Product Description

Time Splitters was developed by the creators of the revolutionary first-person shooter Golden Eye 007. The plot centres on the Time Splitters, an evil race existing outside of time and space. Battling in three different eras (1935-1955, 1985-2000 and 2015-2035), you must destroy the aliens and restore the timeline. There are 24 unique playable characters and levels, plus over 20 weapons to choose from. The separately sold Sony Multitap accessory allows four gamers to battle it out in multiplayer scenarios. Even create your own death-match levels with the mapmaker editor.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8966 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Eidos
• Released on: 2002-03-08
• Platform: PlayStation2

Amazon.co.uk Review
Rather than just follow the latest first-person shooter trends, Eidos Interactive's TimeSplitters gets its inspiration from the granddaddy of all first-person shooters, Doom. Shunning GoldenEye 007's stealth approach to the action, here you have plenty of ammo and an assortment of over 25 different high-powered weapons (both authentic time-period weapons, like the Carbine and the Blunderbuss, and more familiar weapons like the sniper rifle and the pistol). All you will need to do is lock, load and go in with guns blazing. The arcade mode in TimeSplitters allows you to customise your weapons, allowing you to carry five different arms from any found in the game.

The one thing that this game does share with GoldenEye 007 is its incredible speed. One of the goals the design team set out to achieve is a lightning fast frame rate of 60 frames-per-second, and so far it looks as though they have blasted through the speed barrier with TimeSplitters.

The heart and soul of this game is its multiplayer mode, with a groundbreaking mapmaker feature in tow. Its multiplayer modes consist of a two-player co-operative mode, deathmatch, Capture the Bag, Bank Job, Last Stand (players against a huge assortment of enemies), Escort (protect another character through an entire level), Knock Out, Flag Tag and Reverse Flag Tag play modes. The game also offers a single-player component that will include nine levels that span a few decades, from the early part of the 20th century to the middle of the 21st Century. They are in order: Tomb 1935, Village 1950, Mansion 1965, Chinese 1970, Industrial 1985, Docks 2000, Sci-Fi 2005, Planet 2020 and Launch 2035. --Todd Mowatt

Manufacturer's Description
In the hundred years spanning the millennium (1935-2035), a disparate bunch of heroes and villains battle against their own challenges. Although each is unaware of the others, they all share an ageless common spirit of adventure, but unknown to them their daring actions have attracted the attention of the TimeSplitters.

The TimeSplitters are an evil race dwelling outside of time and space. For aeons they have manipulated the fate of humanity for their own malign ends, with cursed shards of crystal they have sown fear, greed and conflict throughout history. Now roused from an ancient sleep, the TimeSplitters cross the threshold from their shadowy dimension, ripping through the fabric of time itself to confront our heroes. Can our heroes unite against a common enemy to realise a greater destiny? Or will humanity be consigned forever to a realm ruled under the shadow of the TimeSplitters?

Customer Reviews

Side Splitting Fun
What can I say; superb! The first time I put the little purple disc in the tray it never came out for hours upon end, and I was by myself. The next day I was straight on the phone to 3 of my mates for a day of frag-festing on this magnificent game. One of the funnest games i've ever played; my mates and I were constantly in stitches.

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.

WOW WHAT AN AWESOME GAME !!!
I feel compelled to tell all Playstation 2 owners, to buy this marvellous game.

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 !

Blasting Through Time
You wake up on a christmas morning and you get a playstation 2 and 3 games. You go to your aunts for christmas lunch and get loads of money. You go to shop next day and buy a playstation 2 game. I had £40 and i wanted a ps2 game so i had a look round reviews on the internet to decide what to get. I came across information on a new FPS for the ps2. As far as i could tell it wasnt great in single player but multiplayer was a blast. Well i have plenty of friends that will be wanting to have a go on the playstation2 so i might as well get a good multiplayer game. I took it home and booted it up. The first thing that struck me was the awkward controls. The left analouge stick makes your guy move forward or backward and side to side (strafe) while the right analouge stick is basically your head. You turn and look up and down in other words. The 4 symbol buttons (X, , O and Triangle) arnt used. Well you use X to respawn if you die and Triangle to quit some menus but not in the game. R1 and R2 do secondary and primary fire while L2 gives you a crosshair and L1 is for crouching. Rightio.

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