Timesplitters

From Ultimatewiki

TimeSplitters is a series of first person shooter video games which have a storyline based on time travel. The first two games were published by Eidos. The first, released on the PlayStation 2 as a launch title for the system, while its sequel was also released on Xbox and GameCube, in addition to the PlayStation 2 version. There are currently three games in the series, TimeSplitters, TimeSplitters 2, and TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (published by EA Games).

The original game, TimeSplitters, was developed by the Nottingham based company Free Radical Design and published in 2000 by Eidos. Set over 100 years of past, present and future, TimeSplitters boasts probably the fastest gameplay yet seen in a console FPS, demanding the players keep their wits about them at all times.

The look of the games are substantially more stylized and cartoon-like than most first person shooters, with character models and expressions more closely resembling games such as XIII or Serious Sam rather than more realistic contemporaries such as Half-Life or Red Faction. This emphasis on often comic book-style character design, many of which represent instantly recognizable parodies of established pop-culture stereotypes (such as the aristocratic English explorer or the suave secret agent) combined with an often surreal and self-mocking style of humour.

The series is notable for the inclusion of a Mapmaker, a simple grid-based level editor. In TimeSplitters, Mapmaker maps may only be used in Arcade mode.

Classics such as GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark are often mentioned alongside TimeSplitters because the Free Radical Design team was once a part of Rareware, the creators of these two FPS games for the Nintendo 64. TimeSplitters is often considered to be a continuation or spiritual sequel of the popular FPS style that GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark induced.

Contents 1 Story Mode 2 Arcade Mode 3 Challenge Mode 4 Soundtrack

Story Mode

Story mode is a series of missions. In TimeSplitters 1 and 2, this was based upon the retrieval of a key object and its successful return. In TS2 however, there were also additional objectives. Enemy AI in TS1 is simple yet determined. In TS2 stealth was possible, they weren't always suicidal, and they were sometimes sneaky themselves. On harder settings, there's little room for error. Enemies can appear out of nowhere and there are no checkpoints to allow breathing space in TS1, although in TS2 there is 1 checkpoint in each level. In TSFP there are sometimes multiple. The difficulty curve in TimeSplitters is steep, in the harder settings the enemies become more numerous, better armed, and the maps themselves can change to make things more difficult.

There are always two playable characters on each mission in Story Mode. Cooperative play is also available, though enemy numbers and weapon/health placements remain the same as in Single Player Mode, with the addition of both players being weaker than on single player, so it can be harder if you don't work as a team.

The Story mode is also where many of the games unlockables are found. Completing a mission will often be rewarded with a new character or characters in the Arcade game. Other rewards include new cheats and new Arcade maps.

Effectively, the only link between the separate time periods is the enemies that materialize whenever you complete your goal in a level and must exit the level. As revealed in later games in the series, these are the TimeSplitters themselves, who travel through many points in Earth's history in an attempt to disrupt and destroy humanity.

Arcade Mode

Arcade mode is the multiplayer aspect of the TimeSplitters series and has 2 types of gameplay: Arcade, which is simple multiplayer, and League (found only in Timesplitters 2 and Future Perfect), which is similar to Challenge Mode, but there are 3 different levels of difficulty that each contain 3 challenges.

These are the modes that you can play in Arcade:

• Deathmatch: Kill the other contenders
• Team Deathmatch: Kill the other team(s)
• Capture the Bag: Retreive the bag from the other base(s)
• Bagtag: There is only one bag, hold onto it for the longest time to win
• Knockout¹: Retreive bags from a central point and return it to your base to score
• Last Stand¹: Stay alive for as long as possible
• Elimination²: The last conteder remaining wins
• Shrink²: Contender's size is based on ranking
• Vampire²: Contenders have a limited lifespan, kill enemies to increase it
• Thief²: Collect the coins left by dead contenders
• Leech³: Absorb health by inflincting damage
• Regeneration³: Health regenerates
• Flame Tag³: Pass the flame on
• Virus²: Last person to catch fire wins
• Zones²: Control strategic points in the map
• Assault²: Assault the enemy base
• Gladiator²: Only the gladiator can score
• Monkey Assistant²: The contender in last place has monkeys making kills for them

• ^{1: Only available in TS1}
• ^{2: Only available in TS2 & TS:FP}
• ^{3: Only available in TS2}

Challenge Mode

Challenge mode, in all games of the series, consists of 9 sets of 3 single player challenges, often based around a pre-set Arcade match. Rewards, such as extra characters for Arcade Mode, are given for successful completion.

Soundtrack

In 2006 Free Radical placed the soundtracks for all of their currently available games up for download on the company website, including printable album artwork. The soundtrack for the TimeSplitters games can be found here.