Timesplitters

Okay, so the storyline in one-player mode isnt the best of all time, but who cares? Is anyone really that fussy (or even sad) enough to rate this game low just because of stupid minor details like that? Every game has flaws, nothings perfect so quit complaning, stick the timesplitters game in the PS2, phone some mates and get battling. Anyone who buys this game will not be dissapointed. It was one of the 1st games I got for my PS2 on launch day (along with SSX, Ridge Racer 5, Tekken Tag and Aqua Aqua) and i've never gotten bored of it since.

And another point i'd like to make; an earlier review said that the graphics were ropey and nothing special. Have you even played the game? The graphics are top notch, and even with 14 players on the screen (10 CPU bots and 4 human players) the speed of the game is always VERY fast. There are no slowdowns at all in the game. Roll on timesplitters 2! I recommend this game to everyone, even people who dont normally like 1st person shooters. If you have a PS2 then go out and buy this now if you havent already done so.

1. The Gameplay.

I have just been playing Bagtag which is basically a case of grabbing and holding onto a key, whilst getting blasted by Computer controlled players, the player to hold the bag for the longest wins. There are a whole multitude of options for every type of gamer. You have the Bagtag levels, the story mode, Deathmatch mode and the fantastic "Challenge" mode. This challenge mode is awesome, I have just played "Flock around the Dock" which is a challenge to blast 100 ducks in 4 minutes. I say ducks but they are actually vicious killers who blast you with miniguns, uzi's and shotguns. The play is fast and frantic and makes your mind and body spin with adrenaline and excitement.

2. Graphics

Awesome lighting effects, superfast flowing movement, fast characters and excellent animation - This shows the power of the PS2.

3. Playability

With the amazing range of ways you can play, and dont forget the fantastic Mission Editor, you will never play the same game twice, except you will because it is absolutely fantastic !!!

The PS2 has landed. Quake and Half-Life PC fans can keep their ropey old installations and crashing PC's. I want to slap a game in the drive hit power and go. Playstation 2 can provide this and has completely blown me away with this game.

If you only ever buy one PS2 game make it this one. If you're a Playstation gamer then you'll love it !

Graphics & Sound
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Apart from the sparness of some of the levels you simply cannot fault the graphics. Ok it seems stupid that all the characters apart from Mr Big look very skinny but hey maybe they were keeping in shape. The only comparison for the graphics would be a high end PC with a pretty good graphics card. One of the nice things is that when the enemy has 2 shotguns instead of 1 it shows him holding 2 shotguns unlike some games of a similar nature. One annoying thing regarding weaponry is that when you use your default weapon (a punch) in multiplayer you dont see the animation of the person punching on the screen of the person being punched. Its a minor thing though and who uses your first when you could be pumping the enemy full of lead with the numberous weapons. The levels like i said are sort of spares but there are some nice touches in some levels. For example the tomb level is very dark and samey while the chinese level is occasionaly bright and colorful and sometimes boring. There are also some neat lighting effects particularly in the Planet-X level. All of the (eventually available) 64 characters look different. From Captain Ash, a typical 1930s eccentric who drinks whiskey when you select him to Gretel, a futuristic robot to, Skull Zombie, a zombie without skin on its head. Strangly when you see guns on the ground before you pick them up they look much smaller than they should be. This can occasionaly make for a frustrating death but as long as your well stocked up on guns and ammo when you go round that corner your opponent doesnt stand a chance. The weapons look good though. The TNT looks a bit short but the graphical effects are neat. Particularly the shotguns when you reload. The sound is also rather neat. Special effects are few and far between apart from the constant sound of the guns which is spot on. The background music is also rather dependent on the level with spooky slow tunes on the tomb level and scary tunes on the mansion level to happy tunes in the future. You shouldnt base a games playbility on its sound though which is why i aint ranting about it for ages.

Gameplay
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The single player levels are basically the same thing except disguised in different levels with different enemys and weapons. You see the game starts in the 1930's and ends in the 2030's. Like in the 1930s your in an egyptian tomb and shooting mummies and cultists as either Captain Ash or Lady Jane. The weapons are thing like Mauser Pistols or Blunderbuses. The next level however is set in 1950's china in a small household. You end up shooting chinese businessmen with weapons like shotguns and uzis. What you basically have to do is get an item in the level and take it either back to the start of the level or to a different place altogether. For the first 3 or so levels its where you start then to increase the difficulty it goes up. If your a complete begginner to First Person Shooters you should go on easy and you might complete it within a few weeks. Veterans dont put it on easy. Youll be it in 3 days like me. Normal and Hard are excruicating compared to Easy but you still need to complete easy to unlock certain things. One amazingly difficult thing to get to grasps with in Timesplitters is the control system. You have to use the analouge sticks and there is no way around it. By default the left analouge stick moves you left and right and forward and backward while the right is used for turning and looking up and down. Some people say that it took them weeks to get used to but by my second game i was able to use them and now it seems it should be a benchmark for future First Person Shooters. Despite the fact the Single Player game is very samey its still a lot of fun but not nearly as fun as arcade. This is basically a chance to play either Capture the Bag (like capture the flag but with a bag) Knockout, Escort or good old Deathmatch. If you could play against just your friend it would be good enough but with the added bonus of being able to play against bots its even more fun. There is also a challenge mode where you have to complete several crazy challenges like blowing the heads off 50 zombies in 5 minutes or shooting 100 ducks in 5 minutes. These are basically, just like the story mode, needed to unlock stuff for arcade.

Overall
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Very very good. I dont recommend it if you dont have any friends into videogames or First Person Shooters because its much more fun blowing up your mates than computer generated characters. Still its a good enough game and the difficulty of the Normal and Hard levels will keep you going plus you have to do timed secrets on levels to unlock certain things.

Pros
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Nice graphics, not the best on the ps2 right now but nice.
Very fun on multiplayer.
Good blasting action.

Cons

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A little too samey in Single Player. Get object get to base and shoot people on the way.
Not half as much fun without a friend.
Too easy on easy and too hard on hard.

Verdict - Rent it then buy it