Official Review
Thanks to PS Plus Premium emulation, the entire franchise is playable once again on modern hardware, including what was back in the day a formative title for this writer: Timesplitters 2. But is the game up to snuff in a modern setting, or does it belong in the past whence it came? The answer is a bit of both
You play as Sgt. Cortez, a soldier of the future tasked with stopping the TimeSplitters, an alien race trying to eradicate humanity at any cost. You, along with your compatriot Cpl. Hart, must retrieve many time crystals that the TimeSplitters have strewn across, well, time. Cortez will inhabit the bodies of a variety of people to accomplish this mission, not dissimilar to Quantum Leap.
This is used brilliantly as a framework to deliver a series of disjointed missions that have fun with a wacky setting or trope. You'll encounter the Wild West, visit Notre Dame, see an Aztec Temple, and witness an alien conflict on Mars — the game goes all out. While the ten campaign levels are fun and silly, they serve as a jumping-off point. Most of the levels are quite short, and implement many dated mechanics, such as obtuse objectives, cascading fail states that you won't notice until after you mess up, and even mandatory stealth sections.
The level design isn't all that's dated, though, as the actual act of aiming is atrocious. The game didn't have the best aiming even when it was brand new, and the issue has only gotten worse in the ensuing years. The camera is floaty, with a conical range of movement that makes lining up precise shots a particularly miserable slog. We think Free Radical was aware of this even when the title launched. Aim assist is generous enough that you need only aim in the vicinity of a target to take them down, though it doesn't handle verticality well. You'll get used to it, and that allows the combat to flourish thanks to an excellent weapons list. The roster is impressive, ranging from pistols to shotguns to more adventurous tools like a sci-fi pistol with ricocheting bullets. Everything feels unique. too, either in function or design.
But the campaign is just a playground to teach how to best enjoy the other corners of the game. There are a number of modes waiting to be discovered. Challenge mode offers numerous obstacles for you to overcome, like shooting a certain number of watermelons, or lighting an arena of bipedal squid on fire with a flamethrower before time runs out. The bonus modes are unafraid of truly getting wild with the framework and are where the vast majority of content — and fun — is to be had.
In addition to the Challenge mode, there is a map editor, as well as a PVP arena which has an impressive suite of maps and modes to play against bots. Bots are sadly going to be the way most players are able to experience this, as the game doesn't have online functionality, although the couch co-op and local multiplayer are still present. It's a missed opportunity to not incorporate online functionality, but this is a pretty basic port. Even solo, there's plenty to occupy your time, as the PVP mode has its own set of goals, and the Challenge mode is both varied and extensive. There are a lot of wacky characters to unlock through the impressive number of challenges and maps if you've got the mettle.
Lighting looks impressive to such a degree it's almost distracting in some key spots. The resolution upscaling also generally does a service to the game, highlighting the way Free Radical utilized color to liven up some of the more drab environments — although seeing the title in a modern setting, it's glaringly obvious many of the textures were never meant to be witnessed in high definition.
One impressive thing is the sheer volume of animations. Enemies will react to being shot based on where you shoot them, and most regions have multiple animations. It's impressive even by modern standards, let alone when the title originally dropped.
Sound design also fares well, with most weapons feeling satisfyingly visceral. Enemies usually have some line to toss out — often silly, or at least goofily delivered — and the variety of maps and settings means you hear a robust number of dialects. The soundtrack likewise is quite adaptable. While the core sound is turn-of-the-century electronica, the game is great about paying homage to all its different settings sonically, like the Wild West environment providing a great sendup to Ennio Morricone. This attention to detail helps sell the whole package.
Conclusion
Your enjoyment of TimeSplitters 2 will largely depend on if you played the game when it originally released. There is precious little about the experience that holds a flame to contemporary shooters, save for maybe the sheer breadth of content. If you played back in 2002, then the controls are functional enough that you'll be able to enjoy the insane amount of goofy content on offer. Still, without those nostalgia glasses to color the experience, it's hard to make an argument in its favor.
