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.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 26: Gold Box - Gateway to the Savage Frontier (MS-DOS) - Part 3

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing some more of Gateway to the Savage Frontier! Not to be confused with Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire or Journey to the Savage Planet.

It occurs to me that I've got no idea what your opinions are about me dragging games out for two or three parts instead of getting to the point and moving on. If it makes you feel any better, this is still the same amount of words and pictures as a two-parter, I just split them across three pages so it's less of a gruelling marathon to get through (for both of us).

Alright, you're currently reading part 3. You can find part 1 HERE and part 2 HERE. If you decide to stick around then beware of SPOILERS.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 25: Gold Box - Gateway to the Savage Frontier (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm still playing the DOS version of Gateway to the Savage Frontier!

Though I decided to show the title screen from the Amiga port this time and I really shouldn't have bothered. It turns out that the only difference between the two is that some of the dots are purple in the Amiga game and green in the PC game.

There's no flashy PC-98 version to show off this time and I already showed the C64 title, so that's it really. We're past the days where there were a dozen competing computer formats, and they didn't go wild and port it to the Phillips CD-i or Atari Lynx or something.

Still, they did alright on PC, at least according to a chart I saw in Computer Gaming World issue #89 which said it was the best selling MS-DOS game in North America in August 1991!

Okay, this is part 2, so if you want to read part 1 you should CLICK HERE. Otherwise carry on reading what you're reading, though I'm getting deeper into the story now so beware of SPOILERS.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 24: Gold Box - Gateway to the Savage Frontier (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

Beyond Software

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Release Date:

1991

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Systems:

DOS, Amiga, C64

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm back to Dungeons & Dragons with Gateway to the Savage Frontier!

The opening titles call it a "Forgotten Realms Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Volume I", and I remember seeing that on a bunch of earlier titles as well. Though Pool of Radiance called itself a 'Fantasy Role-Playing Epic Vol. I' and Eye of the Beyonder was a 'Fantasy Role-Playing Saga Vol. 1' so they're a little different. And Champions of Krynn wasn't even set in the Forgotten Realms!

This is yet another Gold Box RPG, the 7th or 8th of them so far, but this time Strategic Simulations Inc. handed the reins over to Don Daglow's Beyond Software. Daglow was already a veteran RPG game designer at this point, having created one of the first RPGs ever made, Dungeon, in 1975 for PDP-10 mainframes. He also invented the concept of having a circle under the selected player in sports games, apparently.

You could argue that 1991 was the wrong time to start a whole new RPG saga with the ageing Gold Box engine, especially as there were two other D&D series still going and the games were already getting accused of being archaic. I think SSI may have actually agreed the engine was out of date, as they had new engines on the way for the Dark Sun and Ravenloft games. Fans just had to hang in there for a couple more years.

The Gold Box engine had gotten a bit of an update at least, with Buck Rogers XXVc: Countdown to Doomsday introducing 256-colour VGA graphics. This is the first D&D RPG to make use of the upgrade, plus it introduces Sound Blaster support for proper sound effects! I'm not getting my hopes up for a soundtrack though.

TimeSplitters 2 (Xbox) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing a little more of TimeSplitters 2! Just a little bit more, not much.

TimeSplitters 2 came out in October 2002, around the same time as games like Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Metroid Prime and 007: Nightfire. Also No One Lives Forever 2, Red Faction II, Unreal II and Star Wars: Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast. It was a great time for fans of single-player first-person shooter sequels, and the multiplayer was pretty decent as well.

In fact many would argue that the best first-person console multiplayer was right here in TimeSplitters 2, especially if you didn't have an Xbox for Halo. But right now I'm more interested in the game's single-player and I've only made it up to level two so far so I need to pick up the pace.

If you want to read what I said about level 1 you should CLICK HERE. Otherwise, I'm just going to jump straight into the next level.

TimeSplitters 2 (Xbox) - Part 1

Developer:

Free Radical

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Release Date:

2002

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Systems:

PS2, Xbox, GameCube

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing the second TimeSplitters game! Which, by pure coincidence, is also the second TimeSplitters game to never get a PC port. 

The PlayStation 2 release was joined by Xbox and GameCube versions this time, but it still never made it to mice and keyboards. There should be some kind of law against releasing a first-person shooter on everything but PC, because that just doesn't make any sense. Plus it's cruel, to me personally.

I'm going to be playing the Xbox version on an Xbox One through the miracle of backwards compatibility, as they started selling it again a few years back. Perhaps they saw all the people buying Homefront: The Revolution after we learned that the game is hidden inside as a bonus feature, and realised they were leaving money on the table.

The original TimeSplitters game was a bit of a unknown to me when I wrote about it a couple of years back, but this one I'm already familiar with. I played a lot of TimeSplitters 2 back in the day, mostly the deathmatch actually. See, I do play multiplayer sometimes! But this time around my plan is to try the first few single-player levels, about an hour of gameplay. Then I'll show a picture of the multiplayer menu, say I'm very impressed by all the modes it has, and then skip to the part where I wrap things up.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 23: Gold Box - Death Knights of Krynn (MS-DOS) - Part 3

This week on Super Adventures, I'm just going to write a little more about Death Knights of Krynn.

I don't usually drag these things out to three parts, because I usually spend the time to properly edit them down! But this is a fairly interesting game so I don't feel too bad about making an exception. I won't be finishing it though, I haven't turned into the CRPG Addict. Yet.

Here have some links to help you get around:

• Death Knights of Krynn - Part One
• Death Knights of Krynn - Part Two
• List of the Dungeons & Dragons games I've played

Going to three parts means that I get to show off the C64 title screen as well. It's nothing that amazing, but I can appreciate how the C64 versions of the Gold Box RPGs all share the same theme and look like they're part of a set. That is not the case for any of the other versions. Not that there are many other versions left at this point, as the game only came out for PC, C64, Amiga and PC-98. I was thinking of showing off the Amiga title screen, but it's just the PC version with slightly better colours.

Once again I should mention that there will be SPOILERS here, for both this and Champions of Krynn.