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I spent the better part of 1997 and ‘98 playing a game called Goldeneye, and many of the members from the Rare team that worked on Goldeneye started Free Radical. So, being able to talk with these guys, and play their early 60% (or so) complete first-person shooter for the PS2, was more than a thrill, it was an honor.
All mushy compliments aside, TimeSplitters is on its way to becoming truly great, but it still needs some work. First, the game isn’t done, which is expected, since I saw it on July 22, and launch is October 26. There are many fine points that need to be addressed, and the laundry list looks like this: the finished look of the menu isn't in place; the team has to decide and implement where to put a cap on the killer level editor; the final choice of weapons hasn't been decided yet; the team needs to decide on the placement of enemies and weapons, and perhaps most importantly, exactly what button configuration the game should be controlled by. The best aspect of the button control configuration is that Free Radical wants to enable players to use as many possible configs as possible, providing dozens of choices. Right now the team is working on the nine single-player levels (all of which will be unlocked as a reward in the multiplayer mode), after already having created most of the multiplayer levels prior to E3. All in all the team has about two or so months to finish TimeSplitters, and it looks like it's well on its way to making its launch goals.
These issues are always part of completing any game. What's so impressive about this particular game is that despite all of the wrinkles that need to be ironed out, it already plays extremely well. TimeSplitters is teeth-nashing fun. It plays with a greased lightning speed and fluidity that I am simply not used to with console-based first-person shooters. The game runs at near blinding speeds (60 frames per second) with four or more players on screen in a standard deathmatch, and as soon as I got to grips with the controls and found a few weapon spawning points, I was having the time of my life. The game played at the same speed and whiplash action as Quake III; yes, it was that fast and chaotic, and that adrenaline-pumping and aggro. In short, it was that kind of blistering fun.
Like I said in the previous article, "What Games Will We Buy At Launch?" I am putting my money down for TimeSplitters. With deathmatch mayhem using the PS2 multitap, a nearly limitless level editor that’s robust and quick, and a next-generation look and feel, it’s easy to see why the game should be an instant must-have title at launch. Perhaps even more of a reason to buy it is that TimeSplitters is one of the few original, non-sequel games coming to the PlayStation 2.
With a light theme running throughout it that highlights arcade action rather than to follow a heavy storyline, the single-player game can still go in many different directions at this point. Each level represents a time period from 1935 to 2035, a heavy gangster period to military themes to science fiction, all with a tongue-in-cheek, consciously derived B-movie qualities. The objectives range from searching out items, to simple escape, to recovering objects from enemies. Each requires that you make it out of the level alive. Stealth isn’t as important as quick aim and strategic maneuvering. Players can be attacked from enemies in front of them, behind, and from up above, so being quick and having a good eye is key, but constantly being on the go and finding a place to hide is quite smart, too.
In the early level I played, level six, enemies threw grenades and dynamite at me, and pummeled me with gunfire from the rafters above. On several occasions I was overwhelmed by huge waves of baddies. In another level, the enemies showed surprisingly good AI. They ducked and hid, ran up stairs after me, and didn’t stand around waiting to be shot; they took cover and appeared to have planned their attacks. Several times, enemies I didn’t see or hear crept up from behind me and took me out in a second with a headshot. Humiliating as it was, that’s just the kind of smart AI I love to play against. With three difficulty levels, easy, medium, and hard, players can graduate to higher skill levels when they’re ready.
TimeSplitters has 18 levels in total, nine for the single-player game, "Story," and nine specifically for the deathmatch mode, "Arcade." As aforementioned, once you open up all the levels, they’re all playable in deathmatch, meaning that all 18 will be selectable. Arcade mode is made up of a handful of multiplayer minigames, such as Capture the Bag (very much like Capture the Flag, except that you carry a giant bag from the enemy camp to your own), Escort (escort somebody from point A to point B without dying), Deathmatch (deathmatch, duh), and Last Stand (which records high scores for the player who can withstand the biggest swarms of enemies and grab the highest scores).
Probably the most amazing aspect to TimeSplitters is its Level Editor. The thing is so powerful; it's amazing. You have 16 pieces to work with, from rooms to hallways to whatever else, and you can build on a single floor, or up to eight floors! Yes, you can build an eight-floor map of your own and build ways to shoot people from the eighth floor to the fifth, or the fourth, or whatever. The map pieces that you use have plugs, or doorways, that are shown on the selected piece, which is highlighted on the right, as you plug it onto a grid-based 2D slate. Right now, the level editor is so robust that you could build huge, monstrous, gigantic (you get it, I mean really frickin' big!) eight floor levels with hundreds of rooms. Of course, that's not always the best way to design a level. But if you wanted to, you could build it. Better yet is that because the maps have been built to take up such little space, you can save hundreds of self-created maps on your 8 MB memory card.
Just to demonstrate the engine's power, David Doak (Remember Dr. Doak in the second level of Goldneye? That’s him.) created a map using the editor in about five minutes and then we all got to play. He used the editor to create spawning points for characters, weapon spawning points, chose five different kinds of weapons from a total of 24, and picked a texture theme, which instantly textured the whole level, and then in seconds it was done, and were cursing at each other like madmen. What a frickin' riot! It was like playing Quake III in four-player split-screen – total rapid-fire mayhem! They had to cordially tell us to stop playing so that they could get back to work.
A few other important miscellaneous notes: The sound effects and music are superb; the character names are hilarious, like Chastity Detroit and Sebastian Photon; the guns have primary and secondary firing actions (for instance, the photon gun shoots regular and bouncing projectiles); the game is filled with 50 different enemies; the particle engine is superb, showing off spectacular sparks, fire, and smoke; and the game is probably going to receive a T rating. There is violence, but there is no blood. Nooooooooo.
All mushy compliments aside, TimeSplitters is on its way to becoming truly great, but it still needs some work. First, the game isn’t done, which is expected, since I saw it on July 22, and launch is October 26. There are many fine points that need to be addressed, and the laundry list looks like this: the finished look of the menu isn't in place; the team has to decide and implement where to put a cap on the killer level editor; the final choice of weapons hasn't been decided yet; the team needs to decide on the placement of enemies and weapons, and perhaps most importantly, exactly what button configuration the game should be controlled by. The best aspect of the button control configuration is that Free Radical wants to enable players to use as many possible configs as possible, providing dozens of choices. Right now the team is working on the nine single-player levels (all of which will be unlocked as a reward in the multiplayer mode), after already having created most of the multiplayer levels prior to E3. All in all the team has about two or so months to finish TimeSplitters, and it looks like it's well on its way to making its launch goals.
These issues are always part of completing any game. What's so impressive about this particular game is that despite all of the wrinkles that need to be ironed out, it already plays extremely well. TimeSplitters is teeth-nashing fun. It plays with a greased lightning speed and fluidity that I am simply not used to with console-based first-person shooters. The game runs at near blinding speeds (60 frames per second) with four or more players on screen in a standard deathmatch, and as soon as I got to grips with the controls and found a few weapon spawning points, I was having the time of my life. The game played at the same speed and whiplash action as Quake III; yes, it was that fast and chaotic, and that adrenaline-pumping and aggro. In short, it was that kind of blistering fun.
Like I said in the previous article, "What Games Will We Buy At Launch?" I am putting my money down for TimeSplitters. With deathmatch mayhem using the PS2 multitap, a nearly limitless level editor that’s robust and quick, and a next-generation look and feel, it’s easy to see why the game should be an instant must-have title at launch. Perhaps even more of a reason to buy it is that TimeSplitters is one of the few original, non-sequel games coming to the PlayStation 2.
With a light theme running throughout it that highlights arcade action rather than to follow a heavy storyline, the single-player game can still go in many different directions at this point. Each level represents a time period from 1935 to 2035, a heavy gangster period to military themes to science fiction, all with a tongue-in-cheek, consciously derived B-movie qualities. The objectives range from searching out items, to simple escape, to recovering objects from enemies. Each requires that you make it out of the level alive. Stealth isn’t as important as quick aim and strategic maneuvering. Players can be attacked from enemies in front of them, behind, and from up above, so being quick and having a good eye is key, but constantly being on the go and finding a place to hide is quite smart, too.
In the early level I played, level six, enemies threw grenades and dynamite at me, and pummeled me with gunfire from the rafters above. On several occasions I was overwhelmed by huge waves of baddies. In another level, the enemies showed surprisingly good AI. They ducked and hid, ran up stairs after me, and didn’t stand around waiting to be shot; they took cover and appeared to have planned their attacks. Several times, enemies I didn’t see or hear crept up from behind me and took me out in a second with a headshot. Humiliating as it was, that’s just the kind of smart AI I love to play against. With three difficulty levels, easy, medium, and hard, players can graduate to higher skill levels when they’re ready.
TimeSplitters has 18 levels in total, nine for the single-player game, "Story," and nine specifically for the deathmatch mode, "Arcade." As aforementioned, once you open up all the levels, they’re all playable in deathmatch, meaning that all 18 will be selectable. Arcade mode is made up of a handful of multiplayer minigames, such as Capture the Bag (very much like Capture the Flag, except that you carry a giant bag from the enemy camp to your own), Escort (escort somebody from point A to point B without dying), Deathmatch (deathmatch, duh), and Last Stand (which records high scores for the player who can withstand the biggest swarms of enemies and grab the highest scores).
Probably the most amazing aspect to TimeSplitters is its Level Editor. The thing is so powerful; it's amazing. You have 16 pieces to work with, from rooms to hallways to whatever else, and you can build on a single floor, or up to eight floors! Yes, you can build an eight-floor map of your own and build ways to shoot people from the eighth floor to the fifth, or the fourth, or whatever. The map pieces that you use have plugs, or doorways, that are shown on the selected piece, which is highlighted on the right, as you plug it onto a grid-based 2D slate. Right now, the level editor is so robust that you could build huge, monstrous, gigantic (you get it, I mean really frickin' big!) eight floor levels with hundreds of rooms. Of course, that's not always the best way to design a level. But if you wanted to, you could build it. Better yet is that because the maps have been built to take up such little space, you can save hundreds of self-created maps on your 8 MB memory card.
Just to demonstrate the engine's power, David Doak (Remember Dr. Doak in the second level of Goldneye? That’s him.) created a map using the editor in about five minutes and then we all got to play. He used the editor to create spawning points for characters, weapon spawning points, chose five different kinds of weapons from a total of 24, and picked a texture theme, which instantly textured the whole level, and then in seconds it was done, and were cursing at each other like madmen. What a frickin' riot! It was like playing Quake III in four-player split-screen – total rapid-fire mayhem! They had to cordially tell us to stop playing so that they could get back to work.
A few other important miscellaneous notes: The sound effects and music are superb; the character names are hilarious, like Chastity Detroit and Sebastian Photon; the guns have primary and secondary firing actions (for instance, the photon gun shoots regular and bouncing projectiles); the game is filled with 50 different enemies; the particle engine is superb, showing off spectacular sparks, fire, and smoke; and the game is probably going to receive a T rating. There is violence, but there is no blood. Nooooooooo.
I spent the better part of 1997 and ‘98 playing a game called Goldeneye, and many of the members from the Rare team that worked on Goldeneye started Free Radical. So, being able to talk with these guys, and play their early 60% (or so) complete first-person shooter for the PS2, was more than a thrill, it was an honor.
All mushy compliments aside, TimeSplitters is on its way to becoming truly great, but it still needs some work. First, the game isn’t done, which is expected, since I saw it on July 22, and launch is October 26. There are many fine points that need to be addressed, and the laundry list looks like this: the finished look of the menu isn't in place; the team has to decide and implement where to put a cap on the killer level editor; the final choice of weapons hasn't been decided yet; the team needs to decide on the placement of enemies and weapons, and perhaps most importantly, exactly what button configuration the game should be controlled by. The best aspect of the button control configuration is that Free Radical wants to enable players to use as many possible configs as possible, providing dozens of choices. Right now the team is working on the nine single-player levels (all of which will be unlocked as a reward in the multiplayer mode), after already having created most of the multiplayer levels prior to E3. All in all the team has about two or so months to finish TimeSplitters, and it looks like it's well on its way to making its launch goals.
These issues are always part of completing any game. What's so impressive about this particular game is that despite all of the wrinkles that need to be ironed out, it already plays extremely well. TimeSplitters is teeth-nashing fun. It plays with a greased lightning speed and fluidity that I am simply not used to with console-based first-person shooters. The game runs at near blinding speeds (60 frames per second) with four or more players on screen in a standard deathmatch, and as soon as I got to grips with the controls and found a few weapon spawning points, I was having the time of my life. The game played at the same speed and whiplash action as Quake III; yes, it was that fast and chaotic, and that adrenaline-pumping and aggro. In short, it was that kind of blistering fun.
Like I said in the previous article, "What Games Will We Buy At Launch?" I am putting my money down for TimeSplitters. With deathmatch mayhem using the PS2 multitap, a nearly limitless level editor that’s robust and quick, and a next-generation look and feel, it’s easy to see why the game should be an instant must-have title at launch. Perhaps even more of a reason to buy it is that TimeSplitters is one of the few original, non-sequel games coming to the PlayStation 2.
With a light theme running throughout it that highlights arcade action rather than to follow a heavy storyline, the single-player game can still go in many different directions at this point. Each level represents a time period from 1935 to 2035, a heavy gangster period to military themes to science fiction, all with a tongue-in-cheek, consciously derived B-movie qualities. The objectives range from searching out items, to simple escape, to recovering objects from enemies. Each requires that you make it out of the level alive. Stealth isn’t as important as quick aim and strategic maneuvering. Players can be attacked from enemies in front of them, behind, and from up above, so being quick and having a good eye is key, but constantly being on the go and finding a place to hide is quite smart, too.
In the early level I played, level six, enemies threw grenades and dynamite at me, and pummeled me with gunfire from the rafters above. On several occasions I was overwhelmed by huge waves of baddies. In another level, the enemies showed surprisingly good AI. They ducked and hid, ran up stairs after me, and didn’t stand around waiting to be shot; they took cover and appeared to have planned their attacks. Several times, enemies I didn’t see or hear crept up from behind me and took me out in a second with a headshot. Humiliating as it was, that’s just the kind of smart AI I love to play against. With three difficulty levels, easy, medium, and hard, players can graduate to higher skill levels when they’re ready.
TimeSplitters has 18 levels in total, nine for the single-player game, "Story," and nine specifically for the deathmatch mode, "Arcade." As aforementioned, once you open up all the levels, they’re all playable in deathmatch, meaning that all 18 will be selectable. Arcade mode is made up of a handful of multiplayer minigames, such as Capture the Bag (very much like Capture the Flag, except that you carry a giant bag from the enemy camp to your own), Escort (escort somebody from point A to point B without dying), Deathmatch (deathmatch, duh), and Last Stand (which records high scores for the player who can withstand the biggest swarms of enemies and grab the highest scores).
Probably the most amazing aspect to TimeSplitters is its Level Editor. The thing is so powerful; it's amazing. You have 16 pieces to work with, from rooms to hallways to whatever else, and you can build on a single floor, or up to eight floors! Yes, you can build an eight-floor map of your own and build ways to shoot people from the eighth floor to the fifth, or the fourth, or whatever. The map pieces that you use have plugs, or doorways, that are shown on the selected piece, which is highlighted on the right, as you plug it onto a grid-based 2D slate. Right now, the level editor is so robust that you could build huge, monstrous, gigantic (you get it, I mean really frickin' big!) eight floor levels with hundreds of rooms. Of course, that's not always the best way to design a level. But if you wanted to, you could build it. Better yet is that because the maps have been built to take up such little space, you can save hundreds of self-created maps on your 8 MB memory card.
Just to demonstrate the engine's power, David Doak (Remember Dr. Doak in the second level of Goldneye? That’s him.) created a map using the editor in about five minutes and then we all got to play. He used the editor to create spawning points for characters, weapon spawning points, chose five different kinds of weapons from a total of 24, and picked a texture theme, which instantly textured the whole level, and then in seconds it was done, and were cursing at each other like madmen. What a frickin' riot! It was like playing Quake III in four-player split-screen – total rapid-fire mayhem! They had to cordially tell us to stop playing so that they could get back to work.
A few other important miscellaneous notes: The sound effects and music are superb; the character names are hilarious, like Chastity Detroit and Sebastian Photon; the guns have primary and secondary firing actions (for instance, the photon gun shoots regular and bouncing projectiles); the game is filled with 50 different enemies; the particle engine is superb, showing off spectacular sparks, fire, and smoke; and the game is probably going to receive a T rating. There is violence, but there is no blood. Nooooooooo.
All mushy compliments aside, TimeSplitters is on its way to becoming truly great, but it still needs some work. First, the game isn’t done, which is expected, since I saw it on July 22, and launch is October 26. There are many fine points that need to be addressed, and the laundry list looks like this: the finished look of the menu isn't in place; the team has to decide and implement where to put a cap on the killer level editor; the final choice of weapons hasn't been decided yet; the team needs to decide on the placement of enemies and weapons, and perhaps most importantly, exactly what button configuration the game should be controlled by. The best aspect of the button control configuration is that Free Radical wants to enable players to use as many possible configs as possible, providing dozens of choices. Right now the team is working on the nine single-player levels (all of which will be unlocked as a reward in the multiplayer mode), after already having created most of the multiplayer levels prior to E3. All in all the team has about two or so months to finish TimeSplitters, and it looks like it's well on its way to making its launch goals.
These issues are always part of completing any game. What's so impressive about this particular game is that despite all of the wrinkles that need to be ironed out, it already plays extremely well. TimeSplitters is teeth-nashing fun. It plays with a greased lightning speed and fluidity that I am simply not used to with console-based first-person shooters. The game runs at near blinding speeds (60 frames per second) with four or more players on screen in a standard deathmatch, and as soon as I got to grips with the controls and found a few weapon spawning points, I was having the time of my life. The game played at the same speed and whiplash action as Quake III; yes, it was that fast and chaotic, and that adrenaline-pumping and aggro. In short, it was that kind of blistering fun.
Like I said in the previous article, "What Games Will We Buy At Launch?" I am putting my money down for TimeSplitters. With deathmatch mayhem using the PS2 multitap, a nearly limitless level editor that’s robust and quick, and a next-generation look and feel, it’s easy to see why the game should be an instant must-have title at launch. Perhaps even more of a reason to buy it is that TimeSplitters is one of the few original, non-sequel games coming to the PlayStation 2.
With a light theme running throughout it that highlights arcade action rather than to follow a heavy storyline, the single-player game can still go in many different directions at this point. Each level represents a time period from 1935 to 2035, a heavy gangster period to military themes to science fiction, all with a tongue-in-cheek, consciously derived B-movie qualities. The objectives range from searching out items, to simple escape, to recovering objects from enemies. Each requires that you make it out of the level alive. Stealth isn’t as important as quick aim and strategic maneuvering. Players can be attacked from enemies in front of them, behind, and from up above, so being quick and having a good eye is key, but constantly being on the go and finding a place to hide is quite smart, too.
In the early level I played, level six, enemies threw grenades and dynamite at me, and pummeled me with gunfire from the rafters above. On several occasions I was overwhelmed by huge waves of baddies. In another level, the enemies showed surprisingly good AI. They ducked and hid, ran up stairs after me, and didn’t stand around waiting to be shot; they took cover and appeared to have planned their attacks. Several times, enemies I didn’t see or hear crept up from behind me and took me out in a second with a headshot. Humiliating as it was, that’s just the kind of smart AI I love to play against. With three difficulty levels, easy, medium, and hard, players can graduate to higher skill levels when they’re ready.
TimeSplitters has 18 levels in total, nine for the single-player game, "Story," and nine specifically for the deathmatch mode, "Arcade." As aforementioned, once you open up all the levels, they’re all playable in deathmatch, meaning that all 18 will be selectable. Arcade mode is made up of a handful of multiplayer minigames, such as Capture the Bag (very much like Capture the Flag, except that you carry a giant bag from the enemy camp to your own), Escort (escort somebody from point A to point B without dying), Deathmatch (deathmatch, duh), and Last Stand (which records high scores for the player who can withstand the biggest swarms of enemies and grab the highest scores).
Probably the most amazing aspect to TimeSplitters is its Level Editor. The thing is so powerful; it's amazing. You have 16 pieces to work with, from rooms to hallways to whatever else, and you can build on a single floor, or up to eight floors! Yes, you can build an eight-floor map of your own and build ways to shoot people from the eighth floor to the fifth, or the fourth, or whatever. The map pieces that you use have plugs, or doorways, that are shown on the selected piece, which is highlighted on the right, as you plug it onto a grid-based 2D slate. Right now, the level editor is so robust that you could build huge, monstrous, gigantic (you get it, I mean really frickin' big!) eight floor levels with hundreds of rooms. Of course, that's not always the best way to design a level. But if you wanted to, you could build it. Better yet is that because the maps have been built to take up such little space, you can save hundreds of self-created maps on your 8 MB memory card.
Just to demonstrate the engine's power, David Doak (Remember Dr. Doak in the second level of Goldneye? That’s him.) created a map using the editor in about five minutes and then we all got to play. He used the editor to create spawning points for characters, weapon spawning points, chose five different kinds of weapons from a total of 24, and picked a texture theme, which instantly textured the whole level, and then in seconds it was done, and were cursing at each other like madmen. What a frickin' riot! It was like playing Quake III in four-player split-screen – total rapid-fire mayhem! They had to cordially tell us to stop playing so that they could get back to work.
A few other important miscellaneous notes: The sound effects and music are superb; the character names are hilarious, like Chastity Detroit and Sebastian Photon; the guns have primary and secondary firing actions (for instance, the photon gun shoots regular and bouncing projectiles); the game is filled with 50 different enemies; the particle engine is superb, showing off spectacular sparks, fire, and smoke; and the game is probably going to receive a T rating. There is violence, but there is no blood. Nooooooooo.
You wont win a game when you copy another review or Preview. You didn't even read it did you, Launch date 26th October you said.
I AGREE!!! WHAT NERVE!!!! Although, this guy is one of my best mates, and I live 2 minutes away from him, and I was round his house when I did it, so I'm not going to post this message.
hi just wondering does anyone have a clue how much the climbing will be at calshot on the saturday night thanks
i think they said a tenner will cover it all + change.
i think...
i think...
yeah it's £11 to be presice
umm i dunno.
is eanyone going to calshot tomorrow and if u r, r u staying ?
imi =]
is eanyone going to calshot tomorrow and if u r, r u staying ?
imi =]
Climbing is eleven pounds!
Imi I think we are cuming up on friday!!
C u all @ calshot
Imi I think we are cuming up on friday!!
C u all @ calshot