The Timesplitters Way...

AnAngryMoose

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In an age of generic, 'realistic' FPS shooters and whatnot, I can't help but think of my favourite which was the Timesplitters series. Don't get me wrong though, I love more-or-less every FPS. It's just they're getting a bit repetetive. For those of you who are familiar with the series; enjoy the sweet sweet nostalgia.

One of my favourite aspects of Timesplitters was probably the Mapmaker. I found this completely groundbreaking at the time. The game was actually letting me design my own maps! Giving you tilesets which resembled current maps, you could build the different floors, rooms, corridors and fill them with different objectives for different gametypes along with spawns, weapons etc. The best part was, you could create your own missions for the Story Mode.

One thing that needs a good look at in games today is their difficulty settings. In the easiest difficulty, bullets bounce off your character while merely aiming the barrel of a gun at a foe causes them to collapse with shock. However, in the hardest difficulty setting it's the other way around. Not only did Timesplitters do this, but you were given more objectives to complete and had to delve further into the level. Take the first level for example. On the easiest difficulty you must infiltrate a military compound in Siberia, sneak past the guards, head into a cave, steal something and escape. On the hardest difficulty, you must do that, but then sneak through a dam to bring you to the other side of the compound, fight of hoards of zombies and mutants and then ascend to the top of the dam and battle to the death with a helicopter.

Are there any games you can think of that really set an example?
 

Joe Deadman

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Damn.... Timesplitters... I don't know what to say...
I'm not really sure I can think of anything that has come close to their style recently.
And I loved the extra objectives on timesplitters. Was a shock playing siberian dam on a higher difficulty and having to fight through the research area and fight that helicopter on top of the dam.
 

Ironic Pirate

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Slightly off topic, but I think Crytek bought Free Radical, right? Because Timesplitters on the Cry-engine would be so awesome.
 

Joe Deadman

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Ironic Pirate said:
Slightly off topic, but I think Crytek bought Free Radical, right? Because Timesplitters on the Cry-engine would be so awesome.
Yeah they did but personally I think that is a terrible idea as part of the timesplitters charm for me was its cartoony style. I guess it might be ok if they just use it for things like water and foliage but deffinatly not the AI ;).
 

Simalacrum

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Apr 17, 2008
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Yeah, the extra objectives really was a hidden gem feature in Timesplitters, I wish that it had developed into other games as well... oh wells =\

I miss Timesplitters... we really need a new one dammit! Cmon Crytek UK!

Incidentally, we happen to have a Timesplitters fan group here on The Escapist...: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/TimeSplitters
 

tomtom94

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May 11, 2009
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You're making me more angry that my Xbox is broken and thus I can't play Timesplitters.

Anyway, the MapMaker was excellent, but I wish that a game existed where you could change every single element of your creation.
By which I mean a game other than LittleBigPlanet / Trackmania / other predictable examples.
 

Ben Legend

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Timesplitters was epic, I could spend hours on end on the map maker, it was so brilliant.
 

AnAngryMoose

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generic gamer said:
Latinidiot said:
I heard Perfect Dark does something similar.
yeah, perfect dark adds an additional objective in for each hike in difficulty. that's the game i always recommend as a palate cleanser from modern shooters.
I just got it off the XBL Marketplace. It's "failing to load". Typical. >.>

In other news, I've been following every shred of info on a possible TS4 and I found a somewhat disappointing leakage stating that there wouldn't be much of Story Mode and it would be mainly geared for multiplayer. I can see where they're coming from though, considering Cortez stopped Crow in Future Perfect, but it's still disappointing. Unfortunately, I can't find the link to it at the moment.

One thing that would royally piss me off about TS4 is if they take the route of all games these days and make the multiplayer online-only and disable bots. Somehow, I doubt this will happen.
 

AnAngryMoose

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tomtom94 said:
You're making me more angry that my Xbox is broken and thus I can't play Timesplitters.

Anyway, the MapMaker was excellent, but I wish that a game existed where you could change every single element of your creation.
By which I mean a game other than LittleBigPlanet / Trackmania / other predictable examples.
If they blended the Mapmaker with Halo 3's Forge tool (sans the wonky and annoying physics) it would be pure bliss.
 

tim98042

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i wish they would make a new timesplitters it was always good fun bashing about on timesplitters games.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Timesplitters = best damn FPS series ever.

No other game has playable ninja monkeys.

I'll say it again, playable ninja monkeys.
 

xavierxenon

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Timesplitters definately did everything right. And don't forget the time travel and humour aspects in them, especially in Future Perfect. Such great, great games, where did FPS's suddenly go wrong?

New FPS's are still good, but I miss the good old days ='[
 

I III II X4

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AnAngryMoose said:
One thing that would royally piss me off about TS4 is if they take the route of all games these days and make the multiplayer online-only and disable bots. Somehow, I doubt this will happen.
Speaking of the bots, I wouldn't mind a (TS2-only player here) tweaking of their AI...seriously, days spent fightin' the computer at Training Facility (place with the two bases), I've seen the computer set the bots to follow each other on a linear path....seriously, it was like a line of ducks, 'cept with bullets and death.

So yeah, some improvements would be kinda...appreciated, mix things up so I don't have to fear JUST Capt. Night outta the majority of the bots.
 

AnAngryMoose

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generic gamer said:
AnAngryMoose said:
generic gamer said:
Latinidiot said:
I heard Perfect Dark does something similar.
yeah, perfect dark adds an additional objective in for each hike in difficulty. that's the game i always recommend as a palate cleanser from modern shooters.
I just got it off the XBL Marketplace. It's "failing to load". Typical. >.>

In other news, I've been following every shred of info on a possible TS4 and I found a somewhat disappointing leakage stating that there wouldn't be much of Story Mode and it would be mainly geared for multiplayer. I can see where they're coming from though, considering Cortez stopped Crow in Future Perfect, but it's still disappointing. Unfortunately, I can't find the link to it at the moment.

One thing that would royally piss me off about TS4 is if they take the route of all games these days and make the multiplayer online-only and disable bots. Somehow, I doubt this will happen.
you'll never feel hard done by about overpowered weapons again, the PD line up is ridiculous.

timesplitters' whole charm is in the single player storyline, without that there's no point even releasing it as a stand alone game. and i agree about the multiplayer mode, with such competent ai in games these days why can't they program good bots in multiplayer? also i'd take a drop in graphics for local multiplayer, that's the only kind i play on a console really. multiplayer is supposed to be a social experience and there's nothing quite like a compstomp with a few mates.
I agree. There are a few exceptions to my rule of "Never play online multiplayer" which is Bad Co. 2. Sparingly though because I always get matched with Rank 25 Medics >.>
I don't knock it 'till I try it online though.

*Sigh* I miss the good ol' days of locking yourself in a room with a PS2 Multitap.
 

Kouen

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Mar 23, 2010
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oh no... Crytek bought out Free Radical?

/facepalm

on the note of timesplitters though that was one of my more favourite of the Xbox / NGC / PS2 game era (well TS2 to be exact) Ive not seen many others out there with a map maker built in with a tile set system which is a shame.

and mentioning Crytek to me Personally both Far Cry and Crysis was boring to me and made me feel i was playing a 3DMark Benchmark Designed to bring my PC to its knees rather than anything else, I Loved the graphics (but who didnt) but just couldn't get along with the game itself it felt to me substandard in comparison to the Graphics.

This Troubles me with the possibility of a Timesplitters 4 being done with Crytek in charge, my only hope is that they let the Free Radical team take care of it and not poke there nose in too much...

Then again I also hoped EA wouldn't mess up the Bond games at least once...
 

Mindblow

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I get the feeling that if they make an entirely new game they'll completely fuck it up. I was thinking maybe instead of another game they just remake the previous ones. Then again, the main reason I want that to happen is because I don't have a PS2 anymore and I can't play FP or TS2 :( I don't even have an emulator I can use for it.