TimeSplitters: Future Perfect – im Klassik-Test (PS2 / Xbox / GC)

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Game:Timesplitters Future PerfectPublisher:Electronic ArtsDeveloper:Free RadicalGenre:First Person ShooterTested for:GC, PS2, XboxAvailable for:GC, PS2, XboxUSK:Released in:4 / 2005

Is time travel possible? If you ask the developers of the English software company Free Radical, you will probably hear a clear ‘yes’. The islanders have already twice sent willing players on an adventurous journey through time – even if only virtually. After a two-year break, Free Radical are now handing us the Digi gun again and letting us take up the fight against the Timesplitters again in the role of Polygon soldier Cortez.

The evil aliens, meanwhile, did not sit idle and attacked Earth in 2401. Only a jump back in time to the origin of the monster plague can now save mankind from annihilation. You start in 1924 on a Scottish island: With thunderous applause and occasional fire support from an English colonel, you storm a knightly castle armed with a rustic machine gun. The welcome greeting from the lord of the castle is, as expected, leaden, which really puts you in the shooter mood. At breakneck speed you lumber your way through hordes of guards and even take on a tank. Between staccato-like continuous fire and explosive destruction, there is even time for a bit of mental work: use a crane to lift a turret from its hinges or rescue the colonel’s scantily clad sweetheart from her cell.

The cranky Brit is not your only ally at the Ballerfest: Cortez makes contact with – one is amazed – himself via a wormhole. The Space Marine from the near future gives you an item important for the gameplay. A little later you slip into the role of patron and help your past self out of trouble. In the course of the following eleven levels, there are more opportunities for those paradoxical encounters, which not only makes for humorous cutscenes. In addition to additional firepower, the double Cortez also benefits you with its driving skills. While you use the cannon to bring down robot gliders from the sky, your counterpart steers the tank through the lands. But even without a passenger, you can shorten your journey with a jeep and a gigantic combat robot.

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The second peculiarity of Timesplitters Future Perfect can be found in the variety of scenarios and weapons. The hunt for the Timesplitters takes you to a variety of different locations over six centuries: infiltrate a Russian research base in 1969, exorcise zombies and other creepy creatures in a haunted mansion at the end of the 20th century, fight back a mutant uprising in 2052 or deliver yourself in the century of Machine Wars Plasma firefights with robots. In every epoch you also carry around with you the bringers of death typical of that time. In the year 2401 you shoot with laser weapons and plasma cannons, in 1969 with AK rifles and submachine guns. Crazy firearms like harpoon bullets or ghost guns are used in the horror house. Depending on the weapon, an alternative fire mode can be activated. After a few minutes, controlling the devices becomes second nature.

The motivation to play does not end with the conclusion of the story campaign. On the one hand, higher levels of difficulty and a co-op mode offer enough incentive to play the campaign again. On the other hand, various other game modes lure soloists and multiplayer fanatics alike. You get typical multiplayer disciplines in Arcade mode: Here you either fight with up to three human combatants in deathmatch duels or compete in three leagues against a number of bots. In the ‘Challenge’ mode, on the other hand, it is not continuous fire action that is required, but skill and accuracy. You should destroy bottles within a time limit, make monkeys dance with electric shocks, steer a stuffed cat on wheels through a checkpoint race or in the Timesplitters-Classic variant shooting off zombies’ heads. Humor is also writ large in Arcade mode.

opinion

Janina Wintermayr meint: Ballerfreunde have long been on the third Timesplitters-Episode have to wait: Future Perfect Like the excellent predecessors, it plays flawlessly and also delights the shooter fan with a humorous presentation. Whoever hops through the epochs with the time-tested Cortez has to be prepared for numerous sympathetically funny characters and funny cutscenes. The levels between the story scenes, on the other hand, are less laughable: while beginners have to nibble at the high level of difficulty of the assembly line action, genre veterans are bothered by the uniform course of battle and the subtly uninspired level design. In addition, the time travel adventure suffers from regular stuttering. Here, Free Radical cannot match the quality of its predecessor. The outstanding multiplayer mode and the additional individual challenges put me mildly. Deathmatch leagues against bots and bizarre target practice guarantee weeks of fun and motivation. If you have online access, you can also enjoy exciting multiplayer duels.

Oliver Schultes says: Slowly, Free Radical’s time travel shoot-out is showing signs of fatigue: as fascinating as the varied scenarios and the sparkling clean look in part 2 almost two years ago, the same everyday features in 2005 are just as commonplace – except that it’s now often ugly jerky, and that’s even during crucial boss skirmishes . For me, however, the subtly uninspired level design weighs much more seriously, with striking scripting and modular charm in the face of hits like Halo 2 seems old-fashioned. At the next Timesplitters the developers are allowed to hit more over the creative strands. Anyone suffering from shooter withdrawal shouldFuture Perfect still take it to heart, after all it’s still a successful representative of the genre.