Navigation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Find Games |
 |
|
|
|
Select your platform |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Community |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Genre |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Misc |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Poll |
Do you agree with MyGamer's Top 20 GB Games Of All Time?
It was a great list (67%)  it wasn't bad, I agree with some (33%) it was totally wrong (0%) Login to vote |
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
TimeSplitters: Future Perfect 
Release date: 8 Mar 2005
|
Mygamer review
|
Chimpicide!
In response to the aggressive actions of the TimeSplitters, earth scientists have constructed a time machine of their own in the hopes of preventing temporal warfare from ever occurring. When Cortez returns to earth with the stolen time crystals needed to activate the machine, he embarks on a hot pursuit across thirteen missions spanning nearly five centuries. Along the way he will encounter robots, undead, mutants, and even himself.
Story is the primary single player adventure and one of the numerous modes Future Perfect offers. There is a good deal of variety in the levels as Cortez gallivants about the time continuum wielding period-specific weapons (many of which have alternate firing modes) ranging from revolvers and shotguns to time grenades and dynamite that can be strapped to people. Since weapons never carry over between missions (even when the location doesn't change) there is never mixed period weaponry; shooting 20th Century infantry with 25th Century plasma rifles would have been fun. The one standard gadget in Cortez's arsenal is the temporal uplink, a device allowing him to manipulate foreign objects and useful for nabbing out-of-reach weapons, armor and health packs. Though its grip is weak, any item being held can be launched as a projectile at enemies, but the ability to pull weapons out of enemy hands would have rounded this tool off nicely. The character models are nothing special and their mouths don't always move when talking but there are plenty of cool gun loading animations (though they aren't fully reflected in mirrors), and the mission aboard the moving train conveys an exhilarating sense of speed. Many weapons can also be dual-wielded.
On each level Cortez finds himself an ally, frequently someone stereotypical of the given time period-to team up with. One of Future Perfect's coolest twists is that the story repeatedly causes itself when Cortez encounters himself. Any time he receives help from his future self he must then jump through a wormhole and become the future Cortez who helped himself out in the past, instructing his past self to do the same. This is what we in the business refer to as a predestination paradox. The user experiences the same situation from a different perspective for as many Cortez's as may have appeared during a given mission. There is no control over these encounters as they are all automatic.
Once levels are completed they can be selected individually and the respective characters and RTM's are unlocked. Two players can even co-op through the story together'an important replay feature many games lack. Controls are fully customizable though there is no jump function, often making navigation around obstacles difficult and the health and armor meters can only be seen on the pause screen (ala GoldenEye), which is inconvenient. Most missions are fun save for the low visibility haunted house full of zombies that only go down when you shoot them in the head, a task the default flamethrower is useless in accomplishing. Here Cortez and his teenybopper sidekick are called upon to rescue a scientist from a number of baddies, and once he is rescued, feel free to blast or torch him; it won't affect the mission.
Most of Future Perfect is played on foot though occasionally you'll need to grab a vehicle'ranging from 1920's jeeps to 25th Century mechs to carry out your business. The driving is a bit awkward due to the camera's limited range of motion, and you can't look back unless you drive backwards. Still, there are certain facets of gameplay, namely running people over, that never get old. Climbing ladders is also unsettling, as the camera switches to third-person and shakes back and forth as Cortez ascends. Once at the top he can't climb down, and when standing in a doorway the door opens and closes rapidly until you move. Every so often you'll encounter drunk and/or insane people who babble semi-coherently who you are free to listen to and/or slaughter as you please and watch as blood splatters pleasingly across any nearby walls. When you change costumes and pose as an enemy guard to avoid detection, nobody seems to take notice as you levitate large objects with the less-than-standard-issue temporal uplink. There is also no indication as to where enemy fire is coming from when they do figure you out.
Like the control scheme, Arcade mode is fully customizable and not only accommodates one- to four-player splitscreen in a large assortment of game types, the user can also slug it out against bots or play through scores of mini-game tests to win medals and unlock content such as cheats and the majority of Future Perfect's roster of 150 playable characters, all of whom can be used either by the user or set as bots in arcade mode.
Here Future Perfect's screwball sense of humor shines, often becoming a parade of nonsense as you delve further into gameplay. You will be called upon to kill midgets, deathmatch with rocket launchers aboard a zeppelin, kill high priests with flare guns at the sacred temple, and snipe a bunch of pissed off mutated deer, after which you will have nightmares for weeks. Challenge mode is similar to Arcade and here you will massacre wave after wave of monkeys in a small space with a slow weapon, drive a mechanical cat around a rooftop and play as the late Corporal Hart who died in the prequel. You must also massacre wave after wave of undead headless cows, similar to the monkeys found in Arcade though not quite as classy. While some of these games are much more tedious than fun, you will have access to a huge assortment of weapons and unlock dozens of interesting characters including dinosaurs, robots, gingerbread men, and ninja monkeys, a commodity no self-respecting FPS should be without.
Future Perfect allows users to create maps that can be used on and offline and even swapped with other gamers. While complicated, it is quite fun once you get the hang of it. Beginner and Advanced modes are available, but it's just as easy to make a simple map, then once you feel comfortable building in Advanced mode you can then add game logic and story AI. Advanced mode also allows access to many more tiles and the ability to build vertically up to five levels. There are five themes to choose from (lab, military, etc.) each with its respective tiles that can be mixed and matched with tiles from any other set. Any six weapons and any ten bots can be used to populate your level and even lighting can be adjusted. The only draw back is that a map chews up over 1MB of memory card storage.
Most of the audio is mediocre and NPC characters can be heard speaking no matter how far away you move and through any number of walls. Dialogue even overlaps if one person is speaking and you enter another room triggering additional dialogue. The audio associated with gun idle animations plays when looking through the scope (when the animation can't occur).
Despite some shady collision detection, disappearing corpses and enemies walking unchanging lines, seemingly oblivious to your presence and the death of nearby comrades, Future Perfect is a solid package offering a huge amount of Easter Eggs and content with a great sense of humor, both online and off, that will keep you coming back. Interactive lab computers play audio logs, cycle through cameras and frequently display hacking mini-games. When you're done there's still time to play slots and use the computer to shrink and zombify people in letterbox or widescreen.
Review by Dave Kaplan on 1 May 2005
Bookark this reviews at:
|
No reviews yet, be the first to post a review and receive extra credits! |  Members review score: n/a |
|
You need to login to add a review |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
