TimeSplitters 2 (2002)
Free Radical Design's 60fps Time-Hopping FPS Carrying Forward the GoldenEye 007 Pedigree
TimeSplitters 2 is a 2002 first-person shooter developed by Nottingham studio Free Radical Design and published by Eidos Interactive, debuting on PlayStation 2 alongside GameCube and Xbox. Created by core veterans of Rare's GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark, it paired a ten-era single-player and co-op campaign with 126 eccentric multiplayer characters, sixteen arcade modes, and an intuitive MapMaker level editor.
GoldenEye's Spiritual Heir Across Ten Historical Eras
Founded in 1999 by David Doak, Steve Ellis, Karl Hilton, and composer Graeme Norgate after departing Rare, Free Radical Design answered criticisms of the barebones story mode in 2000's PS2 launch shooter TimeSplitters with a globe-and-century-spanning campaign. Chasing alien TimeSplitters to recover stolen Time Crystals, Sergeant Cortez leaps into local hosts across ten eras—opening at a snowy 1990 Siberian dam modeled directly on GoldenEye 007's iconic first mission before visiting 1932 Prohibition Chicago, 1895 Notre Dame, the 1853 Wild West, and 2401 space fronts—with higher difficulties dynamically adding extra espionage objectives and map sectors.
60fps Split-Screen Pandemonium, Arcade Leagues, and MapMaker
Running at a responsive 60 frames per second with Rare-style free-aiming crosshairs and era-authentic arsenals free of sluggish reload animations, TimeSplitters 2 stood unrivaled as PlayStation 2's couch-multiplayer centerpiece. Up to four split-screen players—plus customizable AI bots—battled across sixteen inventive modes including flame-spreading Virus, Shrink, Vampire, and Monkey Assistant, choosing from 126 expressive cartoon caricatures ranging from gun-toting monkeys and gingerbread men to Calamari robots. Topped off by medal-graded Arcade League challenges, hidden playable retro cartridges like Anaconda, and a tile-based MapMaker with story logic triggers, it earned universal critical acclaim.