Amazon.com Review
When Rare made GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64 in 1997, they created the best first-person shoot-'em-up the world had ever seen and, arguably, has ever seen to this day. Many of the geniuses behind the game left Rare shortly after to set up their own company, Free Radical. Their first game was the rather rushed (in time for the PS2's launch) TimeSplitters, but this sequel is polished to perfection and easily one of the best games of the year.
One of the main problems with the original TimeSplitters was its awful single-player mode, but this has been totally revamped for the sequel, with a proper story mode, all-new time zones and weapons, and absolutely mountains of unlockable hidden extras. Thankfully they’ve kept the wicked sense of humor from the first game, but there's also a lot more strategy for solo players this time around, including an amusing homage to GoldenEye's Arkangelsk Dam level, along with pastiches of other games and films scattered throughout the game.
The real reason for TimeSplitters 2's greatness, though, is the multiplayer mode. This is GoldenEye to the nth degree, with superbly designed levels, tons of weapons, and all sorts of tricks and gimmicks, such as remote-control gun turrets and invisibility pills. It may lack the epic scope of Halo, but in multiplayer mode at least this is a lot more fun--and fun, as the Beatles never said, is all you need. --David Jenkins, Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk Preview
Want to play a first-person shooter on your console? Tired of there being no proper GoldenEye sequel? Wishing that you could play the part of a Barbary ape in a wild west shootout? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then TimeSplitters 2 is the game for you. When Rare made GoldenEye for the N64 in 1997 they created the best first-person shoot-'em-up the world had ever seen at the time and, arguably, to this day. Unfortunately, though, many of the geniuses behind the game left Rare shortly after to set up their own company, Free Radical. Their first game was the rather rushed (in time for the PS2’s launch) TimeSplitters, but now they’ve had time to perfect the sequel, and just from the two preview levels so far seen it’s already looking like the best thing ever.
One of the main problems with TimeSplitters was its awful single-player mode, but this has been totally revamped for the sequel with an entirely new time zone and set of weapons for each level. As well as a proper story, and a wicked sense of humor, there’s also a lot more strategy for solo players this time around, including an amusing homage to GoldenEye’s Arkangelsk Dam level. But the real reason for TimeSplitters 2’s greatness is the multiplayer mode. This is GoldenEye to the nth degree, with superbly designed levels, mountains of weapons, and all sorts of tricks and gimmicks, such as remote-control gun turrets and invisibility pills. If the finished product is even half as entertaining as the demo then this could easily be one of the games of the year. --David Jenkins |
)
