Live Magazine September 2017

TIMESPLITTERS 2 AND
TIMESPLITTERS: FUTURE
PERFECT
- Nick Getley
After the success of GoldenEye 64,
many of Rare’s designers left the
company and founded a new studio,
Free Radical Design. Free Radical
are possibly best known for the
Timesplitters series of games, two
of which were available on the original
Xbox.
Timesplitters see players fighting in
a war that takes place throughout a
number of different time periods and
locations. The titular Timesplitters
are a race of aliens (or are they?)
that wreak havoc as they travel
through time using the Time Crystals.
While the original Timesplitters
cast players as a number of different
characters, Timesplitters 2 saw
players cast as Sergeant Cortez and
Corporal Hart, who leap through time
portals in order to recover the Time
Crystals and end the war. It also introduced
a number of different objectives
that players must complete
in order to beat a level.
Timesplitters 2 has a fantastic
cartoon-like art style that perfectly
compliments its sense of humour.
While fans certainly appreciated the
campaign, the series was all about
multiplayer, and featured a staggering
192 different characters to unlock
– each with their own unique
voice acting and dialogue! There
was also a map editor included, as
well as the ability for 16 player multiplayer
through LAN.
Timesplitters: Future Perfect somehow
had even better multiplayer
features (including online play), but
also had a much improved campaign
mode. Instead of Cortez and
Hart blending into different time periods
with disguises, Cortez partners
up with people from different time
periods, making for some hilarious
interactions.
Timesplitters 2 and Timesplitters:
Future Perfect are two of the best
FPS games that were on the Xbox
Original. We desperately need a new
game in the series (don’t even get
me started on how impossible that
would be) but re-living all that addictive
multiplayer and brilliant singleplayer
on the Xbox One will definitely
suffice.