Timesplitters: Future Perfect In-Depth Review (GCN)

Free Radical’s Timesplitters: Future Perfect is the best FPS available on the GameCube. This latest iteration of the series has successfully addressed every issue that hindered the originals, flushing out the single-player with complex atmosphere without losing the flavor of the multi-player experience. The GameCube might not have the online support of the Xbox, but this polished title is the closest thing the Nintendo system has to a Halo-like experience, and it’s awesomely executed.

Future Perfect's Campaign for One:

Since the GameCube has virtually no system link and online capacity, most GameCube owners are going to spend a lot of time experiencing what the campaign has to offer. That’s ok, though, because the single player adventures maintain a high level of interest by leaping your character around time periods. With each leap, you assume new weapons suitable to the era you’re fighting in. Don’t expect to find laser guns in the ‘30s, and don’t expect to be using a baseball bat to crack heads in the year 2500. Timesplitters 2 had a number of control issues, including a non-fixed aiming reticle – or no reticle at all – that made it difficult for beginners to play without practice. Future Perfect has completely solved this, giving the players the option of switching between aiming styles. Additionally, the small glitches that seemed to run rampant in the Timesplitters 2 are gone from its sequel. Free Radical has stripped the Timesplitters series of every questionable element without losing any of the gameplay that made it great.

...Or Two:

The campaign does not have to be played single player; Future Perfect allows you and a friend to play co-operatively through each level, and it’s probably one of the better co-op experiences available across systems. The single player games have been positively influenced by games like Halo, and you’ll find that the in-game cinematic presentation really pulls you in. On the first level you find yourself dodging bullets and assisting your teammates as they battle for humanity against an alien invasion. The second has you hunting bad guys on an island scheduled for destruction by the Navy in the 1920s, and another runs you through a haunted castle. In all cases, things will explode in the distance, planes will dive bomb enemies, and life will go on around you. This is substantially different from Timesplitters 2, where the missions were fun but uninspired, and is part of the reason that Timesplitters: FP is the best FPS on the GameCube. Just as Saving Private Ryan changed how war films were created, Halo has changed what you can expect in a first person shooter, and Timesplitters: FP executes the technique without simply repeating the experience.

Timesplitters' Occasional Oddity:

There are a few oddities that appear regardless of platform. Most of them are little things. If your friend is standing between you and an enemy, your targeting reticle turns red even though pointing at a friendly. Sometimes object disappear. Poof. None of this impacts gameplay, except for FP’s use of zoning. When playing co-operatively, the player farther behind will teleport to catch up with the player in the lead when they cross certain points. This is pretty standard; Halo does something similar. Most of the time the levels let you separate from your partner without worrying about being moved around. Yet the second level consists of an already mildly confusing castle that jumps you 10 or more times without much trouble at all. It doesn’t matter how close you are to your partner when they crosses the line; you’ll be teleported anyway. To make it worse, it’ll pull your partner backward if you back peddle across the same line again. Since you get disoriented when jumping like that, it’s easy to end up dragging your partner back and forth across the line a number of times before you figure it all out. It’s really annoying, and probably the biggest flaw in the game.