TimeSplitters: Future Perfect is a 2005 first person shooter video game developed by Free Radical Design and published by EA Games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube video game consoles.

It is the third game in the TimeSplitters series, with the story continuing directly where it left off after the end of TimeSplitters 2, which was released in 2002. The game features a single-player mode consisting of thirteen levels where the player assumes the role of Sergeant Cortez, a time-traveling marine from the 25th century, as he attempts to go into the past to save the future. The game also includes a range of multiplayer options as well as a cooperative mode.

In June of 2007, a sequel to this game was announced to be in development under the title of TimeSplitters 4.

Plot

The game begins in 2401 when the space marine, Sergeant Cortez, is leaving the space station that he destroyed at the end of TimeSplitters 2. His ship crash lands on Earth and two fellow marines greet him. He takes the time crystals he retrieved from the space station to the General who uses them to operate a time traveling machine created by scientists. In order to prevent the present from ever happening - a time in which TimeSplitters plague the world - Cortez uses this machine to travel into the past to destroy the source of the time crystals (used by the TimeSplitters use for time-travel) effectively preventing the war between humans and TimeSplitters from ever happening. Cortez goes into several different time periods between the 20th century and the 25th century, befriending and aiding various characters (including himself) in their fight against villains. After discovering that the creator of the TimeSplitters is a mad scientist named Dr. Jacob Crow, Cortez embarks on a new mission to foil the scientist's plans by destroying his labs in a game of time tag.

After making his way to the site of the last Time Crystal, he partners with past and future renditions of himself, along with R-110 to defeat Crow once and for all. After the defeat of Crow, Cortez and R-110 return to their HQ. After some conversation, Cortez's wrist gadget suddenly dematerializes, along with R-110, much to the dismay of the General. Looking out the window, they see the barren desert land restored to it's former form; a lush, green forest filled with life. Anya labels Cortez as her hero as she appears to prepare for a kiss, indicating that not only have they restored the land and time from a dystopia to a normal world, but Cortez and Anya might develop a relationship.

It is also revealed, although not directly, that Corporal Hart (from TimeSplitters 2) is alive and well. She is alive because of Cortez's annihilation of the TimeSplitter race. Since Cortez wiped them out by using the Time Crystals, they never existed, and thus anyone who was harmed or killed during the many battles never died.

Gameplay

Future Perfect is a first person shooter that takes place through multiple time periods. The player controls Sergeant Cortez through multiple levels while completing assigned objectives. A variety of weapons from the time period are made available throughout each level. Future Perfect also features brief third-person driving sequences in which the player can either drive or equip one of the vehicle's mounted weapons. Vehicles can also be added to user-created maps.

Future Perfect allowed for online play on both the PlayStation 2 (up to 8 players) and Xbox (up to 16 players via Xbox Live). EA Games shut down the servers for both systems in June 2007. However, around the end of March 2008, the Xbox versions' online functions have resumedhttp://timesplitters4.net/index.php/topic,1153.msg28224/topicseen.html#new. The PS2 version still remains offline. No official explanation has been given for this odd turn of events.

In addition to Story mode, the game features co-op play and four player arcade. The Mapmaker feature allows players to create levels for multiplayer and Story mode.

Unlike previous games in the TimeSplitters series, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect's cross hair is set so it is always visible. This feature can be turned off in the options menu.

This is also the first TimeSplitters game to-date that features blood and gore.

Characters

There are a total of 150 characters for arcade playability. 67 of these characters are unlocked by default. The remaining 83 must be unlocked by completing the numerous "Challenge", "Arcade League" and "Story" levels.

Monkeys

Throughout the TimeSplitters series, the programmers field monkeys as playable characters in various guises, such as a Ninja outfit; one multiplayer mode, "Monkey Assistants," utilizes them as assistants to the player who is doing the worst on the map. A Curling mini-game uses monkeys instead of the traditional Curling stones. Further, when players examine their "Player Profile", it states how many times they have played as a monkey.

In Future Perfect, there are several playable Monkey variations. There is the standard Monkey, but there is also a Ninja Monkey, a "Cyborg Chimp" and a zombie monkey called Brains. A "Girlfriend Monkey" was also planned to be in the game, but removed before the release due to the game already having enough monkeys.

Reception

Future Perfect received positive reviews with an average critical rating of 86% on Game Rankings.

Awards

• IGN Best of 2005: Best First-Person Shooter (PS2)

Soundtrack

In 2006, Free Radical placed the soundtracks for all of their currently available games up for download on the company website, including printable album artwork.

References

External links

• Official Site
• Soundtrack
• TimeSplitters: Future Perfect at IGN