Year of release:Mar 21, 2005
Development House:Free Radical
Publisher:EA Games
Website:http://www.frd.co.uk/

**************************************


Game score:87

*Scores are out of 5*
Graphics:2
Sound:5
Gameplay:5

Concept:3
Execution:5
Controls: 3
Enjoyment:5
Replay ability:4
Difficulty:2
Learning Curve:5


Patch version:Final
Bugs:3
Modability / Community support: 4


Review

Everybody knows about Perfect Dark, and Goldeneye from the good old N64 days. Both superb games, and the best FPS of there time. Fewer people have heard of the Timesplitters series. What you don't know is that the people who formed Free Radical, are the same people who helped make Goldeneye/Perfect dark. A few disbanded members of Rare left and made there own company. Here:

Free Radical:After leaving developer Rare in February 1999, former GoldenEye and Perfect Dark team members Dr. David Doak, Steve Ellis, Karl Hilton and Graeme Norgate began trading as independent developer 'Free Radical Design' a mere two months later.


With a team of only eighteen, Free Radical shipped and delivered the 1st person shooter TimeSplitters to Eidos for the PS2 launch in October 2000. Despite the time constraints and pressures of building the company and its technology from scratch, they were the only European developer to hit the launch date without any delays.
Timesplitters:Future Perfect is a fun, solid shooter that is a blast from the past. I will go back to the present, just to type this review.

The graphics are from the past, the models look like plastic or clay, and there is not much detail in models, so theres not much to look in this game, unless you like Cartoony graphics. The actual game is very silly and comical, and the graphics show it. I am not a fan of cartoony graphics, so I might be biased on this. What I really appreciate is that each character looks different when you look at there arms when playing the game, which shows effort they put into the game. The animation looks stupid, and overexagerated, as if the characters are made of noodles. When you see characters move in the game, they look out of line. Human players movement are basicly running straight, and turning. Bot movement is more fluid, but it looks funny how they look like they are crouching, and they hold the gun all the way down to the hip. When a person gets shot at, they just flinch back, and it gets repititive. Other than those flaws, the lighting and weapon projectiles look great. The maps look very polished, and the physics engine is good, but don't expect something as good as other games. But honestly, graphics don't make a game.

The sound is a strong point in this game, and makes it so enjoyable. The dialogue is increadibly funny, and you will try to listen to characters talking in story mode, or try to hear what characters have to say when you pick them in Arcade Mode. Characters say phrases that are very similar in other games or movies. The game has alot of pop culture referances. This is some of the things characters say:
Gingerbread Man:Bite my Crunchy brown ass!
If you are familiar, its similar to what Bender says in Futurama.
From Wikipedia:In the mission "Time to Split", one of the marines fighting alongside Cortez yells out "They're coming out of the walls! They're coming out of the goddamn walls!” This is a line from Aliens.
While the game has an average storyline, the humor and references to other media make this game very funny and entertaining. Apart from the dialogue and humor, the weapon sounds are pretty sharp. Guns sound like what you think they would, and they sound very powerful. The music is top notch, and they really match the map. You can pick the music you want to listen too also. Each person sounds different when they die, or get shot at, which shows the developers hired alot of voice actors.

The gameplay is the meat of the game, and what makes this game so solid and enjoyable, is all the choices and modes you get to play. There are 3 game modes, Story, Arcade, challange. You can play standard Deathmatch, or capture the flag, or Virus mode (where players get infected and you need to stay away from them or you will be infected too!). There are 13 arcade modes to play, so you will be hooked onto the game for a long time. Additionaly, the game features BOTS, so the replay value gets a massive boost. The bots are pretty easy to kill, but nontheless, they are fun to play with, especially since you can pick what bot you want to fight. If you have alot of friends, you will have a great time playing for hours.

There is a challange mode, which gives players a hard time playing. You have to be a certain character, and play some minigames to earn Trophies. The missions make you do stuff like Break windows, drive robotic cats, shooting zombies, or killing off your enemies to get the most kills. For completing challange for either Bronze,Silver, or Gold trophies, you get rewarded with badges, or characters. Beating a challange will unlock another one, which gets harder and more fun.

The story mode is great, but very easy to beat on Easy, or Normal diffuculty. Is short and sweet. The story of the game is great, but not epic or interesting. The story is basicly about an Evil Scientist who makes Mutated Humans called Timesplitters. They can teleport and travel through time, and they are wiping out humans very quickly. There only hope is from a Soldier (you) named Cortez, who has captured the Time Crystals. Using this, he can go back in time, and destroy the orgins of the Splitters, and prevent them from ever existing. You will travel through time and attempt to capture the Scientist. What makes the Story Mode so engaging and fun is that you have a Partner with you, in single or coop. Also the fact that the levels are parodys of things from other games, or movies. The Zombie level is a spinoff of Resident Evil, and the Robot Level is a parody of Terminator, and the Secret base/Train levels are very similar to James Bond. The heroes of those time periods are similar to there counterparts in other games/movies. Harry Tipper, a Spy is James Bond, and R-110 is Terminator. The enemy AI is poorly made. They never do anything, except run up to you and shoot you. The vehicle driving is rare, and linear. There are tons of enemies, from Zombies, to Robots, to Helicopters.

The weapons are like from any other shooter, but there are ALOT of guns. Over a dozen weapons to use, each that are different. From Machineguns, to Plasma Rifles, and Harpoon Guns! The weapons from each Era act very similar in role and damage. There are unique weapons, like the Injector, a Pistol that makes people get fatter and explode! There is a Ghost gun, where you can drain life from enemies. The balance of weapons is lacking though. The Plasma Rifle never needs to reload, and does alot of damage. The Monkey gun does too much damage, and it shoots too fast. The weapons themselves don't require much skill to master. So the learning curve is very small. There are other imbalances that I won't mention. Each character you pick is different. Some characters are immune to fire, and others are faster/stronger than others. So this makes things interesting. There is only 1 vehicle you can drive in arcade mode, and its a Buggy. The only thing this thing is useful for is running people over, as the thing has no guns, and maps are too small for vehicles to be useful.

The game has alot of extras. There are 150 characters to play as (as I mentioned before), and you have have unlocked cheats, like Big Head mode, or Slow motion deaths. You can see cut scenes when you want to, and you can fully customize your Arcade game to the Way you want it. But one feature makes this game stand out from the rest. The Map Maker Mode. The developers made Map Editing so easy, a retard or child can easily make a good map. You can pick Begginer Mode, to Advanced. You can make your own scripted missions, or make a basic Arcade map. There are terrains to pick, like egypt, or labs. In minutes, you can make a superb map for friends to play in. The music in Map Maker mode is very cool too! The game has soo much features and extras, it wonders you why other developers don't have all this good stuff in it. Makes you know that the developers of Free Radical want us to have the best gaming expierience.

Bottom Line-Superb Game for both Single and Multiplayer. With all its game modes and characters, this game has something everybody can enjoy. You won't regret this game!

The Good-Solid Gameplay, Map Editor, Engaging Single and Arcade mode, Bots, alot of weapons, Funny game.
The Bad-Stupid AI, weapon balance, crashes sometimes, vehicles stink, short Single player, poor graphics.

Requirements-TV, Console, (xbox,PS2, or Gamecube) Copy of game.