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Was Timesplitters Way Before Its Time?

G

GhostWriter24

Member
In 2000, a PS2-based FPS allowed you to choose one of a HUGE variety of characters, maps, and had an insane amount of weapons in its multiplayer mode. It allowed you to customize your playstyle and had that same addictive multiplayer quality as Overwatch. Was this game the modern day FPS before its time?
 
D

Dylan

Member
I mean, what you are describing was also the case in Perfect Dark & Goldeneye.

I think it was pretty much exactly of its time.
 
C

chronic_archaic

Member
Extension of Perfect Dark multiplayer. It lacks so many modern FPS tropes it's a product of it's time really. Too much rooted in the style of arcade deathmatch.
 
depths20XX

depths20XX

Member
It was just an extension of Goldeneye style gameplay. Great game though.

Modern day FPS styles:

- Unique character choices that compliment your team
- Team based or objective based gameplay in general

Those weren't really in Timesplitters. It was mostly just a deathmatch. Something that has died out.
 
S

Skeletos311

Junior Member
More like a product of its time than ahead of its time. Who even makes games like TimeSplitters anymore? I think a game like that would only be made today if it was Kickstarted or something.
 
P

Poimandres

Member
depths20XX said:
It was just an extension of Goldeneye style gameplay. Great game though.

Modern day FPS styles that still hold up:

- Unique character choices that compliment your team
- Team based or objective based gameplay in general

Those weren't really in Timesplitters. It was mostly just a deathmatch. Something that has died out.
Click to expand...

I agree with these things as measures of modern FPS conventions.

And based on this, from that generation I would actually put forward Unreal Championship 2 as a game ahead of its time.
 
BigTnaples

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
I'd say Perfect Dark 64 is the most "ahead of its time" shooter of all time.


It still has features and details modern games don't. 17 years later.
 
TheRedSnifit

TheRedSnifit

Member
Poimandres said:
I agree with these things as measures of modern FPS conventions.

And based on this, from that generation I would actually put forward Unreal Championship 2 as a game ahead of its time.
Click to expand...

How about Team Fortress? Or Tribes? Had those two things almost a decade before UC2, and were both quite popular.

BigTnaples said:
I'd say Perfect Dark 64 is the most "ahead of its time" shooter of all time.
Click to expand...

That award will always go to System Shock.
 
G

GamerJM

Banned
It felt like it came after its time honestly. TS2 and FP to a lesser extent feel like they came from an alternate universe where Halo never came out and influenced every single console FPS game on the market, where the controls feel a little wonky and certain aspects of the games felt dated even for their time, but then at the same time they had tons of content in the form of features and modes that sort of went away with time as devs focused on other things.

I wouldn't really say they felt like Overwatch or other hero-based shooters at all beyond base-level details mentioned in the OP. I don't think I've played an FPS game that felt much like the TimeSplitters games since Future Perfect released, and in terms of how the actual gunplay feels and handles they feel like a product of their time.
 
B

Brofield

Member
I was playing it with a friend not even 6 hours ago. Honestly, the graphics are so cartoonishly bad it holds up well for no mocap. I will say the dialogue is top notch for sheer cheese.

Above all else though I truly missed the health packs/body armor and rotating between 5 weapons. I cannot stand regenerating health. You're a fucking bioengineered space marine but can hold only two guns and eight grenades?

FOH, Vin Diesel Cortez would blow your shit up with 67 well placed remote mines in the Chinese kitchen and camp so hard, waiting for you to walk in.
 
Electret

Electret

Member
BigTnaples said:
I'd say Perfect Dark 64 is the most "ahead of its time" shooter of all time.


It still has features and details modern games don't. 17 years later.
Click to expand...

Winner winner, chicken dinner. I say this as having beat the game on Perfect Agent a few months ago. The variety in enemy behavior and dialog alone is staggering for the time in which the game was made. Peak Rare.
 
S

Soulblighter31

Banned
Electret said:
Winner winner, chicken dinner. I say this as having beat the game on Perfect Agent a few months ago. The variety in enemy behavior and dialog alone is staggering for the time in which the game was made. Peak Rare.
Click to expand...

You guys know Deus Ex came out at the same time, right ? And System Shock before, and Thief ?
 
M

mokeyjoe

Member
BigTnaples said:
I'd say Perfect Dark 64 is the most "ahead of its time" shooter of all time.


It still has features and details modern games don't. 17 years later.
Click to expand...

Oh, totally this. It's a shame that the online in the remaster took out so many cool features.

For all its slightly creaky, outmoded design decisions, Perfect Dark remains one of my favourite shooters.
 
O

old manatee

Banned
Timesplitters was super ambitious. I loved that it took you to a bunch of distinct settings. Parts of it were tore up, though. Like most early console fps games it was cumbersome​ to control and the framerate was bad news.
 
CharminUltra

CharminUltra

Member
It's a bummer I never got into this series. I remember my friend playing around with the level editor, which blew my mind back then (but I guess not enough to purchase a copy.)
 
X

XANDER CAGE

Member
I think I've always viewed it as less ahead of its time, and more like... the absolute pinnacle of that style of split screen focused shooter. More "best of its time" than "ahead" if that makes sense. It and the original Halo were like the last, best gasp for that kind of thing.
 
TheRedSnifit

TheRedSnifit

Member
SMD said:
Do monkeys count?
Click to expand...

Nope, still beaten.

monkey2.jpg
 
B

bounchfx

Member
Vipu said:
More like games these days are behind of their time mostly.
Click to expand...

pretty much

outside of graphics/audio/general production shit, gameplay for FPS games has mostly taken a backseat as far as amount of good features goes. TS2 and Perfect Dark were far ahead of their time and I can't think of many examples that come close these days. I guess devs found a balancing point of what was 'enough'. Can't blame em
 
P

psyfi

Banned
No, it was very of its time. It continued the Goldeneye / Perfect Dark formula while the rest of the genre started taking cues from Halo. I'm glad the genre went that direction... Then it all got fucked up by chasing COD. 2016 was the best year for FPSs in a long time though, thankfully.
 
stn

stn

Member
I remember really hating the aiming controls in Timesplitters 2. Just as janky as the aiming in the Perfect Dark HD remake, unfortunately.
 
A

Amneisac

Member
I really don't think so, but I'm so feverish against 'bounding box aiming' that I have never been able to enjoy those games. They feel incredibly dated to me.
 
N

Nabbis

Member
Well, i certainly liked it more during it's peak than many other supposedly good FPS games that came after it. It's not like it was my first fps game either.
 
Xion_Stellar

Xion_Stellar

People should stop referencing data that makes me feel uncomfortable because games get ported to platforms I don't like
Fancy Clown said:
Virus with max bots on hangar with the minigun

2dd.jpg
Click to expand...
I actually prefer Virus Mode on the Mexican Mission map because me and my nephew would camp out on the roof of the small house outside just killing bots as they came at us until a bot inevitably spawns on top of us (because our camping spot is also a spawning spot) and we jump off​ the roof to fight the bots on the ground.
 
J

jokkir

Member
#nerfmonkey

Actually, no. I mained monkey bahaha

Virus + custom map where it's all dark is some freaky stuff. Or Virus + Mexican Mission is so fun too.
 
J

Joezie

Member
Ooccoo said:
Virus Mode ftw
Click to expand...

PSYGN said:
So many hours sunk into that mode with my brother and friends. We would play the Scrapyard map and camp in the exterior room waiting for the viruses.
Click to expand...

Banzai said:
So good. A sequel or remake would be amazing. I would probably stop playing Overwatch if I had a Timesplitters with online mp.
Click to expand...

Fancy Clown said:
Virus with max bots on hangar with the minigun

2dd.jpg
Click to expand...

Xion_Stellar said:
I actually prefer Virus Mode on the Mexican Mission map because me and my nephew would camp out on the roof of the small house outside just killing bots as they came at us until a bot inevitably spawns on top of us (because our camping spot is also a spawning spot) and we jump off​ the roof to fight the bots on the ground.
Click to expand...

Brehs

Hell hath no fury like a Virus session with Max bots on the Hospital map...with pistol starts. Also played to the Tune of the Planet X from the Original timesplitters.

Then again maybe my sister and I were a special kind of sadistic with TS as a series lol.
 
S

Santar

Member
They really should release Timesplitters Future Perfect as a PS2 game on PS4.
It was such a great game, so polished and full of content.
I've never understood why Timesplitters 2 gets so much more love, it's just s less refined version of Future Perfect.
 
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