TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (Xbox) - Part 1

Developer:

Free Radical

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Release Date:

2005

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Systems:

PS2, Xbox, GameCube

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing the third and (to this date) final entry in the TimeSplitters franchise, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. They could've called it TimeSplitters 3 and kept things simple, but they didn't.

Future Perfect was released in 2005, but it was firmly PlayStation 2 generation like its predecessors. In fact the TimeSplitters series spanned the entire era, with TimeSplitters 1 arriving the same time the PS2 made it over to the west, and Future Perfect coming out just before Perfect Dark Zero helped launch the Xbox 360. Wait... Future Perfect, Perfect Dark... that can't be a coincidence.

This was a multiplatform release, so PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox owners all got to play it (though not against each other). But there was one system that didn't get a port: Windows PC! Call of Duty 2, F.E.A.R. and Quake 4 all launched on PC first, all in 2005, so it wouldn't have been an absurd idea, even at a time when consoles were king and ridiculous anti-piracy schemes were driving PC gamers to piracy. We could've had a bit of mouse aiming, maybe even some quicksaves, but no.

Alright, I'm going to load up the Xbox version on an Xbox One and I'll keep playing through the single player until either I have enough screenshots or my enthusiasm runs out. And I suppose there'd be no harm in me playing a few rounds of the multiplayer afterwards.

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You can tell that time had been marching on since the second game, as this one supports widescreen! It's already more cinematic and I haven't even selected 'Story' mode yet.

'Arcade' is the multiplayer, where humans and bots can join together all over the world to annihilate each other for no reason whatsoever. Though Xbox Live support has ended, so you'd need to run it through Xlink Kai to really play it worldwide.

And 'Challenge' is, you know, challenges. "Throw bricks through 15 windows in 30 seconds", that kind of thing. At least that's what it was like in the last game, I'll have to check it out properly later. First though, I want some story.

The game begins in 2401, which is the same year that Star Trek: Picard's third season takes place. So there's some trivia for you. I was going to list a bunch of other things that take place that year as well, but that's all I can come up with.

Humankind is currently still fighting an evil race called the TimeSplitters, who have been screwing up our history using Time Crystals. Fortunately Sergeant Cortez managed to recover all nine of them during the previous game, which means we can get our own time machine working and go destroy the source of the Time Crystals before they were ever used!

Hang on, that's not the ship Cortez was flying at the end of TimeSplitters 2.

TimeSplitters 2

The silhouette is similar, but it's not really the same design. I know this is a game series all about retconning reality through time travel, but I think this is mostly a case of the artists taking a few liberties.

I mean Sergeant Cortez is even wearing a different outfit now.

TimeSplitters 2

This is what he looked like when he and Corporal Hart raided the space station to stop the TimeSplitters and recover the Time Crystals.

And here's what he looks like immediately after the events of that game: 

It's not a wildly different outfit, he didn't suddenly switch to an elegant purple ball gown with sparkling sequins between shots, but that is clearly not what he had on a moment ago. The dude's still a cross between Duke Nukem and Vin Diesel though. He's even got the Riddick goggles.

He's also got the same cartoony art style, which is a lot more expressive and timeless than the realism that rival first-person shooters were going for. Three years of improvements to the graphics tech didn't hurt it any though, that lighting looks way better.

Unfortunately, being part-Duke Nukem means that Cortez is genetically predisposed to getting his ship shot down by aliens, and he crashes it into a rock while on approach to his base.

2401 - TIME TO SPLIT

The first level starts with Cortez hanging upside down from his wrecked cockpit, but he soon gets himself free and uses his head to cushion his fall. He seems fine enough, though he's started seeing a crosshair in the middle of his vision that wasn't there in the last game. Hey, I can use this to make sure my shots land on target!

Things are a little bit Call of Duty right now with my soldier buddies helping me shoot the bad people, but that bright orange arc isn't showing me the direction I got shot from. That's actually an old-school GoldenEye 007 / TimeSplitters 2 health bar. And it doesn't regenerate over time.

Flashy scripted set piece! I like that the game makes you focus on this exploding mothership the old fashioned way: by putting enemies in a tunnel so when you shoot them and walk through it you're staring right at it.

And there's a health kit right here as well, so I just got all my health back. There's apparently only one of these in the entire story mode of TimeSplitters 2, carried by an enemy in the penultimate level. I'm getting the impression this game is going to be a bit more player-friendly than its predecessors.

Hey I just crossed a checkpoint as well!

Right after I said that I like how it doesn't take control of the camera, it gave me a bit of a cutscene showing these two snipers killing a dude.

Now it's given me a sniper rifle and it's ready to teach me the basics of exploding barrels. Time to punish these bad guys for their bizarre storage decisions. The game hasn't gone full tutorial on me, but I'm definitely getting more guidance this time.

Wait, hang on, what's up with the aim mode? Games with GoldenEye DNA traditionally feature an awkward floating crosshair that snaps back to the centre when you release the analogue stick. The kind where you have to hold the aim button and then tilt it at just the right angle to line up a shot. But this is letting me steer the camera directly, fine-tuning my aim with small separate motions like in a modern game. That's against the rules!

The game's been borderline entertaining up to this point, but this turret sequence isn't bringing joy into my life. I'm not keen on turret sequences in general and making me shoot multiple waves of invisible aliens hasn't enhanced the experience.

These are apparently the eponymous TimeSplitters, main enemy of humanity, so that's a bad sign if I'm going to be fighting these things throughout the game.

After 300 hours of shooting I dismounted the turret, walked a little bit forward, and then got told to shoot even more of the things. But I got distracted by a mysterious stranger on the cliff and watched him snipe stuff until the fight won itself. Then they finally let me inside the rebel base.

Oh cool, new characters unlocked! I don't actually like it when games make you play the single-player mode to get content for the multiplayer, but I do like getting things so the positives and negatives are kind of balancing out for me right now.

Wait, who's Anya and The General?

The next cutscene shows Cortez bringing the crystals to his boss, the General, who introduces him to Anya, their chief science officer. That's what science officers wear in 2401, don't question it.

Seeing Cortez having actual conversations with people is weird. He didn't really get the chance in the previous game, seeing as he never actually went anywhere as himself (it was a bit of a Quantum Leap situation... I think). 

This particular conversation is about how Cortez is going to be sent back to investigate TimeSplitter activity in the past. And I mean immediately, they've already got soldiers loading the Time Crystals into the massive time machine in the middle of the room. The poor guy never gets even five minutes of rest.

The biggest Time Crystal signal is coming (or was coming?) from an island off the coast of Scotland in February 1924, so that's where he'll be going.

Wait, "Trousers-kilt ratio"? "Tartan coefficient"? Do I even want to know why those numbers are important, or would the answer be disturbing?

Cortez steps onto the platform in the centre of the room, which lower him into a massive chamber. The giant spinny rotor things get faster, the music gets dramatic... and he disappears through time with a comically unimpressive effect. 

It's a comedy game, I'm sure it was deliberate. I miss the old stargate though.

1924 - SCOTLAND THE BRAVE

Cortez doesn't quite make it to the island, but he lands implausibly close to a returning character from the first two games: the impossibly British Captain Ash. There's some good voice acting in this game by the way - he sounds just as he looks.

I've seen this scene a million times before (mostly from watching other people play the game), but I guess I'm watching it again! I don't have to, I can just skip the scene, but that would be like skipping the cutscenes in a Telltale adventure game. One of the really cartoony ones like Sam and Max.

Ash helps Cortez onto his boat and explains that the whole island is about to be bombed by the Navy. They're just waiting for Ash to get over there, single-handedly rescue his friend, and then give them the signal.

Nice job Cortez, you found the signal gun. Only took you 10 seconds to screw up the plan.

In the guy's defence someone just sniped Ash's pipe right out of his mouth and he was probably aiming at his head, so they needed to discourage that. Cortez isn't impressed by this strange weapon though and he's even less impressed when the fleet sees the flare and begins their bombardment.

So I'm going to be teaming up with Ash on this mission, and we're in Scotland! Very few games let you go first-person shooting in Scotland. Or let you do anything in Scotland really. Lemmings 2 had Highland levels, but it wasn't really the same.

First though I need to fix these controls, seeing as I'm using an Xbox One controller for an original Xbox game.

By default I have to press the right stick to toggle aiming, but I can switch it to holding left trigger, then swap 'throw grenade' onto the left shoulder.

I love the original Xbox controller by the way. Not the massive 'Duke' pad, I mean the one in the picture, Controller S. It's basically the template for modern controllers and it's so much more rugged than the Dreamcast pad it evolved from. I'm glad I've got a newer pad with shoulder buttons though.

It's pretty chaotic out here, in a limited PS2-gen kind of way. A plane just got shot down in front of me and a handful of enemies are sending bullets my way. They should try switching to regular bullets instead of tracer rounds if they don't want me to know exactly where they are.

Now that I'm fighting regular dudes instead of aliens the game's become more fun. And I still get to snipe them! Though it's just a regular sniper rifle this time, not a sci-fi one. I've left my original arsenal behind.

Alright I've reached the front door and it seems like they forgot to lock it!

Nope, they didn't forget, they were just waiting until we'd gotten inside first, so they could spring a trap.

These guys are carrying some strange anachronistic machine guns and they're pretty effective. Doesn't take me many bullets at all to gun them down, especially as they don't move around too much.

It kind of sucks that we're not sticking to the period-appropriate weapons this time as half the fun of going back to 1924 is being able to use Tommy guns and other classic firearms. But there's still plenty of fun in spraying rounds and getting kills so I'll cope.

The good news is that I've killed the guards and opened some of the gates. The bad news is I somehow triggered water to start pouring into that pool down there.

It seems like this room is a dock for their own little warship and pumping water in raises the boat up. So now the boat can shoot me. I need to do something, but all I can find up here is a bunch of control levers and a crane.

Oh, hang on...

Damn, I was just trying to break the turret with the claw, I didn't expect to be able to pick up the whole gun! It's still got the dude inside as well.

I dropped him and his turret into the water, problem solved. So that was different, and short! I like a bit of variety in a game to break up the repetition. Especially when there's a checkpoint after so I don't have to repeat it.

Now the gate's open we were able to get back outside and continue our journey to... wherever it is we're going.

Hey there's an actual health kit in this garage! It's always nice to be rewarded for doing the bare minimum of exploration, especially as that's all the exploration you get in this. This section of the game feels a bit like Half-Life 2. The bit where you're outside the city and you're making your way down the coast in your car.

Hang on, that truck has a mounted gun on the back. Could I... drive it?

So here I am driving a truck and smashing through fences while Ash cuts loose with the machine gun in the back. Have I mentioned that this place is way more fun than the first level?

But is it more fun than the first level of TimeSplitters 2?

TimeSplitters 2 (Xbox)

I dunno, it's hard to compare as TimeSplitters 2 starts with a stealthy spy mission where you have to take out security cameras and destroy five filing cabinets, while Future Perfect has been more of an action movie.

Oh right, I forgot that I have a gravity gun in this! Now that is definitely inspired by Half-Life 2.

The game helpfully drew my attention to it and then blocked the road so that I'd have to engage with the mechanic at least once, but I don't see it becoming a core part of gameplay.

Next it wants me to sort out a locked door and I'm thinking that one of those exploding barrels will get the job done.

Well, there are actually two locked doors, but this one's lit up more so it's probably the right path.

I tried placing the barrel next to it, but Cortez doesn't drop objects, he throws them, so I blew myself up. He's not dead, just a little singed... though the door is still locked. I found some TNT nearby and tried that on the other door, with similar results.

So I guess I use the TNT on door #1 then? Man, these incredibly basic puzzles are really taxing my poor brain.

It's a good thing that Ash is tough because I just unloaded half a magazine into him thinking he was an enemy. This is why I should never be allowed near 'realistic' military games where everyone looks the same and you lose if you shoot your own guys.

The game's taken some inspiration from Half-Life 2, but it's a direct descendant of GoldenEye, the first game that comes up if you Google search for 'crappy escort mission where you have to babysit your fragile sidekick while they do their thing'. So I'm relieved that Ash is more of an Alyx Vance, who can look after himself while I focus on shooting the bad people. Well, I'm assuming they're bad people. I just teleported onto a mysterious island which had Time Crystals on it, I haven't actually got a clue what's going on here.

Hang on, I've ran into a locked door. So I'm not going this way just yet then.

Oh hey, I just ran into Cortez, and he's got the key for the door!

The TimeSplitters games have been all about time travel since the beginning, but this is the first time they've gotten creative and used it within a level. To my knowledge. It's also the first time they've given Cortez a chance to really show his goofy personality. Who knew that he even had one?

Hah, I've found a drunk guard down in the wine cellar mumbling to himself about how he's the best guard ever. There are two types of first-person shooters: ones where the enemies have dumb conversations while they're waiting for you to show up, and ones where they don't. This is more of the first type.

I'm just going to leave him alone I think. No sense shooting a guy who isn't a threat. I am going to swipe his flare gun though.

That's the new weapon select bar at the top of the screen. Instead of having to cycle through every gun, I move to the icon for the gun I want and then Cortez switches to it. It's way faster.

I'm getting some Return to Castle Wolfenstein vibes from this castle, but I think it's actually a little prettier. There's not many enemies around though. I've started to notice how PS2-era shooters rarely put more than four enemies on screen at once, even really late ones like this.

The level design's also a bit basic. RtCW at least gave me a bit where enemies shot through the floor and then I could jump down through the hole. Oh, there's no jumping by the way.

I got another cutscene as Cortez discovered an interesting portal caused by all the time travel in the area. Science advisor Anya is chatting to him via an earpiece and doesn't think it's a good idea to walk through it, but he just can't help himself. The dude's loving this.

The portal took Cortez back a couple of minutes, just in time to spot his past self through a hole in the floor. So he passes him the key, completing the time loop!

This means that the key is infinitely old and has no origin, but that's fine as it's a daft comedy game. Also Cortez thinks that it's cool, and it's nice to see him happy. The guy's a very endearing protagonist.

Alright, now that I've sorted out my past I need to figure out where to go in the present. The castle's getting a little bit mazelike now. Plus I've found a series of mysterious periscope-looking devices which let me spy on other rooms.

Prison cell A is where Ash's friend is captive and he's trying to find a way to break her out. Meanwhile prison cell B has a solitary red barrel held captive inside, hmmm.

(Also the wine cellar camera reveals that a pair of guards have discovered their drunk buddy. I can't hear what they're saying about him though, it's a periscope.)

Alright I have an idea of what to do next. I just need to find where these prison cells are first.

Well I've found the cells and I've received a new objective to help Ash rescue his assistant. But he's instructed me not to use explosives because we might kill her in the explosion.

You know what, I'm going to use the flare gun I found in the wine cellar to detonate that barrel I saw on the camera, because I just can't find any other way of getting her out.

Alright I've ignited the barrel and it turns that this was... the correct solution! Thanks Ash, for being completely misleading and throwing me off.

And now I'm fighting a tank I guess. You know how it is, you walk outside and find that the door's blocked off until you take care of the boss.

Okay, I think I remember how to do this. If I'm right, this fight is going to be reasonably painless. If I'm wrong then in five minutes I'll be yelling obscenities at the screen. Then I'll load the checkpoint it saved right before the boss battle and I'll give it a second try. Man, it's so nice to not have to replay 20 minutes of a level just to give the boss another go

Right, I think the first thing I need to do here is shoot the front of it. It's the brightest coloured part and that's the universal symbol for 'weak point here'.

Alright shooting the red bit shut the tank down for a second. Now I need to race around and plant this TNT on the back before the tank crew gets it moving again. Once that blows I'll have to look for some more TNT and repeat the process.

Some people probably don't like this boss fight because it's so easy and short. Personally, I like how knowing what to do is more important than skill, and that it doesn't drag on. I can't stand being stuck in a long endurance run of a boss battle, where I could lose at any moment and have to do the whole thing over again.

Here's something else that the game has that TimeSplitters 2 doesn't: a cutscene at the end of the level to wrap things up. Cortez runs into a mysterious guy with a time machine who instantly vanishes before he can chat. But he did leave behind a photo.

Anya figures that she can take a scan of the photo, identify the surrounding landscape with their topographical database, then triangulate the distances and heights of the buildings and cross reference that data with the architectural styles to deduce some probable locations. But Cortez just reads the location off the back of the photo instead. The scene's an old joke, but we're in 1924 so whatever.

We're not sticking around here any longer though. Next stop: Stanislav Train Depot, September 4th 1969. It's time to split.

TO BE CONTINUED

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But wait, there's more TimeSplitters! Or there will be, as soon as I get part 2 up. Maybe it's up right now, try clicking the picture on the left, see if it takes you anywhere.

The idea of having the  NEXT GAME  picture take people to the next game was actually a suggestion from a comment, so keep the comments coming! Let people know what you think about TimeSplitters: Future Perfect.