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Timesplitters: Future Perfect
Monkeys, mummies, maniacs and mutants all make a triumphant return, but will it be the mapmaker that steals the limelight this time round?

If this preview merely discussed the new Timesplitters' Mapmaker it would fill you with joy, excitement and yearning. PC gamers have long been able to intensify their appreciation of a given game with editing tools and suites, but while a few console games have provided map editors theres been nothing to rival Future Perfect's suite of design tools. It's incredible.

Of course, this is Free Radical's third version, but it now appears to be the real deal. Memory-saving fixes enable users to build levels twice the size of those possible in Timesplitters 2, and one of the major improvements is the ability to fuse together tiles from any of the time periods. But thats not all. "Previously the type of blocks we had, and the way they fitted together, tended to dictate what kind of maps could be produced," laments David Doak, Free Radical's managing director. The limitations of the plugs forced a certain way of building. Now theres only one type of plug." A universal plug, if you will. Previously Mapmaker was a mean kind of Airfix, with part 1b only attaching to parts 12h or 6f. Now it's Lego, with all the simplicity and scope that implies. Large rooms, created out of smaller tiles, are no longer compromised by a swathe of annoying pillars; they can now be as architecturally simple or complex as you want them to be. "We asked users what they wanted; they just said big open spaces," chuckles Doak.

It's possible to create singleplayer levels, multiplayer assault maps, deathmatch arenas or challenges to keep you amused. It's possible to set up proximity-triggered sentry guns, even customise the arc of their movement. It's possible to create ambient lighting, flickering corridors or player-controlled switches that can plunge areas of your map into darkness. It's possible to build upwards as well as outwards, creating sniper points for campers, open up sections to the sky, even customise the weather; rain, snow, brilliant sunshine; whatever you decide. It's also possible to use basic game logic to trigger special events, even flash up short messages. You could create the most foul-mouthed level ever devised.

What's even more impressive is that Mapmaker 3 is going online. Free Radical hopes to create a community thats every bit as vibrant as those of Counter-Strike, Ouake or Theif, but for a new generation of console gamers. Future Perfect{/i] will come with ten maps of varying complexity to give users both insight and inspiration. "The Assault maps are likely to evolve" adds Doak. "A server popularity ranking will tell you which maps are good. You can then download them into Mapmaker and mess around, tweak and improve them."

Although Free Radical is proud of its earlier [i]Timesplitters singleplayer campaigns, it has recognised that they lacked focus and direction. While Future Perfect sticks to its time-hopping premise, its going to feel less disjointed. A Second Sight level of scripting and backstory should help, and there are plenty of Bill and Ted-styple time paradoxes to make things clip along and fit together with greater finesse. Cortez, the returning hero, often meets himself in levels - provoking comic situations and the kind of time puzzles missing from the previous games.

Levels include an island castle under bombardment in 1924, a Russian facility in the '50s, ancient Egypt, the near future and the far future of 2401. Halo's influence is very evident: grenades are now assigned to the trigger/shoulder button and you can also climb into vehicles either as driver or rear gunner. Current evidence suggests Future Perfect is more channeled than Halo (NOTE-how is that possible?), but it's frenzied run-and-gun flavour is no bad thing.

Which brings us on to monkeys. The challenges and arcade leagues were Timesplitters 2's most cherished elements and they are back with a vengeance. Once again, the cuddly simians can be shot, teased, electrocuted and even used as curling stones in Future Perfect's bonus modes. A new gravity gun can also be employed to gruesome effect. One challenge asks you to behead the undead by propelling boxes across the room; run out of boxes and you have to resort to heads rolling around on the floor. You can drive remote controlled cats, compete in buggy races and even shoot two miniguns in a splitscreen game using both analoge sticks. Though this apparently, somewhat worryingly, makes you "go blind".

The 'adult' nature of some of this content has forced an 18+ rating on the game, something Free Radical is a bit miffed about. But since the ruling the team hasn't sanitised anything in an attempt to reach a wider demographic. If it's going to be an 18+ then they may as well go the whole hog, seems to be the attitude. Blood could well be spilt in Timesplitters for the first time.

With EA on board, there's a renewed optimism at Free Radical, and with a package this broad, versatile and effervescent it's hard to predict anything but an outright sales success. After the mixed reception of Second Sight the future may not be perfect, but it's looking a lot rosier.

Monkeys, mummies, maniacs and mutants all make a triumphant return

Have EA cocked things up? Is the story mode still rubbish? PSM2's twenty-hour playtest delivers the unspeakable truth...

TimeSplitters 2 was a) hard b) easy to hate and c) brilliant. Some folk resented being shot to ribbons for split-second forays into no-mans-land, while others adored the pixel perfect targeting and softly, softly approach.

Hit/Miss. Love/Hate. Retry/Fail. While PSM2 Staff Writer Andy thought the characters were "the work of genius", others complained that they were "too French" and "wearing hateful flares".
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So how does Future Perfect - now under the supervision of Electronic 'let's-sell-lots-of-games-to-the-widest demographic' Arts - compare? By being a) easier b) harder to dislike and c) ...well, we're not sure. After playing through 80%-ish complete preview code - all ten levels - we've been though a rollercoaster of emotions that we've never felt with 'Splitters before.

Joy. You've got a Gravity mitt, which lets you throw around static objects - culled from developer Free Radical's telekinesis powers in Second Sight, no doubt - with realistic physics. You can use it to pull weapons off walls, suck health packs across rooms and fling gas canisters as makeshift grenades.

In the Mansion of Madness level, you can use the mitt to levitate pool balls from the table and launch them at zombie's heads like bullets. Better yet, you can then use the zombie's detached head as an impromptu projectile and use it to behead another foe. Genius.

Pain. No, that's the wrong word. Nothing about Future Perfect is painful. Some elements are functional, possibly peripheral, but never a chore.

The character design is more likeable with some funky robots, unnaturally chesty heroines and metallic monkeys but a minimal reliance on flared pantaloons or characters with faces like aging Siberian refugees.

It's harder to get killed. There are more checkpoints and weapon pick-ups, but less annoying puzzles. It's all a bit, err... it's hard to define. No, wait - safe, that's it.

Cosmetically, it's much more varied, but there's the nagging sensation that nothing really matters. It's hard to die. Your AI buddies rarely need protecting. The vehicle sections feel anodyne. There's always a checkpoint just inches away.

Delight. You've found the harpoon gun. It launches sharpened wooden logs that impale the enemy and, best of all, stick to their body. A zombie launches towards you with two huge rods jutting out of his torso until, squish, you nail him in the head. You can even run along picking up used logs to conserve ammo.

In the co-op sections (more of that later) you can even shoot your buddy, mentally mock-apologising as they waddle along with a wooden pipe in their thigh. And we haven't even mentioned the Future Shotgun - reloaded in vintage Terminator style 360û swoops - or the Future Rocket Launcher, or the... no, we'll spoil it.

Relief. The controls are as tight as ever. While buffoons might complain that your aiming arm is too springy, and the guns look like they're being balanced on handle tip by your mincing little finger, the targeting is as crisp as morning meadows.

Pop. A revolver blast hits a guard's shoulder, causing him to flinch but lurch forwards. Bang. A direct shot to the hand causes him to hop and hold his arm. Squelch. A direct shot to the head ends his virtual misery in a mess of claret.

Yes, for the first time TimeSplitters features blood splats. Nothing too gory, mind, if you excuse the hammer-on-raspberry-milkshake-carton explosions as you tranquilise the shambling mutations in the You Genius, U-Genix level, but a welcome veneer of realism.

Delight (again). The visuals are stunning - roaring along at 60fps in defiant high resolution. Is this really running on the machine that laboured with Killzone? Lightning scorches the sky of the Mansion of Madness, rain blots smear the lens and fire crackles translucently from torched zombies.

The Terminator-aping Machine Wars level sees giant Hunter Killer-style flying bots clot the smoking air like bees, while laser fire slices the screen with radiant menace. The Sentinel bots are just huge. Glass cracks as you shoot it. Barrels explode. Walls scar with gunfire. Action. Reaction. Delight.

Curiosity. One of the major new additions is the ability to fight alongside allies including old pals like Harry Tipper and Captain Ash. In Tipper's level, there's even a neat section where you need to protect him with a sniper rifle from a distant rooftop as he infiltrates a heavily guarded base.

At other times, you need to wait for your buddy to open doors, like your robot pal R-110's ability to interface with computers using his trouser attachment or cower behind them as they exhibit genuine intelligence and flank the opposition.

There are even sections where you protect a past version of yourself (time travel, see) leading to some cute story loops where you replay the same scene as present-day Cortez and then the Cortez from the past. You don't command your team (thankfully) but it's an atmospheric touch.

The story mode's been radically overhauled. You play as Vin Diesel facsimile Cortez for the entire game - rather than hopping Quantum Leap-style between characters as in earlier titles - for greater continuity.

The game kicks off with a ludicrously easy battle against mankind's greatest enemy, the TimeSplitters, in the year 2401 (complete with vintage EA chump-cuddling on-screen prompts) as Cortez rushes to deliver the time crystals and save humanity.

Naturally, things go bendy and you need to warp back in time to save the day - uncovering the origin of the nefarious TimeSplitters and fighting alongside some familiar faces.

The plot's deftly interwoven, occasionally funny (Cortez's desperately unfunny "It's Time to Split!" one-liner becomes a running joke) and riddled with in-jokes for fans of the series.

Sadly, the time-hopping dynamic feels like a cheap way to impart geographical variety and leads to a fractured, less involving, experience - you don't spend long enough with your AI buddies to develop genuine attachment and the tone is too knowingly comic and self-deprecating to engender sympathy for your allies or genuine hatred for your foes.

Still, Splitters is a multiplayer game at heart and Future Perfect doesn't disappoint. The big addition is, finally, 16 player online death matches, but you can always divvy up players into Eight vs Eight Capture the Bag team battles.

We're yet to play the game online (full report next issue) but the game's up and running on 16-player wired-up LAN, and it's indistinguishable from the story mode and velvety smooth.

You can't beat the tension and rush of lining up with seven human allies, taking cover positions and tactically sharing weapons as eight human rivals come charging across the Vietnamese swamp in a manic charge for your team flag.

The four-player split-screen is as frantic, and balanced, as ever including classic levels like the Training Ground, Chinese, and Mexican Mission plus great new levels like the fluorescent vectors of the VR room, the twisting narrow alleys of Venice, or neon caked dance floors of the Disco.

And then, of course, there' the ability to create your own levels on MapMaker and post them online for the world to see, dissect and discuss, while you download other people's levels and sniff, "Nah. It's not as good as mine."

TimeSplitters Future Perfect is out in March for PS2, Xbox and Gamecube