Reviewed: November 22, 2002
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Eidos Interactive
Developer
Free Radical Design
Released: October 8, 2002
Genre: FPS
Players: 4 (16 with Link)
ESRB: Teen
10
9
9
10
9.6
Supported Features
When it comes to first-person shooter (FPS) games there is certainly no shortage on the PC or any of the consoles. With the exception of HALO I have yet to meet an FPS game that I was truly comfortable with. Things are slowly starting to change with many of the newer FPS console titles supporting USB mice and keyboards, but then you have to wonder, if you start going as far as turning your console into a PC why not just play the PC version of the game. What we really need is an innovative FPS game controller – you listening ThrustMaster…MadCatz…?
Of course with console exclusive titles like the new TimeSplitters 2, gamers are left with no other option other than to adapt to the limitations of a gamepad, and this was unfortunately my attitude when I approached this game review. Imagine my surprise when I found that Free Radical had not only managed to create an amazing control interface using a gamepad, but they also offered a game with virtually unlimited configuration options.
TimeSplitters 2 is at the core an FPS game that follows the design premise of the now famous GoldenEye on the N64 system. This was no stroke of luck as several members of the design team for that game were the founders of Free Radical. These guys know what makes a great FPS game and they apparently were aware of the control limitations of a gamepad because this game is by far the best controlling FPS title on any console to date – even HALO.
Free Radical was responsible for the original TimeSplitters game that launched with the PS2 back in 2000, but driven by deadlines to launch this game with the system they ended up with a game that suffered from severe lack of content, both in single and multiplayer modes. TimeSplitters 2 is irrevocable proof of what can be accomplished when you leave the design team alone and don’t rush their product out the door.
TimeSplitters 2 is now available on all three of the next-gen systems and I had the luxury of playing all three. While they all share the same content and great gameplay, the Xbox version manages to rise to the top with some incredible graphics that run at an unwavering 60fps. Even a four-player split screen can’t slow down this monster once it starts moving.
The game has a robust single player mode that consists of many levels set across various periods of time. You approach these levels based on a story that exists only to tie them together in the loosest of plots. Apparently aliens called TimeSplitters are bent on destroying humanity. As our pair of heroic space marines infiltrate the space station where they are conducting their evil operation many manage to escaped through a time portal with valuable Time Crystals that you must recover.
The premise has virtually unlimited potential, much like my favorite Sci-Fi show, Stargate SG1. When you have a portal that can go anywhere, or in this case, anytime, your game is limited only by your imagination. In this case you end up traveling into the past, future, and present chasing down these aliens in a series of seemingly random missions. They are all interconnected with the occasional cutscene to remind you there is an ongoing plot, but most gamers will quickly realize these are simply unique mission environments, much like the arenas in games like Quake and Unreal Tournment. The story becomes second to the fun you have simply playing and replaying each level.
I can’t stress enough the killer controls this game offers considering you are playing with a gamepad. Of course much of my joy was from the simple fact that you can configure every single last command to any button on the controller you choose. JOY! I’ve only been waiting seven or eight years for somebody to figure this out. PC’s let you do it, so why not a console. It just makes sense and is so much easier than programming a bunch of pre-config options and letting you choose. Every game I review from this point on regardless of genre or system will have their controls judged against the bar that TimeSplitters 2 has set so very high.
Of course customizing you controls is worthless if the controls stink once you get in the game, but once again Free Radical has blown me away with a control scheme that is so intuitive and fluid that I’m tearing up just writing about it. One of the nicest features is the AIM button that switches your right stick from head-look to weapon-aim. In weapon aim your view is unchanged unless you aim off the visible screen in which case you will pan the view only much more slowly than in normal look mode.
Ultimately, I ended up playing major sections of the game with the AIM turned on. This afforded me the technique of moving around corners and aiming to the side to shoot guys around corners. The game doesn’t offer a LEAN command, so this is the only way to tactically take out guys around corners other than the old sidestep out and sidestep back routine. In a nutshell, TimeSplitters 2 is the first game that controls so well I never even considered how much better it would play on a PC.
By design, all of the levels are locked when you start and as you progress through the story and collect the time crystals additional levels become available to you. You begin in a 1990’s Siberian military installation complete with a towering dam and underground research center and power plant. Each mission has several objectives to complete and more are often added to the list as the mission progresses. Some objectives are major like taking out a giant communications dish with a bomb while others are ongoing objectives like blowing up a half-dozen file cabinets that are scattered all over the level. Blowing them up is easy; finding them isn’t.
The levels are designed with a console control scheme in mind. There are no complicated jumping puzzles or narrow ledges of death. Doors and switches all activate if you are within a reasonably close distance; you don’t have to tilt down or look at specific things like buttons, handles, or knobs. It’s very forgiving and very fun.
Another nice feature is the mapping tool you carry as one of your high-tech gadgets. This allows you to scan the immediate area and even locate hostile targets. The only problem is that you can easily get distracted watching that blip advancing on your position and get your butt kicked before you can switch to a “real” weapon.
The environments are partially interactive when it suits the mission objectives. You can turn steam valves; operate remote camera systems and even blast enemies with remote turrets. You can blast fire extinguishers and barrels to create massive collateral damage and you can destroy surveillance cameras with a few well-placed shots to guarantee a stealth approach.
The weapons at your disposal are original and varied by the time zone you are exploring. The Siberia level features great weapons like a sniper rifle with high-tech scope, AK47, shotgun, flamethrower, and time bombs. Moving on to gangland Chicago you get old-fashion pistols, and of course the Tommy Gun.
There are nine zones in all which makes for an arguably short single player experience, but TimeSplitters 2 also sports an amazing multiplayer component that manages to blow GoldenEye and just about every other multiplayer game out of the water. You start off with an excellent cooperative story mode that allows for two players to tackle the single player missions in split-screen. The designers have carefully balanced the gameplay creating some tough decisions for the players. Weapons and ammo do not magically spawn as they do in the Deathmatch-style games. You have to work as a team and share the fixed amount of resources.
When you throw teamwork out the window and just want the pleasure of kicking your best-friend’s ass you can do so in one of more than 15 levels that are designed around the tried and true concepts that put GoldenEye on the map. You can choose from 16 game variations and three speeds not to mention all sorts of options like one-hit kills, time limit, frag limit, and the inclusion and difficulty of any bots. Bots take the form of over 100 wildly unique characters that have personalities as rich as the gameplay. Mix all this in with traditional Deathmatch, CTF, and team variations of these games and you have the most comprehensive multiplayer game on the planet. If TimeSplitters 2 were to ever release on the PC Quake and Unreal Tournament would have good cause to start sweating bullets.
TimeSplitters 2 is visually stunning with over-the-top colors, great textures, and realistic level design. Models are simple, both in architecture and character design; yet they are mapped with wonderful textures. What this ultimate gives you is great looking, albeit simple levels that fly by at a consistent 60fps. By using simple models the designers can put more of them in each scene creating the illusion of something much more complex than is really there. The Chicago level is a great example of this technique with layers upon layers of buildings creating a vast cityscape with streets, alleys, fire escapes, etc.
Each of the time zones is especially well designed. The Notre Dame and futuristic Tokyo levels are stunning while the historic and present day levels are grounded in a good sense of reality. Cars, characters, and weapons all reflect the current era and give the game a great and consistent feel.
The Xbox manages to crank up the detail level over the other available formats, but this seemed to be a bit inconsistent. Many of the levels look obviously better while others seem to be unchanged from the PS2 or GameCube versions. Overall, there is a definitely improvement in the graphics.
Special effects such as particles, fire, smoke, and real-time lighting are outstanding and used in abundance. Fire is especially pleasing until it hits you and then you get an insanely exciting and dangerous view from your first-person perspective of flames encompassing your body. Lighting and lack of lighting is used to create some visually exciting levels and scripted events. When zombies are released in the research lab and the lights shut down and the red emergency lights come on, everything is cast in an eerie red glow that just freaks you out. Venturing deep into the mineshaft, the levels and the monsters are cast in a haunting blue glow that casts long shadows and sinister silhouettes.
TimeSplitters 2 features some great music that fits the theme of the game and the theme of each time zone you happen to be exploring. There are some truly creepy tunes that play during the Notre Dame level and there is almost a Bond-like military them in the Siberian Dam level. Chicago has some classic music you would normally associate with a gangster movie and the NeoTokyo level features music that pays homage to sci-fi features like Fifth Element or Blade Runner.
Sound effects are excellent whether it is one of the realistic sampled sounds for any of the dozens of weapons, the whir of a ceiling mounted gun turret, the shattering of glass, the hiss of steam, the explosion of a satellite dish, or the crackling sound of a flaming zombie as it lurches toward you with arms outstretched.
And finally, you have some respectable voice acting that is mainly confined to the cutscenes. There are the occasional voices that pop-up in the story mode, mainly computer voices, or the random or even scripted comments from NPC’s. The Xbox wraps all this goodness up in a nice surround package that sounds great, although it is a standard surround mix and not a true Dolby Digital 5.1 mix.
The single player game offers three skill levels that do much more than simply change the number of enemies and the severity of the damage they inflict upon your character. Changing the difficulty actually changes the number of mission objectives you are required to complete for each level. At first, I found this highly annoying as I was having trouble completing the Chicago level on the Normal level. Changing to the Easy level several of my favorite objectives were removed from the list including a gunfight in a nearby saloon.
Ultimately, I had no choice but to accept this design decision and use it to my advantage to slowly work through the increasing number of objectives and difficulty levels. This also gives you a good incentive for playing all of the missions on all the various skill settings, unless you enjoy pain and start with the hardest setting, in which case you will have access to all the objectives at their highest difficulty setting. Good luck!
You will probably exhaust the single player component in under 20 hours, but as we already discussed, the multiplayer options in this game will keep you busy until the end of time, or at least until TimeSplitters 3. And when your fingers are bleeding and your eyes are bloodshot and you can’t stand to play one more round you can fire up the full-featured level designer and create your own levels and arenas.
The MapMaker feature might not be the easiest level designer on the block but at least they give you the tools and if you have the patience and the skill you can turn out some pretty awesome levels, fully detailed and populated with any of the NPC’s, weapons, and objects found in the main game.
It’s a shame this game came out when it did. If Free Radical had managed to hold out another month or two they could have taken advantage of the recently added online components of all the next-gen systems. I can’t imagine playing TimeSplitters 2 online; well yes I can, and it sends shivers down my spine. We can only hope for online support in TimeSplitters 3 or whatever Free Radical has up their sleeve for their next big release.
As it stands, TimeSplitter 2 is without a doubt the best FPS title released on a console system to date, even surpassing HALO and even many of my previously favorite PC shooters. Gameplay is fast, furious, and fun, with amazing control and the graphics and sound that are exceptionally well done. With loads of content, multiplayer options, and a robust level editor this could be one of those titles that never sees your dust-covered gaming shelf.