Time Splitters 2 Review by: Sowong - 8/10
TimeSplitters 2: The ReviewTimeSplitter 2: The ReviewWith out a doubt TimeSplitter 2 was the best first person shooter available for PS2, and was essentially the Golden Eye of it's time. There was so much that was just innovative at the time it's difficult to believe it's not as well known or as popular as it should have been, possibly because of the wacky humour and cartoonish styles used throughout the series. I came to TimeSplitters via the second game, which is probably for the best because the first game was terrible and the third game, although still to come out, just wasn't as fantastic as the second. There was just so much available in the game, a pleasing sense of motion and the animations used throughout were simply realistic for the time. There was also the option to turn off blood which appealed to my younger Asterix and Tin Tin loving self. I can't say for sure which particular aspect about the game I liked the most, it wasn't the story, although story is important to me, because the story was fragmented but worked well once you understood it was a collection of mini-tales that made up a whole, which would later be explained in the next game. There was just unexpected enjoyment to be had, so much so I've broken my way through three copies of the game thus far. Well then, lets begin the review and give praise unto Free Radical. I should probably also add that when this game was released it got 10/10 from Playstation 2 magazine, not bad, eh?
Story:My favourite place to start, the storyline; "Out of the darkness they came with the hateful will to destroy humanity." The first line uttered in the game, isn't it just a chilling phrase? Possibly, nowadays, it's easy to be critical of a game which was developed on a 'relatively' limited scale, although at the time was probably considered cutting-edge. The story is condensed into a few short lines at the beginning of the game, and soon overtaken by an action-packed cinematic. What is essentially shown is a bunch of tusk-mouthed, claw armed aliens have attacked earth, and are now invading the past to wipe out humanity at it's roots. A cool concept when you think about it, but not much is really explained in terms of who the aliens are, what they want, and all that guff that we really take seriously now, instead of enjoying the game... or is that just me? At the time it was difficult to understand, now I get it, your character has taken over the alien ship with his comrade, they're pinned down in the 'time machine' room and are jumping back in time to fix the problems the aliens are causing. With every jump the leading man, Cortez, phases into the body of a man from the time period, possibly a time paradox solution there, and will perform the mission as if he is that man, with his memories and attitudes, while still destroying the enemy aliens who cause all sorts of problems from Zombies to Magical Golems, Monkeys to Spacemen and a whole bunch of time related error. All the characters in the game are unique, while events and time zones (obviously) are taken from real history. Nothing major, but the occasional Soviet Spy, a 70's styled secret agent and since the main character is set in the far distant future, some Buck Rodger's styled spacemen get to grapple with the alien foe. The story, while not exactly Shakespeare, is pleasing enough with no major plot holes, but since you only get one character per mission/level, it's hard to find a favourite plot or character in this game. On the bright side if you hate this part of the story, or that character, you won't have long with him. The story has a co-op mode where the second defender on the station, Hart, will become a playable character who takes on the female forms in the story.
Depth:If you can't find something to do on this game then you're playing wrong, there's a story mode with it's own co-op, an arcade free-for-all, challenge maps and a mapmaker. The story has three difficulty settings which really change the gameplay, hard adds more bad guys and cameras, as well as mines and extra things you wouldn't expect, which makes things trick for those who want to do things stealthy. That's right, there's stealth in this game, as well as brute force and fun weapons you get super little gadgets to help you sneak through the 10 different worlds you'll visit. The Arcade is, well, an arcade version of the game. Kill as many people in a certain amount of time, with different types of villains for each killground, and three different leagues with their own ladders for you to climb. The challenge mode is different again, using the basic settings of course, but adding something different each time. It might be something boring like shooting a certain number of zombies in the head, or something interesting and different, like chucking bricks through windows, infiltration, and a card board shoot-out. The mapmaker is quite robust as well, allowing you to make anything from basic arenas to full on races, basically a simpler version of the Halo mapmaker. The multiplayer is customisable as well, allowing you to pick loadouts and kill limit. There's so much to do it's impressive, and due to the lack of repetition in the main game you're never disappointed with the new environment to explore, and the interesting people to kill.
Sound:Sound in the game is arightish, I mean considering they didn't have all the modern fancy items we have, like dubstep and HDmi enhanced surround sound, the game does pretty well. A lot of the music is annoying and repetitive but in most levels the game's soundtrack works well with the environment and allows you to feel like you're working at the right pace whether you're sneaking or charging in. However, there's some missions where the quasi-futuristic music doesn't fit in and you feel like the game is trying to speed you through a mission as quick as it can. Other times the near cartoonish type of sound effects can be quite off putting, for example the sound of a punch is somewhat similar to a heavy sack of branches being swiped into the side of a tree, and makes a very unsatisfactory noise, that gets annoying, especially if fists are your only weapon. The guns, however, are just plain fun to shoot with realistic effects and somewhat overdramatic explosive noises. The sound effects, as well as the music is a bit of a hit and miss, annoying but not game destroying.
Graphics:At the time TimeSplitters 2 had amazing graphics, especially in their cinematics where emotions and expressions came across very well, especially the emotion of fear, as seen in the Siberian Introduction. This ability to make the characters look realistic was a real boost for the game, fine, maybe realistic is the wrong word, but this was the L.A. Noire of it's day in terms of facial animation. In game the expressions are stern and unmoving, but the animation of the character's movements, especially when getting shot, are quite realistic in themselves with how one would react to a punch. This doesn't subtract from the game however, if anything it enhances their cartoony standpoint and helps to keep a light hearted element when you're pumping people full of lead. The game manages to keep its settings unique, I think weaponry is the only thing that gets reused, but each set is different, and brilliantly so, to the point that you can never really expect what's going to come next and are guaranteed a new place to explore with each new mission. The fact that enemies, mostly, change as well helps to create robust environments and shows that the developers really cared about giving their customers bang for their buck.
Addictiveness:I've gone through three copies of this game and I am now on my fourth. I searched through cat boot, charities and game shops to get a hold of my latest copy, as I have done with the last two. The first was a library copy that was damaged through overuse, the second was lost by my father, and the first was the subject to a glitch in my PS2 that burned a line right across the disc. The amount of trouble I have been through to continue to play this game shows just how addictive it is, at least in regards to myself... Perhaps in regards to normal people, like yourselves, I should talk about the addictive qualities of the game play. Well, it's smooth and agile, with fun moments abound and creative, funny elements that will have you interested and laughing at the same time. The sheer volume of challenges in this PS2 game is staggering, compared to the fact that some modern shooters struggle to give anything extra than a multi-player, with zombies. Well TimeSplitters has zombies too, and their in the main game, not just slapped on the end because that's what we apparently do these days...
Difficulty:Yeah, it's pretty difficult. I would end there but I'm sure I should elaborate. There's certain elements of the game that are easy, and certain others that are not. The Splitters themselves are overpowered and very difficult, while the majority of opponents can be downed with a single headshot, sometimes two, and about six body shots. Considering the amount of Splitters increases as you go through the game this makes life difficult and so the main game is about a 5-6 on the difficulty level. The rest of the game adds a farther 2 difficulty points because completing the challenges and getting gold on everyone is a frustrating experience I wouldn't wish on anyone. I've managed it before, but I doubt I'll ever try again, except for fun.
Conclusion:This is the positive conclusion that ends on a positive note, with not much nitpicking... well actually there's not really any nits to pick in this game. It has elements that work and others that don't but the overall appeal is that the game is satisfying on many levels. One minor thing I would mention, and it's quite a petty thing to even say, it that the game is remarkably similar in gameplay and feel to Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64. So much so that a petty arguer could say that the game effectively takes the good parts of Goldeneye and then simply gives it a cartoony make-over to hide the similarities. While there is a similar motion to the gun control and movements of the characters TimeSplitters 2 has it's own unique style, and simply so much extra content that it differs from Goldeneye too much to be called the same, but there is familiar elements. One other, minor, problem is something I've seen happen in three copies of the game. The sound in the first level often gets corrupted, it will either stop completely or overlap itself, this is a problem in clean and unharmed discs, but only seems to effect one or two levels. If you're lucky it'll only effect the opening cinematic for Siberia. TimeSplitters 2 is one of the best games for the PS2 and should be in any PS2 collection, I suggest the next time you see it in your local charity shop buy it, even if you end up not liking it, you'll have done your good deed for the day.
Graphics
7 Sound
5 Addictive
8 Depth
8 Story
6 Difficulty
8
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