Made up of talented developers, many of whom previously worked for Rare, Free Radical are the developers to watch next year. With their success on the TimeSplitters series, they've certainly made themselves known. Now Gaming Headlines reviews their latest game, for Nintendo Gamecube - TimeSplitters 2.

There's not much I like better than a really nice shoot-'em-up. Just picking up a heavy-duty weapon of destruction and blasting the eggs out of your opponent is one of the most satisfying things in videogames. Not that I'm the violent sort at all. Well, it doesn't get much better than in TimeSplitters 2. The game has an ingenious system, undefeatable and (in videogames at least) original and very fun. Instead of picking a moment in time (past, present or future) and keeping the entire game to that theme, pick them all! The game isn't tied down by as many boundaries as other titles of the genre because the developers were able to choose the most memorable eras of all time and put them into one single game, and it works? Perfectly. The system is fine and there's nothing to throw you off or confuse you. The basic story is as follow: An ugly band of time-travelling villains, the TimeSplitters, are planning to destroy mankind's past, present and future. Two marines attack their space station, but the TimeSplitters escape, each taking a time crystal with them to different areas in time. Makes sense huh? It's your job to go after them into each era and get the crystal back. While the space station and time portal look like they've been lifted straight from Stargate SG-1, the whole introduction sequence is pretty cool. Each era you enter is a new level, and you are always sure that it's completely different from the last, that's what this game is really getting at, being able to put the player in many different locations without too much explaining.

Each level sees you, the hero, battling against a variety of enemies to the goal at the end. The enemies themselves are intelligent and wonderfully animated. In the Aztec level you're up against tribal warriors with crossbows, mutated zombies in the very first level or in the futuristic levels where your foes are armed with plasma guns and homing rockets - the amount of variety on show is staggering. The enemies are intelligent too; they hide behind walls and objects and take shots at you from there. Unlike in previous games, this actually proves to be quite effective. The levels are well thought out, and designed so it's not just getting to the end and getting the time crystal - there are a number of very unique objectives to complete to get there. You may have to kill a crime-lord or infiltrate a military base... there's plenty to do. Although, almost all the objectives require a bit of firepower to get there, and this game certainly has firepower. The guns in TS2 are simply mad. Taken from every crevice of time itself, you have the pleasure of wielding crossbows, miniguns, handguns of all types, plasma guns, rocket launchers, machine guns and explosives of many kinds. There's even a fire extinguisher to go with the flamethrower! Blowing a zombie to pieces with a shotgun has only been better in Resident Evil, and where could you find a more satisfying minigun? Booms and bangs are an important element in TS2.

They are all unique in some way; the developers have really tried to engage every aspect of your thinking to push you through the game. Puzzles, mazes and objectives are all put there to make you think and play hard. One thing I love about the game is the difficulty settings. Easy is... easy (took me two days to complete the game on Easy mode), but Normal starts to test you, much more difficult. And Hard is really a challenge. The great thing is, you don't tend to get so frustrated, the game is so darn fun you just want to go back again and play! The comic-book nature adds to the quiet humour in the game and although the graphics aren't meant to be realistic, they're certainly nice. There are plenty of effects too; atmospheric lighting, rain, lasers and meaty explosions are all in the game. There's one gun, the Sci-Fi Handgun that fires these purple bolts of plasma. Now, instead of slamming into a wall like an ordinary bullet these bolts rebound off surfaces until they come in contact with an enemy or just die out! This is incredible in the droid factory level, there's four security droids armed with the mentioned handgun and the firefight that takes place is stunning, purple lasers bouncing around everywhere! It really is incredible sometimes, the game surprises you because it can, it has the ability to be whatever it wants. That kind of freedom hasn't really been explored in videogames much yet, Ts2 sure makes good use of it.

Now. The belle of the ball is infact, the multiplayer mode. So many options! Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, capture the bag (!) and many more are in the Arcade mode of the game. You can play this on your own with CPU players or with 3 other friends and even more CPU players. You set the weapons used, the time/score limit and countless other options that really help personalize every gaming session. Plus, when you choose your character, each has his/her own abilities in three categories, Speed, Accuracy and Stamina. And if you don't want those to affect your game play, simply turn the character abilities off. You unlock more multiplayer arenas as you play more, and you can even do Co-Operative mode and fight through the single player levels with your mate. The lifespan the multiplayer mode gives this game is really big. You'll be playing this for hours, and it's so easy to pick up and play. The controls have been tweaked professionally and really shine through after a day's playing. The control stick controls directional movement, while the C-stick controls where your character faces. The R-button is primary fire, and Z is for secondary fire. We like the controls a lot, and although they seem strange at first, give it 10 minutes and you'll be away! Even Kyle, my friend, who generally doesn't like shoot-'em-ups picked it up in no time, as a matter of fact, he couldn't stop playing. The Multiplayer mode is surprisingly addictive, why? Because it's real, basic fun. Blow your mate up with a shotgun. Simply marvellous. You won't be able to stop yourself, there's so much to see and do, it'll keep you entertained for months on end. One of the coolest things to do in the game is the mapmaker, where you can create your own multiplayer arenas, save to memory card and bring them to your friends' house.

One thing I'd like to comment on is the game's sounds and music. The music is really lovely, my favourite has to be the Notre-Dame theme, it's very atmospheric. And there's the jazzy swing tune of the Chicago level, or the up-beat dance rhythms of the futuristic levels too. There really is something for everyone. Combined with the game's atmospheric lighting and locations, the game takes on a whole new life and becomes twice as enjoyable to play. It's a really great game in many ways. Even though it borrows countless little things from many TV-shows and Films, there's an incredible feeling of originality. It's well known that Shakespeare didn't come up with all of his ideas originally, why couldn’t Free Radical be the same? They've taken the last century's pop-culture and scattered it through time. It's brilliant to play, the impressive and intelligent gameplay really adds to the experience.

This has to be the best Gamecube shooter of the year, nothing will really surpass it. And we'd be surprise dif something did soon, TimeSplitters 2 has really opened up and the developers have tweaked and perfected almost every aspect of the game. There were only a few things we were disappointed with, the first area in the Aztec level is a bit too much like a maze, and sometimes the hard mode is just a little too hard for our liking, but, that just adds to the lifespan more we suppose. You won't be happy with yourself until you've really completed the game, it's compelling to just keep returning and finish more of it, right now I wish I was playing it! The game really will keep you playing, and playing and playing, especially in multiplayer. There's loads of arcade areas to unlock and cheats and even items for the mapmaker. Although the game bares many similarities to GoldenEye, I think it's gone a little bit further and shone through as a really original title, one everyone should own. You should buy it even if you're not that keen on first-person-shooters because there are loads of things to do in the game and see, you'll enjoy it anyway. There's jokes too, the rip-off of the Gold finger/Bond scene with the cutting laser about to split Bond in two in the Atom Smasher level, instead this time you've got a bearded 70's agent to control through the level as oppose to Bond, James Bond. All I can say is, if you like FPS's, this is the game for you. Buy it! CB