![]() ![]() Over the next few years, petitions for Crytek to make TimeSplitters 4 or an HD collection hit 50,000 and 90,000 signatures respectively, but to no avail. Looking at the low sales of TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, the publisher decided there was no more demand for light-hearted shooters of its ilk and shelved it. The party was to carry on into the seventh console generation, as TimeSplitters 4 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 entered development in 2009, but didn’t last long as Free Radical filed for bankruptcy before being bought out by Crytek to become Crytek UK. TimeSplitters was a joyous fancy dress party of a shooter. A large-headed man in tighty-whiteys with his nipples in a harness gunning down zombies on a frozen lake? A deathmatch in which you grow bigger or smaller depending on how well or badly you’re performing? Circuses, Discos, Mexican Frontier Towns, Haunted Hotels and ‘Nam? Playable Lions and Tigers and Bears? Oh my, indeed. It all seemed so random, and yet when you combined these disparate modes, levels and freaky characters, it gelled together beautifully. Or a Gladiator match in a Chinese restaurant, with shards of plate and glass sprinkling the screen like callous confetti as everyone tries to be the one to put the killing bullet into the overpowered, titular Gladiator in order to take their place and wreak havoc. There was Virus on Temple with an army of zombie-bots - essentially a ‘Family It’ mode that would lead to giddy last stands when it was just you and one other player left to fend off hordes of green-flamed infected. I spent untold sleepless nights with a trio of my most esteemed buddies (you knew you were in there if I invited you to a TimeSplitters Night), blithely picking random combinations of modes, bots and maps with unexpected and brilliant results. This was all complimented by a wacky sense of humour and haphazard presentation, creating a veritable FPS toybox in which monkeys and zombies and robots and gingerbread men could all happily co-exist - as in, shoot the shit out of each other - across a range of eccentrically themed environments. What made the games special was their blistering pace, incredibly malleable multiplayer, and a carefree character that the shooter genre had been bereft of since the glorious Build engine days. The series effectively existed in a vacuum. Unlike its contemporary, Halo, TimeSplitters contained no mechanics that really hinted at what the future of shooters would look like. Like its spiritual predecessors, TimeSplitters had generous auto-aim, no jumping, and gliding movement as if instead of feet everyone was moving around on giant roller-balls like that new R2-D2 thingy in that space movie. It was not as refined or technically impressive as any of the above-mentioned titles, being the last of an era of distinctly ‘consoley’ shooters made by Free Radical - a company of former Rare developers who were behind the great Goldeneye and Perfect Dark for the N64. The TimeSplitters series began life on the PS2. And I’m sorry to Team Fortress 2 - your gameplay formula is timeless, but your kooky and irreverent style was blatantly inspired by TimeSplitters and I want you to admit it.Īnd to all the other multiplayer shooters that I’ve been involved with (you know who you are), I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m sorry to Killzone 2, whose Warzone was one of the most balanced, well-paced multiplayer modes I’ve ever played. So I’m sorry to Battlefield 2, the first game that placed me in a shell-shockingly convincing theatre of war. This is a long-harboured secret of mine, for which I feel I should apologise to subsequent shooters that I’ve encountered over the years. TimeSplitters 2 and its sequel, Future Perfect, were the last - and possibly the only - multiplayer shooters I truly loved. This is the story of TimeSplitters Rewind. ![]() Two sequels followed but sales of the third game weren't strong enough for a fourth title to go into production.įor years now, a team of part-time developers have been working to bring the series back to life, on PC, as a free project using CryEngine 3, and assets from the originals, with the permission of IP holders Crytek. Created by Free Radical Design, a studio made up primarily of ex-Rare employees, the original TimeSplitters was a PS2 launch title. To be more precise, it's one of the great multiplayer FPS games that never made it to PC. For some, TimeSplitters ranks with GoldenEye as one of the great multiplayer FPS games. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |