TimeSplitters: Future Perfect
A knock on Electronic Arts even to this day is that they became too big for their own good. Around the era of the PS2 EA had grown into a gaming giant, tying down licenses for anything and everything they could including James Bond 007 and the NFL.
EA also took a stab publishing the third iteration of Free Radical Design’s TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, which would be the third iteration of the game, and last, of the TimeSplitters series. It followed a relatively unpolished first title in the series and it’s incredibly polished and vastly expanded, critically acclaimed sequel TimeSplitters 2.
Unfortunately, I felt that Future Perfect falls flat.
The addition of a central characters, Cortez, reminds me of a mix between Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson and Vin Diesel, but in a much more comedic tone which at times is borderline cringy. That leads to a lot of full motion video interruptions in the game that didn’t exist in the prior two titles, which focused on split-second fast-paced action.
That doesn’t mean that this game doesn’t have it’s moments, and while I still give it a thumbs up at the end, on a scale of where TS2 was an 11 out of 10, Future Perfect falls somewhere around 6. The game feels like a corporate suit made tweaks to it and is otherwise out of place from the other games.
The storyline follows the same time travel pattern where Cortez goes through various levels based in the past, present or future. Weapons and enemies are styled to each unique level and if you had only played this version of the game, you would likely be thrilled.
However, it’s too much of a rehash on the previous titles and perhaps a step back due to the pacing. Still, it offers many of the same concepts originally brought on by development team members who previous worked on Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64, plus brought back the famous mapmaker, challenges, as well as online play (which was still in its growing stages and not as commonplace at this point in time).
If you like first-person shooters, or any of the aforementioned games, I’d give this a go. Otherwise, it’s a title that can, sadly, be passed on. (Which I hate saying, as TimeSplitters 2 is one of my all-time favorites.)
