TimeSplitters: Future Perfect

"Timesplitters: Future Perfect is a unique FPS that feels like the good old days."

We live in a post-Halo world. From Medal of Honor to Killzone, shooting games are focusing on that sense of realism that was introduced in Halo. This new realism factor has totally abandoned the old School style of first person shooters that was seen in games such as Goldeneye, Half-Life, and Doom. Now along comes Timesplitters: Future Perfect. I've never played the past two Timesplitters, but this one has gotten good word, so I decided to give it a try. This game overall is fun, humorous, and feels just like the golden days of legendary shooting games.

Story - 8/10

I love the story, and it has a good sense of slapstick humor. It begins in the year 2041, and there is a war going on between humans and the titular creatures know as Timesplitters. These beasts have the ability to travel through time, and can cause a time paradox. So a man named Cortez is sent on a mission to go into the past and stop the Timesplitters from ever being created. Again it is filled with humorous antics, but not the laugh out loud type of humor, more like you slap your forehead and just chuckle at the stupid things that happen. Also the story mode feel like a parody of a sort, each time era that you visit is a spoof on a certain genre or specific form of shooting game. The games it mocks ranges from 007, Resident evil, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Halo, and much more. If you played these games then you will get these little inside jokes. And to add to the parody part, a parody is never complete without the knuckle headed protagonist that is Cortez. Cortez is very trigger happy, and is a bit corny at times, which is probably what makes him funny. The only downside is that the story mode is short, but it is sweet.

Graphics - 9/10

Again I will say, while a lot of other shooting games aims for realism, Time Splitters looks and feels a lot like a cartoon. With a lot of the models having a lot of curves and a chunky look to them, don't look serious, so therefore you can't take it seriously. Now the game has some nice effects, and the look and style of the guns from the future is note worthy. And again the guns are a lot like the cartoon-ish style so the future guns have a lot of curves, and are pretty cool looking. But during the cut scenes the textures look odd when close up. And compared to the XBOX version, it lacks, but its not that big of a deal.

Sounds/Score - 8/10

The voices are over the top, and sound like they belong in a cartoon. The time period depends on the speech and accent of the people around you. So for example when you are in the year 1969, the vocabulary used by the people around you consists of words such as "Groovy" or "Far-out" and other dead words that were 'hip' at that time. And as for the music, it's great. Each time period has its own mood of music to it. So again for example in 1969 you'll hear a lot of disco like music and so on and so fourth.

Game play 10/10

Game play is the heart of a video game, and Time Splitters has solid game play. While the game is best in its multiplayer modes, the single player holds up well. As mentioned above, the single player is short, and can be finished in one or two sittings. There also is a arcade mode which is a lot like Quake III or Unreal Tournaments campaigns, where you have to progress by getting the most amount of kills. One thing I love about this game is the multiplayer, be it online or offline, it is very fun. The matches can be customized to your hearts extent, and you have about 150 selectable characters. Now the characters you can choose are just priceless. The characters range from in game character such as Cortez and a few of his allies, most of the in-game enemies, and a range of other wacky characters. These insane characters range from ducks, dinosaurs, robots, monkeys, a gingerbread man and plenty more. When you select a character they say a little funny lines, which can be irritating at times. But these characters keep the game alive and well. There are enough maps to keep you on the edge, and there is even a mapmaker mode.

Value - 10/10

There is enough in this game to keep a smile on your face, and the sheer amount of fun is bound to keep you coming back. With about 15 different types of game modes and 150 different characters to select and tons of content to unlock, there is plenty to do and will keep you coming back.

Pros
-Throw back style game play
-Over 20 weapons
-Engaging Multiplayer (4 offline + bots, 16 online)
-150 characters
-Good amount of humor
-Fast pacing

Cons
-Short Single player
-Voices can be annoying at times
-You can't jump

Final - 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/10/05