‘TimeSplitters 2’ Retrospective: The All-Too-Early Peak Of Free Radical Design
The third James Bond game since Golden Eye 007, James Bond 007: Nightfire released in 2002 to an apathetic reception. Little innovation had led the James Bond video game series to go from FPS royalty to run-of-the-mill licensed slop. Not to say the game, and franchise as a whole, had gone bad (it had earned some positive reviews from IGN, Gamespot, and consumers after all), but FPS aficionados weren’t necessarily looking in the direction of 007 games for their shooting fix anymore.
Instead, entries like Electronic Arts’ 2002 WWII shooter Medal Of Honor: Frontline and 2001’s legendary FPS Halo: Combat Evolved had further raised the bar for the era’s first-person shooters. Steven Spielberg’s involvement and influence in the video game space was only one-upped by the game that many regard as the best FPS of all time in Halo: Combat Evolved. The expectation of cinematic single-player campaigns and a full multiplayer suite had gone mainstream.
So, as people began getting their hands on 6th gen consoles, Free Radical Design was forming ideas for their next installment in the TimeSplitters franchise. The team knew their debut title TimeSplitters was not exactly the “full package”, and since its release they knew they had to make up for their previous shortcomings. With about 2 entire years of development, the team was sure to implement cut ideas from the first game and improve on already existing systems. This means the campaign, challenge, and arcade mode all received impressive upgrades.
Well into the development of TimeSplitters 2, Xbox and Gamecube players were excited by the news that the game was going to have a multi-platform release. The news could be considered a sign that there was a larger budget as well, which only added to the hype behind it. Hence, with a 2002 holiday release window, Timesplitters 2 was one of the best selling games of the year.
The improvements were immediately evident. If one was to ignore the trailers and magazine ads that showed improved visual detail, humor and overall awesomeness, booting up the campaign was more than enough to let players know Free Radical meant business.
We are introduced to the game with a shot of the Time Splitters in a space station where a time machine is housed. The Time Splitters have gathered the time crystals and are preparing their dastardly plans for the eventual destruction of history itself (yes really). Just then our heroes, a couple of space marines named Corporal Hart and Sergeant Cortez, arrive at the station. They shoot their way through the space station in a fittingly cinematic manner and make it to the time machine just as the Time Splitters once again divide the crystals up and escape through the time machine. Hart decides to hold the enemies off as Cortez enters the time machine after them. With all of that said, it is evident that despite being a sequel, it feels more like a reboot since the premise is basically the same as TimeSplitters – except instead of a couple lines of lore we are presented fully animated cutscenes.
Each level’s cutscene includes an introduction to the time period, location, and characters of each level. They do a lot of the leg work in enveloping the player in each setting, despite each one having little to do with the other. It is an anthological approach that is connected by Sgt. Cortez “possessing” a person from the time period, who have their own personalities and objectives apart from getting the time crystal. This was very much unlike the first game, wherein their motivations were not presented in any manner and each mission description was comprised of a couple of sentences.
For example in the mission “2019 NeoTokyo”, the player character Ghost is motivated by his desire to clear his name after a hacker group had framed him for a break-in. In addition to obtaining the time crystal, the player is tasked with carrying out Ghost’s objective of clearing his name. This includes tailing an enemy hacker, obtaining evidence of his framing, and escaping the hackers’ underground den.
This mission is also a good example of the added variety in objectives and gameplay style. With their Perfect Dark and Golden Eye experience, Free Radical implemented stealthy approaches to some objectives. Again, unlike the first game, where all of the levels are essentially shooting galleries with distinct themes and backdrops. Using the Temporal Uplink or “Map Boy”, an in-universe way of presenting a HUD map in the game, was essential if one were to take on a mission with stealth in mind. The tool is the only consistent tech that Sgt. Cortez and the respective player characters use throughout the game.
Two player split-screen campaign and a dynamic difficulty system return in this entry as well. Rather than mixing up the weapon and item placement, Free Radical took an interesting approach for the most difficult mode. Whereas the player had distinct optional objectives on normal and easy, “hard” mode made it so that the player was required to complete all side objectives in order to finish the level. Most players would consider this the best way to play the campaign as the other two were relegated to “lil’ bro” difficulties.
The objectives in general are also much more complex than in the first game. For example gaining entry to specific part of a level can mean that the player has to obtain a specific key card or killing a target first. This means that the actual maps that each mission takes place on are also more dynamic. Back tracking often means more enemies spawn and environments are slightly changed, and the path the player takes can tend to differ as well.
Free Radical borrowed from their previous work in many ways and their gameplay is no exception. While the player still cannot jump, movement and aiming are updated.
“Free aim” is still present, but is more useful for getting head shots this time around. Plus, many more guns utilize interesting zoom functions that vary by gun type and time period. The auto aim has been significantly turned down and is replaced with much more accurate hit-scans and hurt-boxes for both the player and targets.
Overall the style is much more refined. The bland look that Free Radical had in TimeSplitters had been replaced with a much more stylized and urban art aesthetic. The horror maps look frightening, the sci-fi levels evoke futuristic wonder, and the modern levels look boring and believable.
In addition to the campaign, there is much more in store for single player gamers with the arcade league and challenge modes. In these modes the objectives are more fun to play and more diverse than in the previous game. Deep Silver’s cynical humor is more present here than ever before.
These modes offer additional hours of gameplay and reward the player with a bunch of stuff for arcade mode, too. The rewards are once again handed out based on the difficulty completed or actual performance in the level. Just like the first game there are a ton of characters, maps, game modes, and cheats to unlock for the arcade mode.
What is probably the selling point of the franchise: the multiplayer arcade mode. It was improved in every aspect. The customization of an arcade match remains the focal point of Free Radical as they are obviously aware of the high expectation that players have in their multiplayer modes. From bot sets to weapon sets and custom player-designed levels, it is possible to make each match unique.
TimeSplitters 2 has 15 maps with most of them being original and a few being fan favorites from TimeSplitters. It made for some decent variation in size and style of maps so they can be suited for different game modes. Speaking of game modes, TimeSplitters 2 has 16 different solo and team-based modes. They vary from simple death matches to “flame tag,” where the person who is “it” spontaneously combusts and is damaged until they can tag another person.
Not to be forgotten the “Mapmaker” had returned with heaps more quality of life improvements and intricacies that allow players to test their creative chops. One of the main criticisms of the original Mapmaker was that the style of each tile was locked to the piece, which would result in jarring and ugly looking maps.
Free Radical solved this issue by making a version of each tile that fit into a theme. This way the player could choose a theme and each tile placed would actually fit together in a visually cohesive manner.
Another upgrade to the Mapmaker was the logic system. This meant that the player was given the ability to make their own levels with objectives and goals. Essentially it was possible to make a story mission within the Mapmaker so long as the map didn’t exceed the resource space required for placing objects, tiles, and enemies. Despite the restrictions, many players managed to create engaging levels and the TimeSplitters 2 Mapmaker is lauded among the best level editors of the time.
Furthermore, TimeSplitters 2‘s character line up is comprised of 120+ unique characters with a few updated designs from the last game. Once again, the character designs are awesome and much better than the kind of things you find in games nowadays. Developers weren’t afraid of providing fan service and they even implemented a lot of humorous designs. That didn’t mean there was a shortage of cool looking characters however. In fact, the updated aesthetic lent itself to characters who had edgy looks, like the main protagonists Hart and Cortez – plus my personal favorite, Gretel Mk II. Free Radical was aware of what gamers wanted and they certainly delivered.
To boot, each and every character now had various stats that would affect how they played. Not to say they are at “hero shooter” levels of unique, but the subtle differences in stats would show themselves on the battlefield. Accuracy determined their bullet spread, agility was their movement speed, and stamina represented their defensive damage absorption. All this results in yet another layer of depth when building a custom arcade match.
At the end of the day TimeSplitters 2 got awesome reviews. With quotes like, “Gameplay that actually manages to surpass that of the legendary Goldeneye,” from P2 magazine, and “An instant classic, with the best multiplayer mode of any console title,” from X Gamer, this game was evidentially exemplary. Many call it a staple of the genre, and if you’re a fan of FPS games, it is essential.
TimeSplitters 2 received 7 official perfect 10s and 100s from critics and managed a 90 critic metascore on the PS2. Most of the fanbase (including me) was introduced to the franchise with this title. While not a smaller budget studio anymore, the team at Free Radical made a decent contender for your money even when put up against Halo and Medal of Honor.
This wasn’t the end though. The success of this game set Free Radical up for another home run. People were excited for their next game. However, a rocky relationship with Eidos Interactive meant they would end their work with the publisher and join EA for the time being. Fortunately for Free Radical, they had retained had the rights to the TimeSplitters IP and began developing their biggest game yet.
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