Time Splitters 3: Future Perfect

[lazyfatbum]

From Nintendo.com:

UK developer Free Radical's tongue-in-cheek time-traveling saga continues into the past and future.

Features:
-11 missions in five time periods ranging from 1914 to 2401

-First TimeSplitters game with controllable vehicles. You can either drive or man the mounted weapon

-Wow residents of the past with your antigravity claw, which can reach far across gaps, flick distant switches and much more

-Challenge, Arcade and Multiplayer modes

-Hundreds of unlockables

-On harder difficulty levels, you'll have more objectives

This time around, Cortez of TimeSplitters 2 fame is the star of the show. Here, he finds himself in a frantic race against time in a desperate bid to trace the origin of the TimeSplitters and save mankind. Talk about your butterfly effect: the beefy, very cool-looking Cortez double-takes when he runs across his time-traveling self -- and receives crucial hints from said self.

In the one level we saw, Cortez finds himself in the midst of a serious temporal mix-up, attacking a Scottish castle in 1924 beside a British officer who appears congenitally incapable of going a minute without saying "Good show, old chap." Much like EA's Medal of Honor series, completing one sub-mission triggered the next.

Other planned levels include a train in 1969 (EA says this mission has an "Austin Powers" feel), and, in 1994, both a mansion haunted by zombies and what lies beneath it: a lab breeding the zombies.

Cortez's mind-bending ability to assist himself in various time periods opens up unique possibilities for gameplay. Team up with past or future versions of Cortez in solo or co-op mode.

Bottom Line

Despite a change in publisher -- EA stepped in and snagged the rights from Eidos -- fans will be glad to note that this game maintains the franchise's oddball mix of mayhem and wackiness. There's always the remote possibility that an unforeseen time-warp lands TimeSplitters: Future Perfect on store shelves in medieval France. However, it's better to assume that it will appear in stores early next year.

[lazyfatbum]

Future "Perfect", huh? Interesting title.

Though EA is publishing it I wonder who's deving it. These shots look they could be taken from a remake of N64's Goldeneye which is a good thing.

TS2 on GC gave me a headache with it's odd controller configuration. No matter how many times I customize it, it feels weird. I need the N64 controller for proper FPS playing. :D

I tested myself the other day and I realized I can still take down a group of Darksims with handguns (I hate the Pheonix in the hands of a darksim, explosive head shots are bad), automatics and explosives but in TS2, I can be killed by a group of 5 star bots pretty quickly, no matter what I try. It just doesn't have that ingenius style of PD that allowed the player to actually BE perfect and become a thousand times more deadly than a Darksim. I'm hoping TS3 has a better controller setup this time... every function doesn't need its own button.

On a side note, has anyone ever found a way to use a N64 controller on the GC? I know you can use a PS2 controller on the XBox so I thought maybe that idea rubbed off for GC too.

[Great Rumbler]

I know I'm getting this. The first two have been pretty good, although the second was quite a bit better than the first.

Though EA is publishing it I wonder who's deving it.

It's being developed by Free Radical Design [former Rare employees].

[OB1]

Man, Time Splitters 2 for the GC had the best console FPS controls ever. I would always play GE and PD using the Turok-style of controls (move with c buttons, aim and turn with stick), so what I do is use the c-stick to strafe and move and the left stick to aim and turn. It works amazingly well.

[lazyfatbum]

I tried that too. It works for one player but when you're fighting massive groups of top AI bots those controls do not work at all; It's way too slow.

GR/ Good, cuz EA has a way of turning good games in to krap.

[OB1]

Too slow? I still play lots of TS2 multiplayer with plenty of tough bots and I never found the turning or aiming too slow. And if you need more precision you just have to press aim.