In a closely fought battle between this and TimeSplitters 2, the third and final TimeSplitters game on the PlayStation 2 just gets the nod as the console's best multiplayer experience. The number of game modes was relentless, the characters were eccentric and whacky, and the gameplay was the perfection of a formula started by Goldeneye 007 on the N64 (TimeSplitters developer Free Radical was formed of several former Rare employees who worked on Goldeneye). Future Perfect could be played in both co-op and up to 4-player competitive modes. What was great about it was the fact that it was unafraid to be different, with odd, cartoonish characters, and weapons ranging from bricks and blunderbusses, to Monkey Guns and Injectors - which inflated characters then blew them up. It was a glorious swansong for split-screen shooters, which were doomed to be replaced by impersonal online shooters a few years later. Among the brilliant multiplayer modes, my most memorable experiences come from Virus - in which players had to fight off flaming green 'infected' to avoid becoming one of them. Filling a tunnel with proximity mines, then defending it with three buddies packing miniguns, shotguns and rocket launchers was a powerful bonding experience, and the ensuing chaos when the defences all fall apart was hilarious, as the game would descend into everyone fending for themselves. Because the TimeSplitters series had such a unique character, and because it was among the last great split-screen shooters Future Perfect remains a timeless classic, it deserves a place on the shelf of anyone who wants a break from their photo-realistic modern warfare shooters to bound around a into a manic, cartoony world of monkeys, zombies, outlandish weaponry, Chinese restaurants and haunted hotels. What were your favourite PS2 multiplayer games of all time? Let us know in the comments!
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
