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> Results: TimeSplitters: Future Perfect
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TimeSplitters: Future Perfect is exactly the kind of game we need to see released more often. It features exciting, action-packed shooting gameplay, plenty of different modes including online battles, tons of different characters, lots of unlockables and copious amounts of humor. It's so rare to find a game that doesn't take itself too seriously in this dark and brooding age of home entertainment so you can't go wrong with Free Radical's latest awesome entry into the crowded first-person shooter genre.
There is a huge grab bag of gameplay in Future Perfect that begins when you participate in the game's excellent story mode. Here you assume the role of Cortez as he travels through multiple periods in time. You grab up the weapons of the era in an attempt to change the events that lead to the Timesplitter invasion. Each game level includes excellent little cinemas that set the stage for the action to come. As Cortez is figuring out what to do and where to go next, with the help of Anya speaking to him from the future, you're getting filled in on the next task at hand. It's a great method of storytelling that's loaded with little nods to other games and feature films. It's all voice-acted professionally and with what seems like real love for the roles. Cortez is an awesome action hero, both funny and purposeful. It helps that the game features superb facial and body animation in these scenes with subdued but beautifully framed camera work.  When the bullets and lasers start flying, none of that polish is lost. All action takes place from a first-person viewpoint and you have a pile of weapons at your disposal throughout the entire game. All the requisite boomsticks make an appearance including a unique rocket launcher, a meaty double-barreled shotgun and even a harpoon gun. The sci-fi guns are some of the best though. The plasma rifle fires in rapid succession and it's not a lot of fun to be on the receiving end of one of these things. Even the weapons you get in the past are a ton of fun to play around with, and since the game is jumping through time constantly you never get bored with any of the available guns. The story mode takes about ten or so hours to play through at the maximum, but it's so tightly written and plotted that it's the best example of less is more in a first-person shooter story. Even when you've finished though, you still only have about 20% of the game "done". There are piles of challenges that include things like cat racing, monkey blasting, deathmatching and much, much more. The arcade mode is reminiscent of Unreal Tournament's botmatches. Every game type that's playable online is also playable here. The bots are good too. Don't expect to blast through all this additional content in just one night. Finally, once you've gone through all that, you can hop online. Here you find even more levels created by gamers just like you in the game's powerful map editor. Some levels are single-player story missions, others are just for multiplayer. You can download as many as you like in the Xbox version, filling your hard drive with so much more stuff to do with the game. Be sure to check out the included sample missions created by Free Radical themselves. Some of them are every bit as good as the action you find in the story game. If that's not enough, there's the one Achilles heel of the game for you to participate in: online gameplay. Unfortunately, here's where TimeSplitters is currently not at the top of its class. Lag can be bad and warping is common with many players in a game. Apparently Free Radical is working on patching this in the Xbox version of the game, but when is anyone's guess. It's still a lot of fun to play with friends or in small matches, but you're likely to get more out of multiplayer if you confine it to folks in the house. Split-screen multiplayer even allows you to play through the story with a friend cooperatively!  If it weren't for the problems with online play, this would be the "Perfect" game in its genre on consoles. Everything in TimeSplitters: Future Perfect is high quality. The sound effects, music, graphics, animation, gameplay and especially the attention to creating an entertaining story that doesn't get in the way of the fantastic action, but instead enhances it, make this one of the best games released so far this year. When you add all the awesome customization offered in arcade modes and all the great challenges, unlockables and the insane inclusion of a comprehensive map maker, it's just an overflowing sandbox of first-person action riches that you shouldn't ignore. 
This is not a game for kids. There is a lot of blood in Future Perfect and plenty of zombies that lose their heads. It's not as cartoony as the previous games in the series as the detail level has been bumped up on the models and textures. Everything that you shoot, aside from the robots, tends to spew the red stuff all over the walls, floors and ceilings. There are also some sexual references peppered throughout the game in the story and during character introductions for multiplayer. The game's sense of humor does temper the violence some, but it's really best for adults to keep this one for themselves.
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