Timesplitters 2 for Playstation 2, GameCube and Xbox

From the makers of Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark comes the greatest multiplayer shooter of all time. Timesplitters 2 is the most varied, expansive, customizable first person shooter ever, and it is insanely fun to play, especially with friends. And since Timesplitters 2 is available on all three game consoles, there is no excuse for anyone to miss out on the fun.

Timesplitters 2 has been in development for nearly 2 years, and it shows. The game has been polished to perfection and it is loaded with scores of unlockable goodies. The Story mode has been vastly improved from Timesplitters 1, thankfully; it now features missions with several objectives and non-player characters. An insanely fun two player co-op mode is also included for those who do not like to adventure alone. The real meat of the game is in the Arcade mode. Arcade League consists of several challenging games where you are awarded trophies according to your performance, and higher rewards result in rich amounts of unlocked goods including secret characters, levels, multiplayer modes and cheats. Unfortunately, it is necessary to beat levels in League mode to unlock the best multiplayer modes, but the League modes are still loads of fun to play. The multiplayer modes are an absolute blast. Nearly everything is configurable and easily accessible. Each player has a profile with statistics and fully customizable controls. It does not matter which first person shooter game you like, be it Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark, Halo or Turok: you can probably construct an identical setup for Timesplitters 2.

As you progress in Timesplitters 2 you will unlock all sorts of goods. Multiplayer modes include Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Bag, Assault (directly from Unreal Tournament). Later even more modes are available: Monkey Assistant (a team of monkeys shows up to help out the weakest player), Leech (damage an enemy to recover your health), Gladiator (one player is the Gladiator and only that player can score, so you must beat that player), Thief (fallen players leave tokens which must be collected) and more. The arsenal of weapons is massive and it spans across centuries: everything from old shotguns and pistols to modern assault rifles to futuristic laser cannons is available. Additionally, you can create and choose from custom weapon sets in the multiplayer mode.

There are over a hundred characters to choose from, most of them being unlocked secrets, and there are options for using their strengths/weaknesses (or not). The levels and stages, like the characters and weapons, are also incredibly varied; they range from a Gothic Cathedral to a space ship hangar to a Russian Dam (which brought back deja vu of Goldeneye 007). The game supports multi-system link cables for up to 16 players on a local area network. Four player splitscreen is available on each game console and TV screen.

The graphics in Timesplitters 2 are good, and they move at a blistering smooth 60 frames per second with minimal slowdown. The animation is fluid with realistic running, walking, aiming and death animations. The environments are well-constructed with good textures and lighting effects. The rain visual effect in some levels is second only to Metal Gear Solid 2?s.

Audio has been both carried over from TS1 and some of it has been remade. All of the characters have different voices, some even have storyline dialogue (which is convincing). Nothing is more satisfying than a good round of four player rocket arena in TS2, with explosions going off left and right, taking the subwoofer to the limit. The music also sports amazing variety and you can pick mix music tracks to different levels for multiplayer games.

Overall, Timesplitters 2 is rock-solid. It is polished, slick and fun to play. The single player is great and the multiplayer is outstanding. The ultimate party game is here, and it is available now for Playstation 2, GameCube and Xbox owners alike.

Screenshots