Timesplitters 2

Timeslitters is a critically acclaimed series brought to you by the same team that designed Goldeneye 64 for the Nintendo 64 all those years ago. For those of you too young to remember... or too old to care... Goldeneye was the Halo of its day and a true legend in terms of multiplayer. Goldeneye did for the console what DooM did for the PC and Marathon did for the Mac. It was a real trendsetter; thusly you'd expect Timesplitters to be a powerful contender for multiplayer game of the millennium... but sadly no. So near yet so far...
Throwing its golden pedigree (no pun intended) to one side doesn't help matters much either. Even as a stand alone title Timesplitters 2 falls woefully short.

The single player mode is fun enough, but starkly lacking and feels like a series of completely unrelated missions, featuring completely unrelated characters throw in a blender and spat out the other side. Although each individual story is quite funny (there being a high emphasis on comedy in this game) each is tied in to the main plot very (VERY) loosely, which doesn't help for those of us with a short attention span, as you have to build up a new rapport with each of the new characters and locations with every single mission.
Story aside, its gameplay that counts, but again Timesplitters 2 tends to fall on its face a little here. The weapons are about as much fun to use as hard drugs and even less good for you (remember kids, drugs are like... bad) as most are utterly frustrating to use and on many occasion you'll find yourself getting bloody murdered by some poor smuck with a revolver, even when your packing a sub machine gun. This is in no small part due to the fact that there is no crosshair for aiming and worse still no option to turn one on should you so require. Instead you have to either pay attention to what your character is doing (the weapon model moves in conjunction with the autoaim function), guess where you're supposed to be shooting or - worst of all - revert to the "aim" mode which is frankly quite unusable due to overly sensitive analogue sticks and a slowdown in your characters horizontal movement (trust me, it doesn't work at all well).
On the plus side, you will get used to this design floor (eventually) and once you do you'll be popping skulls quicker than your target can say "ouch", but it takes a lot of practice, and with an already steep learning curve this makes the game (in the earlier stages) frustrating to the point of disgust. In the end, you'll find one or two weapons that aren't quite as bad as the others and will stick with them regardless, but this really isn't a great start for the game.

Multiplayer, evidently being the focus for the designers, is fun for the first ten minuets (provided you get used to the utterly bad aiming flaw) and has several different game modes for you to try including the standard Deathmatch, Capture the Bag (CTF variant), Bag Tag (one bag, grab it and run), Virus (someone's got the lurgie, run like hell and don't get caught) and a whole host of other options... many of which you wont care for at all, rather tragically. Fortunately the games are fully customisable, even to the point of selecting which weapons you'll use (à la Goldeneye) which does help to relieve the monotony. Likewise adding to replay ability there are literally dozens of characters to unlock (which is done in the Arcade and Story modes) all of which have differing abilities. Some are fun, some serious, but you'll soon find a favourite and grow to love him (or her).
The multiplayer maps, in stark contrast to the overly linier single player maps, are well designed, but you won't care much for them in the long run. Unfortunately for every good map there is one that is equally as bad, and also adding to frustration is the fact that there aren't many maps at all, which is odd when you consider the emphasis that has been placed on multiplayer.

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Arcade mode is basically a series of completely unrelated missions where certain tasks have to be achieved and awards are earned, ultimately to unlock multiplayer features and cheats. You'll play them, you'll unlock stuff, you'll have some fun along the way, but ultimately you'll end up stabbing sharp objects into your face after 30 minuets through frustration and boredom as the same age old aiming issue ruins what could have been a fairly interesting aspect of the game. Thankfully there are many Arcade games to try and like I said, some are kind of fun... but that's about the best compliment I can come up with here.

The games visuals, although obviously intended to be cartoony, are tragically bland, with textures about as interesting as partaking in a paint drying watchers marathon (or something equally as boring). Character and weapon models are again "ok", but "ok" just doesn't cut the mustard when you pair it off with the games other flaws. Thanks to the building frustration, dodgy control method, aiming design flaw and scant single player mode the "ok" visuals are just plain inexcusable.
Voice acting, sound and music are by far the strongest feature of Timesplitters 2 and although they wont have you gawping in amazement, they do the job and do it well. The weapon sounds are kind of average, but I have to admit to being extremely impressed with the music and I can still remember some of the tunes even now.

So far I've been pretty harsh in this review, but then there are some aspects that lift this title above the average mark. The inclusion of mini-games (Anaconda, for example) is a nice touch, although oddly I've spent more time playing the mini-games than the actual game proper, so take that for what it's worth :/ And on top of that there is a map editor included in game, which, while initially fun, is very, very basic. Documentation with the editor is distinctly lacking, so if you don't know anything about mapping you may just find yourself a little lost, especially when it comes to scripted sequences. However, if you do know anything about mapping you will find that the editor is far too constricting and you wont be able to stretch it very far at all. Basically you are given a series of "tile sets" each of which has a set of models that slot together (like a puzzle) to create a maze (or map). You are also given access to a bunch of scripted doodads each of which do different things, like spawn weapons or players. There is also a basic light source editor but frankly its close to pointless.

So now I'm left with a little dilemma. Once you're over the literally awful learning curve there is a game in there and although fun it isn't going to break any records for style. Hardcore gamers may appreciate the challenge, but the more casual among you will evidently find it far too daunting a task.
Multiplayer will keep you coming back for a while, initially the more bizarre game modes will keep you amused, but you won't love it like you should.

75/100

Far too many flaws. I'm thinking that Free Radical decided to aim low and unfortunately they hit their mark a little too well. Play it, but only when bored. Definitely a rental.