TimeSplitters 2

TimeSplitters 2 was created by Free Radical Design, a studio founded by former Rare employees who had worked on the legendary GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64, and that lineage is evident in the gameplay at first glance. The campaign takes the player across grotesquely stylized eras from the Wild West through the Victorian era and World War II to a distant future invaded by the titular TimeSplitters, an alien threat shifting through time. Each mission has its own set of objectives that expand as difficulty increases, so the player replays the same level multiple times, each time having to accomplish something extra. The tone is deliberately lighthearted, full of exaggerated characters, absurd weapons, and cinematic parodies, setting it apart from the more serious war shooters of the era.

The true heart of the game, though, is its split-screen multiplayer for up to four players: it offers dozens of maps, hundreds of unlockable characters from zombies to monkeys and robotic fighters, well-crafted bots with adjustable difficulty and behavior, and a map editor letting you build your own arenas. This combination made TimeSplitters 2 a favorite for playing with a group of friends on a single screen in an era before online console gaming became widespread. Very smooth controls and the fast pace of the firefights added to the sense of snappiness, feeling closer to the arcade shooters of the nineties than the realism that was starting to take over.

Critics and players alike especially praised the addictiveness and replayability of the multiplayer, which is why the game still ranks among the most fun arcade shooters of its generation and is considered one of the reasons fans still call for a new entry in the series. A chapter all its own belongs to the dozens of challenges and arcade modes with bizarre rules, which could keep even a solo player entertained for hours on end. Free Radical Design later developed many of these ideas further in the sequel TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, and its legacy is visible in today's efforts to revive the brand under a new publisher.