attack mankind at its roots.
Two experienced marines, Sargeant Cortez and Corporal Hart were sent to the Time Splitter Space Station to stop their schemes. In order to stop them, they needed the nine Time Crystals that they were holding. Upon entering the bridge, the Splitters began taking the crystals to various points in time, scattering them across the continuim.
Sgt. Cortez's mission now is to travel to these points in time and retrieve the Time Crystal somehow in each age.
Each stage that the story mode takes place in has a story of its own, so this is like having 10 storylines in one! Rating: 10/10
Graphics
The character models are nice, the environments are great, and everything runs at a smooth 60 FPS with little slowdown. It looks great when you're running around with gunfire and explosions all around you, watching people shoot each other (and you). There are about 30 death animations for the characters, depending on how and where you shot them, giving the game a more realistic feel. The Story Mode cutscenes are very well animated as well. The characters move a lot more like real people than stiff robots. There are also many zombies you will encounter that move like zombies of old horror movies, and you can even shoot off their arms, legs, and heads! The levels may not be shiny and exciting, but they fit the theme of the time period you're in. It's no Metroid Prime but... Rating: 8/10
Sound
There's some nice music in the game, and they fit in well will the environment. The first level in Story Mode is a Siberian Dam, similar to Goldeneye, so the music is reminiscent to it very well, for example. You hear an old guitar theme on the Wild West mission, tribal drums in Aztec, creepy monk music in the zombie-infested Notre Dame level, and so on. Very atmospheric. Rating: 8/10
Gameplay
This is obviously the most important part of a game, and this game isn't one to dissapoint. The controls can be customized to your liking, every button and stick. They are quite responsive as well.
Each of the 27(!) weapons in the game come from past, present, and future. From antique pistols and rifles to soviet submachines with grenades to sniper rifles and weapons capable of setting victims aflame to futuristic laser guns and plasma rifles with unique firing schemes, and you can even throw bricks at people! There are basically pistols, sniper rifles, automatics, explosives, throwing weapons, power weapons like shotguns ideal for blasting zombies, and special weapons to satisfy your need for weapon variety.
The Story mode plays out very much like Goldeneye, only better. There are several objectives you need to complete each mission as well as optional and new objectives added mid-mission. No two missions are alike. You do something different each time, as they range from 1853 Wild West to the 2401 Space Station.
There is also an Arcade League and Challenge modes that have you complete one of 66 scenarios and earn a bronze, silver, gold, or even a platinum trophy for each one and unlock new characters, stages, cheats, and many other features for multiplayer. They range from blasting endless waves of zombies to shooting monkeys to collecting bananas and many more. This is one unique feature for TimeSplitters.
Another special feature is the MapMaker mode, which allows you to create your own levels for single and multiplayer! You choose a theme for your map, place pieces together on a grid, and then add starting positions, items, and various lighting effects. For single player maps, you can create objective-based missions just as in Story Mode. You add enemies to the levels and choose how you want them to behave, and set up various events through a cause-and-effect type of pseudo programming language. The possibilities for MapMaker are nearly endless, and the TimeSplitters 3 MapMaker looks promising with more features such as outdoor environments! Rating: 10/10
Multiplayer
This is another factor of what makes the gameplay shine. For starters, two players can play through Story Mode cooperatively, completing objectives and blasting things together, and it works since things are changed in co-op mode for the better.
But the heart of multiplayer is the Arcade mode, in which 1-4 players can participate in one of 16 different game modes, such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Bag, Bag Tag, Virus, Thief, Assault, Zones, and Monkey Assistant just to name a few. These game modes add interesting twists and breaks from the regular fragfests, and the fully customizable rules allow for the creation of your own games.
You can change the time limit, score limit, radar feature, and various other regulations in Arcade Mode along with picking your own set of up to 5 weapons and 10 Bots. With up to 14 players, the action gets very frantic and hectic, as if World War III was going on around you. After choosing which one of the 126 characters to play as, you can play Arcade on either 16 standard levels or your very own MapMaker creations that add to the depth of replay value, as the possiblities in the rules alone are already endless. Rating: 10/10
TimeSplitters 2 is a vastly underrated game that offers many features uncommon or never heard of at all in a first-person shooter. High expectations must be made for the sequel to be at least as good.
Thus, TimeSplitters 2 was brought to all 3 current consoles by Free Radical Design, a team made up of key members of the Goldeneye crew, the game that defined objective-based gameplay in first-person shooters. If this game had gotten some advertising...
Story
The game's story mode goes like this: In the year 2401, a hostile and hideous race of aliens known as the Time Splitters wishes to destroy the human race by any means possible. The Space Marine Corps were sent to fight back, but then the Splitters built a time machine and travelled to the past to attack mankind at its roots.
Two experienced marines, Sargeant Cortez and Corporal Hart were sent to the Time Splitter Space Station to stop their schemes. In order to stop them, they needed the nine Time Crystals that they were holding. Upon entering the bridge, the Splitters began taking the crystals to various points in time, scattering them across the continuim.
Sgt. Cortez's mission now is to travel to these points in time and retrieve the Time Crystal somehow in each age.
Each stage that the story mode takes place in has a story of its own, so this is like having 10 storylines in one! Rating: 10/10
Graphics
The character models are nice, the environments are great, and everything runs at a smooth 60 FPS with little slowdown. It looks great when you're running around with gunfire and explosions all around you, watching people shoot each other (and you). There are about 30 death animations for the characters, depending on how and where you shot them, giving the game a more realistic feel. The Story Mode cutscenes are very well animated as well. The characters move a lot more like real people than stiff robots. There are also many zombies you will encounter that move like zombies of old horror movies, and you can even shoot off their arms, legs, and heads! The levels may not be shiny and exciting, but they fit the theme of the time period you're in. It's no Metroid Prime but... Rating: 8/10
Sound
There's some nice music in the game, and they fit in well will the environment. The first level in Story Mode is a Siberian Dam, similar to Goldeneye, so the music is reminiscent to it very well, for example. You hear an old guitar theme on the Wild West mission, tribal drums in Aztec, creepy monk music in the zombie-infested Notre Dame level, and so on. Very atmospheric. Rating: 8/10
Gameplay
This is obviously the most important part of a game, and this game isn't one to dissapoint. The controls can be customized to your liking, every button and stick. They are quite responsive as well.
Each of the 27(!) weapons in the game come from past, present, and future. From antique pistols and rifles to soviet submachines with grenades to sniper rifles and weapons capable of setting victims aflame to futuristic laser guns and plasma rifles with unique firing schemes, and you can even throw bricks at people! There are basically pistols, sniper rifles, automatics, explosives, throwing weapons, power weapons like shotguns ideal for blasting zombies, and special weapons to satisfy your need for weapon variety.
The Story mode plays out very much like Goldeneye, only better. There are several objectives you need to complete each mission as well as optional and new objectives added mid-mission. No two missions are alike. You do something different each time, as they range from 1853 Wild West to the 2401 Space Station.
There is also an Arcade League and Challenge modes that have you complete one of 66 scenarios and earn a bronze, silver, gold, or even a platinum trophy for each one and unlock new characters, stages, cheats, and many other features for multiplayer. They range from blasting endless waves of zombies to shooting monkeys to collecting bananas and many more. This is one unique feature for TimeSplitters.
Another special feature is the MapMaker mode, which allows you to create your own levels for single and multiplayer! You choose a theme for your map, place pieces together on a grid, and then add starting positions, items, and various lighting effects. For single player maps, you can create objective-based missions just as in Story Mode. You add enemies to the levels and choose how you want them to behave, and set up various events through a cause-and-effect type of pseudo programming language. The possibilities for MapMaker are nearly endless, and the TimeSplitters 3 MapMaker looks promising with more features such as outdoor environments! Rating: 10/10
Multiplayer
This is another factor of what makes the gameplay shine. For starters, two players can play through Story Mode cooperatively, completing objectives and blasting things together, and it works since things are changed in co-op mode for the better.
But the heart of multiplayer is the Arcade mode, in which 1-4 players can participate in one of 16 different game modes, such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Bag, Bag Tag, Virus, Thief, Assault, Zones, and Monkey Assistant just to name a few. These game modes add interesting twists and breaks from the regular fragfests, and the fully customizable rules allow for the creation of your own games.
You can change the time limit, score limit, radar feature, and various other regulations in Arcade Mode along with picking your own set of up to 5 weapons and 10 Bots. With up to 14 players, the action gets very frantic and hectic, as if World War III was going on around you. After choosing which one of the 126 characters to play as, you can play Arcade on either 16 standard levels or your very own MapMaker creations that add to the depth of replay value, as the possiblities in the rules alone are already endless. Rating: 10/10
TimeSplitters 2 is a vastly underrated game that offers many features uncommon or never heard of at all in a first-person shooter. High expectations must be made for the sequel to be at least as good.
