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TimeSplitters was so ahead of its time it is now more prevalent then ever before

Plumpbiscuit

Plumpbiscuit

Member
You know with all the loot box talk and devs/pubs looking for ways to screw its customers out of their money, there's one game series that has not only (ironically) stood the test of time but is now more apparent than ever before. That franchise is TimeSplitters.

ts1models.png


For a console-exclusive series, over a decade old too, it sure has a lot more than what modern games offer as well as be one of the most fun, inclusive, content-packed console FPS games perhaps ever. The game has no loot boxes, no microtransactions, no tacky DLC or gold/silver editions. You paid a flat price and everyone got the same stuff for the rest of time.

But what this game offers is still simply mind blowing and I think to this very day, this game is now more relevant than ever. The series has:

- Both single player campaign and multiplayer, with an actual storyline
- Bots
- Fully customisable arcade rules (timer, weapon sets, bot types, health, etc)
- Diverse characters (a whopping 125 characters TO PLAY as), with over a dozen of voice actors
- Genuinely interesting characters defined by their looks, personality and voices
- MapMaker. Yeah, you heard me, a PS2/GameCube game that lets you create your own maps in-game and set them up with all goodies the default maps have
- Tons, tons and & tons of unlockables all free, earned in-game without grinding (gallery, cutscene viewers, characters, maps, modes, etc)
- Great graphics with its own art style
- Gameplay that evolves the Goldeneye/Perfect Dark games
- FULLY rebindable controls down to every button, both in a match and in the main menu
- Great, catchy music
Click to expand...

Well I could go on and on but what amazes me is I never see this series talked about anymore yet imo it's perhaps the greatest example of a series made genuinely for people to play and enjoy. It offers more than any modern FPS game both on PC and console, especially when it comes to diversity and how consumer money is spent, and these three games STILL hold up to this very day.

We all should look back into these games and learn what made them fun and innovative and apply this into modern games. No loot boxes, no microtransactions, no online-only, no multiplayer-only, no Mr. Gruff only. No, TimeSplitters is the antithesis of all this. It's still fun and has aged well I think,

yet seemingly forgotten today.
 
tkscz

tkscz

Member
While I still feel Perfect Dark was the better game, I loved time splitters and everything it brought to the table, and I miss the days of unlocking things without money.
 
C

CookTrain

Member
If you want to champion TimeSplitters, that's great. It's a great game. (2 is my preference)

Trying to tie it up with the lootbox stuff...? Huh?
 
N

ninecubed

Unconfirmed Member
Game is still amazing; especially TS2. I'd put it on par with Goldeneye 64 (for me, at least) in terms of revolutionary FPS / couch-coop experiences.
 
R

Rosstimus

Banned
Timesplitters 2 is one of the best games of the PS2/Xbox/GCN gen. It's a shame that it only gets a fraction of the recognition it deserves.
 
P

Piers

Member
It was all about Virus/Flame tag for me.
And the Dam stage was an amazing opener in TS2, including a throwback to Goldeneye.
 
O

Onimusha78

Member
I find this is the case with a lot of ps2 games. We get waay less content these days. Still miss being able to go the gym in GTA, or alternatively eat until I was overweight. Also miss co-op/multiplayer gaming with another actual human being in the room.
 
Shanaynay

Shanaynay

Member
5taquitos said:
Whatever happened to the officially sanctioned fan remake?
Click to expand...

It's still happening, the progress are just very slow but it's very much alive. Supposed to be a demo in 2018 unless that changed.

They're working around some of the difficulties that comes with CRYENGINE.


Also this serie is still one of my most absolute favorite franchise in term of MP, countless hours flew by when i used to play this almost exclusively, i loved making maps and missions. (mainly in 2 and FP)

Wacky characters, great customization in options, mapmakers, awesome music it had it all.
 
L

Linkstrikesback

Member
Timesplitters 3 was the last FPS I seriously played.

SpaceWolf said:
Why haven't we seen a Timesplitters 4 again? Who owns the rights to that property?
Click to expand...

I imagine the main reason we've not seen one, or something in the same kind of shooter, is that all the bigwigs who sign off on these projects think the market has moved on from that type of game (for the amount it would cost). Chasing CoD and Battlefield money basically. Plus it's not like Crytek are in a great state anyway.
 
P

pantsmith

Member
I say this a Timesplitters fanboy (who beat Robot Factory on hard!), the only reason it didn’t have loot boxes or modern day DLC was because it was a product of its generation when no one was doing these things.
 
D

dawgparty

Member
Miss these fucking games. I found 2 for Gamecube but upon replaying I straight up can't aim for shit. FPS on a Gamecube controller is terrible.
 
A

Azure Phoenix

Member
SpaceWolf said:
Why haven't we seen a Timesplitters 4 again? Who owns the rights to that property?
Click to expand...

Crytek, who are circling the drain.

TS4 was going to happen, but then the failure of Haze, Lucasarts screwing over FRD and no publisher being willing to pick up TS4 meant they collapsed. Crytek bought the developer and IP, then proceeded to do absolutely nothing with it despite talking about the IP on multiple occasions, not even a quick HD port of TS2 to give them some much needed cash. The remains of FRD then got sold on with Homefront to Deep Silver, but TimeSplitters didn't go with them even though the Siberia level from TS2 is included in Homefront The Revolution as a bonus.

Basically, until Crytek collapses TimeSplitters will never be in the hands of people who care about it.
 
B

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
Never really felt the campaigns in the first two games were any good(Future Perfect was alright), and the multiplayer just did not catch on at all with my circle of friends. Certainly not even close to the way that Goldeneye and PD did.

Still, it was always an attractive package filled with content for those that were able to appreciate it.
 
A

arts&crafts

Member
Remember the "Challenge Levels" you had to beat to unlock new characters? Those were awesome. They were more fun than the rest of the game.
 
B

benicillin

Banned
TimeSplitters 2 was fantastic. TimeSplitters 3 was great, but less so. It's a shame that property is in such a nightmare quagmire that the only hope we have of ever seeing a re-release or a new one is that fan-made project.

Virus - Mexican Mission - All Monkeys
 
J

Jumeira

Banned
Sorry i thought it was mediocre and was far away from the quality i expected from a team that self promoted itself as core devs of GE/PD. It was nowhere near as good or lasting as GE/PD, i bought TS2 due to nostalgia of GE Dam level, even then they stuck invisible respwbing snipers, which was just cheap. I understand why some may like it for being close to GE, but i was burned by it and resent the game for a promise it made and failed to live up to.

Brandon F said:
Never really felt the campaigns in the first two games were any good(Future Perfect was alright), and the multiplayer just did not catch on at all with my circle of friends. Certainly not even close to the way that Goldeneye and PD did.
Click to expand...

Also this.
 
T

TheBowen

Sat alone in a boggy marsh
Brandon F said:
Never really felt the campaigns in the first two games were any good(Future Perfect was alright), and the multiplayer just did not catch on at all with my circle of friends. Certainly not even close to the way that Goldeneye and PD did.

Still, it was always an attractive package filled with content for those that were able to appreciate it.
Click to expand...

I think it's a case of which one you play first. Timepalitters is amazing for me because i played it first and grew up with having three people round and doing 4 player split screen, but playing Perfect dark and goldeneye ( although fun) just didn't have as much wow compared to timepslitters


Really hope the fan version off TS comes out soon
 
F

finley83

Banned
Yep. Played loads of TS2 on the GC in a shared house and it's probably my favourite local MP game of all time. Wish there was an HD remake of 2 our there, in Dolphin it still looks amazing.
 
S

Skel1ingt0n

I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
There was a western-themed map in TS2. That's all I remember. But I know me and my friends probably put 150 hours in that map alone. So many funny situations with all the crazy weapons.
 
S

SliceSabre

Banned
TS is easily my favorite FPS series and it is a damn shame it died. I spent countless hours making maps and playing MP with the bots.

Loved how the bots could do shit like backflips and skidding on the ground and such or how the Tree character would take more fire damage than other characters would. "Aieeeeeeee it burns!!!!"

And the music, holy shit the music was amazing.
 
R

Rickenslacker

Banned
I would say this is more true of Perfect Dark (aside from the map maker) than TimeSplitters as the TS series for as much as I wanted to like it always had a cheaper less detail-oriented feel to it and a lot of the weapons just felt terrible. TS2 was where the game peaked for most, but you had an arsenal that featured pistols that were largely useless with their low damage and slow speed, sniper rifles which were effectively pistols with scopes, explosions had no sense of impact whatsoever, and the game went too much for silly humour that never really landed with me. I could never really make matches fun as I disliked the uneven character stats but normalizing it meant for characters being too spongy, and the respawn time invincibility was just ridiculously long and...

err... I just really liked Perfect Dark, and still do, and still find it mindblowing for when it was released and that it features things that wouldn't be featured again for a long while (counter-op) and has things you still don't really see in shooters, like shooting weapons out of hands.

But I will give this to TimeSplitters, Anaconda was a ballin' upgrade to Snake.
 
E

ErrorMacro

Member
One of my biggest regrets in this life was not discovering Timesplitters 2 and 3 earlier, when me and my buddies would meet frequently to play games. We used to love Perfect Dark, and TS2 and 3 are the perfect evolution of it.
 
Raptomex

Raptomex

Member
Plumpbiscuit said:
You know with all the loot box talk and devs/pubs looking for ways to screw its customers out of their money, there's one game series that has not only (ironically) stood the test of time but is now more apparent than ever before. That franchise is TimeSplitters.

ts1models.png


For a console-exclusive series, over a decade old too, it sure has a lot more than what modern games offer as well as be one of the most fun, inclusive, content-packed console FPS games perhaps ever. The game has no loot boxes, no microtransactions, no tacky DLC or gold/silver editions. You paid a flat price and everyone got the same stuff for the rest of time.

But what this game offers is still simply mind blowing and I think to this very day, this game is now more relevant than ever. The series has:



Well I could go on and on but what amazes me is I never see this series talked about anymore yet imo it's perhaps the greatest example of a series made genuinely for people to play and enjoy. It offers more than any modern FPS game both on PC and console, especially when it comes to diversity and how consumer money is spent, and these three games STILL hold up to this very day.

We all should look back into these games and learn what made them fun and innovative and apply this into modern games. No loot boxes, no microtransactions, no online-only, no multiplayer-only, no Mr. Gruff only. No, TimeSplitters is the antithesis of all this. It's still fun and has aged well I think,

yet seemingly forgotten today.
Click to expand...
Truth. This series died too fucking young. I still fire up each game every now and then. So much fun.
 
C

Chessr

Member
Zap Rowsdower said:
The fact that Future Perfect still doesn't have an HD re-release on PC is a tragedy.

Crytek does and there was rumbles of one years ago but it got canceled because they are dumb.
Click to expand...

I remember that.there was a poll where we could vote for platform. I think Wii won. Maybe they were not happy with that :p
 
J

Jack The Nipper

Banned
It's apparent that shit in loot boxes are shit. Games use to have nice unlocks and not geared toward difficulty in getting them. I noticed how shit it was in rainbow six and how most of it is a waste of time and stuff I don't need.

Why waste time creating a bunch of ugly skins no one likes? Just to get people to buy,pathetic man.
 
N

Nev

Banned
TimeSplitters 3 is the most content-packed FPS (or game, period) of all time.

It's a blast of a game with an obscene amount of content (modes, options, variety, characters, weapons, etc) that cannot be even remotely imagined with today's garbage moneygrab, content-lacking, season pass industry.

A gem from a bygone era that will never be replicated.
 
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