Timesplitters

Some of the creators of the great N64 title "Goldeneye" have left Rare and created their own company called Free Radical. Their first game under the Eidos based company is the first-person shooter "Timeplitters". Though the game borrows heavily from Bond, and other first person shooters. It definitely has niched out a place of its own.

Basically the story of "Timesplitters" is this. In the hundred years spanning the millennium (1935 - 2035), a disparate bunch of heroes and villains battle against their own challenges. Although each is unaware of the others, they all share an ageless common spirit of adventure - but unknown to them, their daring actions have attracted the attention of the TimeSplitters. Roused from an ancient sleep, the TimeSplitters cross the threshold from their shadowy dimension - ripping through the fabric of time itself to confront our heroes.

Ok, as flavorful as that story sounds. It means absolutely SQUAT!! The story mode doesn't exactly mean anything. Its like a bunch of challenges that really have nothing to do with each other, and where each level can be finished in 3 minutes or less. That is, unless you put the game on one of its harder difficulty settings. If you do that, once your beat the first 5 levels...its going to take everything short of a miracle to beat the remaining levels. I think the makers of this game knew only two settings "easy as a hooker", and "harder than Vigilante with two bi-sexual girls". There is nothing in the middle, and this makes the single player mode both boring and tedious. Not a great combo.

Also, you may look at "Timesplitters" and may not be as knocked off your feet as you were when you first saw Madden or SSX. Well that’s understandable. Though "Timesplitters" doesn't look as visually impressive, it’s no slouch. The player models are well designed, and they move with great speed throughout each level. Also, the speed and the interactive backgrounds (that’s right folks take aims at plates and windows and watch em shatter) make the sub par visuals worthwhile.

Luckily for us, the game covers up its faults in single player mode and decent graphics with what it offers in multiplayer abilities. Unlike "Goldeneye", "Timesplitters" is FAST!!! In the N64 shooter, the game was slower so you had time to sneak up and snipe your opponent. It became a real stealth time game. "Timesplitters" throws all of that out the window, and creates the fastest first person shooter EVER. With this speed, there is no sneaking up opponents or trying to snipe people. There is only run and shoot, and that my friends creates the greatest premise for deathmatches. In deathmatches you face against 8 other people (play against 3 other humans or all 7 computer controlled players) in an everyman for himself war. Can you say some long nights way after hours? I know you can!! In addition to the deathmatch, there are tons of other multiplayer games such as bag tag (where you have to find the 'bag' and hold onto it for the longest time) capture the bag (where your team faces off against another team to try and steal each other's bag and return it to your base) as well as many others. With all those options, 55 characters, and 18 VERY deep levels the multiplaying options are endless.

But that’s not where it ends folks! No,no, no. The people of Free Radical have given us the option of creating our own levels to blast each other away in. That's right folks, there is a map editor where you can create your own level, save it to your memory card, and take it over your friends house to shoot each other up in more levels than your hearts can desire.

The Good!		The Last Word(s): If you want a game to put in the ol machine when you've got some friends over, than there is no better game than Timesplitters. Plenty of levels, tons of guns, and fast paced action makes Timesplitters the best multiplayer game on the Playstation 2. However, if you're a poor boy who has really no friends. Then you may want to leave this one alone. I ,for one, am pretty damn popular and enjoy wasting hours upon hours blasting holes in my friend's heads. Final Rating: 92% Iconish
Faster than a 14 year old girl in the 90's! 55 playable characters Map editor=GODLY! Hours upon hours of carnage
The Bad...
Playing single player mode gets boring fast. No Blood After 35 characters, characters begin to become clones.
The UGLY.
Playing on difficulty level past normal=IMPOSSIBLE!!!