The original TimeSplitters and especially its sequel are celebrated as two of the fastest console first-person shooters yet and are well-known for being thin on story, high on replayability. TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, the third entry in the series, doesn't do anything earth-shatteringly new and shocking to this formula, but still improves on most of what made its predecessors so spectacular.
The story mode of TimeSplitters: Future Perfect features protagonist Sargeant Cortez trying to end the battle against the TimeSplitters, a powerful race of creatures that have waged war on Earth and are ready to stamp out humanity completely. Cortez is searching for the origins of special time crystals that, if destroyed, could end the war forever. It's this kind of loose storyline that has always been the excuse to take your character to different sections in time, allowing for some awesome weapons and varied levels. And the weapons in this game are a highlight right off the bat (and I say 'bat' in the most literal of terms). There are a ton of weapons in this game - everything from flare guns to sci-fi snipers to baseball bats (TimeSplitters' version of the Halo Energy Sword) to the unlockable Monkey Gun - something much more lethal than it sounds.
In addition to weapons, the biggest strength in TS:FP is the sheer number of customization of game types and settings. There really is something for everyone. Multiplayer game types include the classic Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Bag, but there's also Virus (one person begins the game infected with a virus and has to pass it on to everyone else until there's only one person left), Monkey Assistant (a twist on Deathmatch where the last-place contestant has several gun-toting monkeys help him or her earn some extra kills) and Vampire (your health is constantly fading and the the only way to gain health is by killing others, so cowering in a corner is not an option).
Challenge mode is basically a number of pre-set games where you have to reach a certain goal in points, kills, etc to earn medals (bronze, silver, gold or platinum). Winning new medals opens up new characters, weapons and cheats. Unfortunately there aren't as many challenges as in TimeSplitters 2 and most of them are fairly easy to plow through. In fact, that's one of the game's downsides: in general, nothing in this game should pose too much of a problem even for casual gamers, save for a few challenges or story levels, and even then only on the 'hard' setting.
If you're more a fan of playing real people via Xbox Live, fret not, as TS:FP has a great online portion to it. All game types are playable online (up to 16 people on Xbox Live) and challenges can also be played online. There is a bit of lag when rooms reach their limits in numbers but overall the online gameplay is pretty solid. As an added bonus, all your challenge levels can be uploaded online for everyone to see. So now you can actually prove that you really won all those platinum awards that you could only talk about in TimeSplitters 2. A plethora of statistics are available as well. It's a great system that requires simply the tap of a button to let you see where you are on all the leaderboards as well as how your friends stack up.
The highlights of this game don't end here. There is also a brand new mapmaker available with both a beginner and advanced mode. The advanced mapmaker allows you to not only make maps, but add specific game types as well, such as Assault and Story. It definitely takes some getting used to and will be confusing at first, but with some work and imagination it's possible to make some great levels. Your maps can also be uploaded to the Xbox server for everyone else to enjoy (just make sure that you're online when you're making your map).
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TimeSplitters Future Perfect is a game that knows how to have fun and make players laugh but when it comes to providing gamers with a lot of gameplay, the designers at Free Radical are all business. It absolutely is a blast to play and will provide hours of gameplay online or off. It has choice after choice after choice to pander to every type of gamer and it has a great sense of humour to boot. The graphics, though not comparable to the Tekkens and Chronicles of Riddicks, are still above average.
TimeSplitters: Future Perfect isn't a tactical shooter and it isn't an epic movie-like interactive experience. It's a simple, fun first-person shooter, which is what gamers look for most in this series. Rest assured that's exactly what gamers will get. Nothing more, nothing less.
