BARGAIN PRICE
Great CONDITION
Great action GAME
Original Game + Booklet
TimeSplitters is a first-person shooter stripped down to its most basic elements. Rather than worry about things like plot or a cohesive single-player game, TimeSplitters focuses on its extremely strong multiplayer elements and delivers a first-person shooter that is as addictive as any other console-based FPS.
The game's story mode is anything but addictive. It plays out more like a time attack mode. You pick your level and difficulty, and you're then dropped into a level. The goal of each level is to grab an item and then make your way to the exit, which, more often than not, is the same area where you started the level. After collecting the item, tons of fireball-launching monsters warp into various spots in the level, making your return trip a little more hazardous. The main point to the story mode is that it allows you to unlock things like multiplayer bots, multiplayer modes, and more. You'll also unlock the challenge mode, which asks you to accomplish certain tasks in a specified time limit, such as killing 50 zombies in two minutes. The arcade mode lets you choose lots of different game styles, including standard first-person shooter favorites like deathmatch and capture the bag, as well as more varied modes like knockout, bagtag, last stand, and escort. While the bot AI, which can be configured to five different difficulty settings, is pretty solid, the game really demands to be played in four-player mode. However, some levels get a little too large for only four players, so the ability to add up to ten bots to your games is a nice touch.
TimeSplitters features a lot of different weapons, as the game's levels are spread out between 1935 and 2035. So you have a wide range of standard weapons, such as the rocket launcher, minigun, assault rifle, and twin Uzis, and you also have an assortment of futuristic weapons, which mostly act like a large collection of laser rifles. In setting up multiplayer matches, you can pick predefined sets of weapons or configure your own custom set. Some weapons have alternate firing modes. For instance, the alternate fire on the rocket launcher shoots three rockets at once. There are also nonstandard weapons, such as timed or proximity mines, that bring different strategies to the game.
One of the more interesting things about TimeSplitters is its map editor. Sure, the game has a decent number of levels on its own, but not enough to support the sort of endless play that a good map editor can add. The map editor lets you choose from a large collection of prefabricated building blocks, which you piece together to form your level. Each piece, once placed into the level, can be altered to contain certain items, and you can alter the room's lighting properties. The levels can get pretty complex.
