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Ahoy-hoy friends, I have returned with the second installment in Worth a Look. Now before I start I want to address something. The following Worth a Look is a game, but in the future I'm going to try to avoid bringing good games and anime to your attention since there are two amazing featured reviewers on the site that do the same, and I'd feel as though I'm trouncing on their territory. However I will do games and anime, but only when those games or anime were so blindly amazing that it should literally be declared a crime against humanity that these aren't more widely known. Such is the case with Free Radical's TimeSplitter series.  
TimeSplitters. For those that never played, TimeSplitters is a first person shooter game that is set in... Well everywhere. The main focus of the games is time traveling, so you have everywhere from Wild West, to 1920's Chicago, to the Great Robot Wars of well... it's far in the future.
Now the series is up to three installments, all of which hit the last generation consoles. Originally it was TimeSplitters on the PS2, then TimeSplitters 2 on the GameCube, PS2, and X-Box. Then the series ditched the numeric for grammatical phrases with TimeSplitters: Future Perfect for the PS2, Gamecube, and X-Box. Since by the time I heard of this series TimeSplitters 2 was already out, I never played the first, and thus it's omitted from this promo. However I don't think playing the first would have mattered as #2 grabbed my attention more than any other title could have dared to try.
For any that played Goldeneye or Perfect Dark on the N64, I have great news. This game? Just freaking like them. I mean TimeSplitters 2 had such an eerie throwback to Goldeneye that I thought my N64 was plugged in and kicked into an extreme overdrive. If I need to relieve your fears further, this game was actually made by the same people. It's essentially Goldeneye but with lasers and monkeys.
Well before I start talking about monkeys (which I likely ramble on about for hours), I figure I should clean the air and explain more about these games. The stories in the two games are well... They're there. That's about the best I can say. The first title TimeSplitters didn't feature a real story mode at all, and TimeSplitters 2 had a pseudo-story about Sergeant Cortez and Corporal Hart, two members of the future's military... something, invade a station of the evil human hating time traveling TimeSplitters. The TimeSplitters' time machine is active and working, and they enact their plan to ruin human existence by killing us off in the past and future. I never really got why they went into the future, but they do, and they take the Time Crystals which are the power source for Time Travel with them.
So you (and if a second player joins in then Miss Hart as well) jump back in time, taking over some hero/heroine combo of the time period, and stop some evil plot while simultaneously killing the TimeSplitters and retrieving the Time Crystal. Then you come back to the present (?) and leave. Game Over. There's not too much of a story beyond each levels own unique missions. Such as 1920's Chicago has you playing a detective who's finally making a stand against the local crime boss and you must charge downtown to take him out. Or in Notre Dame who you play the... I think she's a thief known as Voila who's attempting to rescue the maidens captured by some evil French guy. As I said, the story exists, but that's about it.
The sequel, Future Perfect, actually features a fluid story, that although not the best, at least holds some grand scheme. It features the return of Cortez right after his last successful mission as he returns the Time Crystals back to where they belong. However many people have died, so Cortez goes back in time once again to stop the Time Crystal's source from ever existing, and killing off the TimeSplitter's race completely. This time he no longer takes on the guise of other heroes, but instead takes them on as partners as again he fights through different times in history. The levels are less varied this time around, but are still absolutely fun, albeit easier.
The unique fun here is that Time Paradoxes run wild here. At times you'll meet your future/past selves and have to team up with them to do a task. Then moments later the same will occur, except the roles switch because now you're the future Cortez. It's a fun little gimmick that adds to the time traveling theme. But that's the story pretty much. Both games are pretty funny with their stories, though the latter much more. But neither game is particularly hard. Don't play this expecting the same level of difficulty that you'd get playing Halo or Call of Duty on their expert levels.
However that's not to say challenge doesn't exist. In all of the TimeSplitters titles two separate single player modes exist for Arcade and Challenge. Arcade features Deathmatch variation challenges to different themes while Challenge provides alternative games that still use the engine. While Arcade may have you playing Deathmatch Rockets against a team of monkeys (told you!), Challenge has you punching the heads off of zombies or using a gravity device to shoot baskets. Both are difficult, but are necessary to unlock the... 200+ CHARACTERS?! Well the avatars don't do much besides exist (some pose special features, but those can be turned off), but the sheer amount are insane to see. Plus, some are simply hilarious. Play as Dinosaur, Calamari, or Duckman Drake and try not to laugh as you get in slapping fights with the Gingerbread Man. I'm not high I promise.
Enough single player promos, what's multi-player like? One word: orgasmic. Okay, perhaps over the top, but multi-player is fantastic, even if only the last game was online. At home four people can still go at it with up to 10 AI bots of changeable difficulty in a variety of stages and match types. Most of the common deathmatch standards are here. There's Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag Bag, and a few others. However alternate great match types exist. Like Vampire where you must constantly kill to stay alive, or Monkey Assistant where the last place team mate will actually have a team of monkeys arrive and kill for them for a few moments at random. Of course the best mode not seen in other titles is Virus, where one person starts infected and it's their job to get everyone else infected. Think tag, but with guns, so it's better. Virus alone makes a great game, but the other modes are still welcome.
The levels hold as much variety as the single player as well, as different time periods get represented in different arenas that all hold unique features. Almost everything is customizable as you can select which guns (more so than Halo because you can select which rankings the guns take, thus how common they are) appear, if powerups exist, and almost every little feature you can think about tweaking during that time. Try a one hit killer cinderblock match. No really, try it.
As if this wasn't enough, the game features perhaps the best Map Creation mode seen in a console shooter as you can create massive multi-floor maps complete with doors, keys, teleporters, and special rooms. You can also alter the lighting to flicker, change colors, or pulse, and in Future Perfect you can even add weather effects. Map Creation is generally pretty easy, though all of the best pieces require you to use the Advanced Creation which can be a little tricky. Still you can always test these maps first, so there's less of a worry there.
But as if -this- wasn't enough, you can also create Story Mode missions, and good ones! I think this might be the first console title to feature active programming alongside story and multiplayer gameplay that wasn't designed for that purpose. I mean customizable isn't even a strong enough word to describe this. You can set up the characters with strings of coding to make actual detailed missions assuming you have the patience. The map maker is so unique you can even change the music.
Did I forget to mention the music? Shame on me. The music is awesome in this game as each time era features its own catchy tune that personifies the game level. Of course it's well done, and just play Serbia on TimeSplitters 2, and try not to jump into GoldenEye fanboyism. It's that awesome. Graphics were never the highlight of the series, but are still pretty good, but best of all was the amazing frame rate that can only be described as "silky smooth". Really, this game had it all.
So why wasn't it more popular? Well I mentioned how it was made by the same people that did Goldeneye and Perfect Dark right? Well that's half true. It is made by the same people, but Rareware didn't develop this game, Free Radical did, and Free Radical is a group of ex-Rare employees. In addition the game never had a very aggressive marketing campaign and was overshadowed by the powerhouse of Halo at the time. It's still considered a fantastic game, but it's always remained a cult classic title overall. I never really understood why considering what an amazing title it was, but some things are doomed to obscurity (sorry Megas XLR...).
However let me run this down for you. TimeSplitters features co-op single player that is enjoyable; Challenge & Arcade modes; Deathmatch multiplayers of a wide array of options; Map Maker; Story Mode Map Maker, 200+ character; awesome music, gameplay, and frame rate; and is funny. The second title might run you... maybe $30 tops used at a Gamestop if you can find it. So for the price of a crappy X-Box Live game, you could get what can only be described as a masterpiece by those that lived for titles like GoldenEye and Perfect Dark back in yesteryear.
I can't recommend this title enough, and TimeSplitters is definitely Worth a Look. Links http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld9uE8ZB7m4&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF4ZLtVIk8o&NR=1 These two are just links to some funny clips from the third title. Just to show off the humor of the series because I couldn't get a link to the official site. My apologies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZiu_1bopWo&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4ZnKrhuQOE These are two videos to show gameplay from TimeSplitters 2 & 3 (Future Perfect) respectively. Enjoy. My Two Cents http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtmmefcJbMc There's a special joy in watching this woman get mauled by a bear and the first reaction by it's owner is karate chop it. Seriously, that's hilarious to watch, and because no one got hurt it's okay to laugh. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wn-MIuAfmE Now this was a lot more relevant before Superbowl 42, but there's a special joy in watching it now that we know the Giants actually won. It's a rather funny video even if you're pro-Patriots, but it's absolutely fantastic if you were pro-Giants like me. Also check out some other songs done by this guy. They're pretty good. Well then, that's all from me for now. Expect a new Worth a Look sometime next week. Peace.
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Thanks a lot for the grea review and heads up!