Timesplitters 1 - A Superb, Story Free Shooter

Timesplitters was a Playstation 2 launch title made by ex Goldeneye and Perfect Dark developers. It had brilliant level design, amazing gunplay and phenominal 4-player split screen.
Join me as we go back and replay this classic game.
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[@Jakeaholic]

Played Timesplitters 2 and Future Perfect religiously growing up, funnily enough never seen or heard of a copy of the original. Like some weird childhood mythos. Glad to finally see it in its glory!

[@reddragon4482]

TS2 was one of my favourite games ever as a kid.

[@aimfuldrifter]

TS was the first one I've played, so dunno why you had such a weird experience.

[@cidfacetious3722]

Ts1 is the better playing shooter imo. They slowed the game down in the sequels. I’ll take the OG

[@jackp492]

Ts1 is hard to swallow after the glory that is ts2 Soundtrack is still good though

[@llab3903]

Only played this one. Neither of the others.

[@joshuapatrick682]

Man this was my jam back in the day when we were stoners finishing high school and starting college. Ah, the good ole days.

[@camerenisonfire]

I played this so much as a kid. Even had like a tournament at my house for one of my birthday parties. One of the must underrated series.

[@jmwhite88]

Future Perfect is a towering behemoth of an FPS. Criminally underrated.

[@andrewcamden]

This series is literally what got me into level-design and modding.

[@jed123e]

The custom map design on time splitters future perfect was fantastic

[@grilledleeks6514]

It didn't figuratively do it?

[@aimfuldrifter]

Wow! Awesome man! I love the Mapmaker to this very day.

[@willunderdown]

I can see why lol, I used to try and make the most cursed levels possible with areas you can barely get to and random endless corridors and extremely dumb and hilarious weapon choices for absolutely everyone to be forced to use, I also used to make really claustrophobic levels with like everyone being monkeys with flamethrowers which was incredible

[@Nazgul]

Josh's voice and speech sound so professional so I like to watch reviews even on completely not interesting kind of games. Well done!

[@troyonate]

Are you saying TS is "not interesting"?

[@FirstNameLastName-rh6zc]

@@troyonate smh my head. Mans can't appreciate the diamond that is the TS series

[@ariasdad]

Great to fall asleep to ;)

[@crooked420s5]

Gay

[@3Xmedic]

Not sure if this is a complament or a bad pickup line.

[@Slowp0w]

Played the hell out of the 2nd and 3rd installment, I loved this franchise growing up. Been following the community revival "TimeSplitters ReWind" - wondering if we're ever going to see it.

[@SpacexWitch]

I hope it’s soon

[@Slowp0w]

@@SpacexWitch THQ Nordic supposedly have a new TimeSplitters game in the works. Not officially confirmed yet, but we might actually get a new one!!

[@SpacexWitch]

@@Slowp0w thanks for a speedy reply on an 8 month old post! That’s great news to hear!!!

[@Mattznick]

we still waiting.......

[@DrDipsh1t]

Such an amazing game and series. The quirky characters, the level themes/tropes, map maker was amazing. And the fast paced game play and different modes would have me gritting my teeth with my heart pounding rounding every corner with my finger ready to get that head shot. Was one of those games you could sit down and enjoy for 15 minutes or for hours.

[@megavolt67]

Lol, beating that mansion level on hard was a proud achievement for me back in the day. Zombies with shotguns...the stuff of nightmares. It's nice to see someone showing appreciation for this game. The first PS2 game I ever got. Also, Graeme Norgate's Timesplitters series music is awesome for sure (and his Killer Instinct 1 tracks were my favorites). For whatever reason, British/European composers of my prime gaming era (the 90's and early to mid 2000's) always seemed to put out more memorable game music than most American composers (I'm American). I must note however that Grant Kirkhope deserves most of the credit for those N64 soundtracks you mention (especially DK64, which was solely done by him).

[@lodusmusic4010]

Literally the only guy on KZbin that has a timesplitters video...... thank you for such quality content . To me, this was the original halo multi-player lol

[@johnroyal4054]

There are a few but they are old and don't do the game justice

[@Syncrotron9001]

I have one also, In november of 2021 Stanford Labs made a real time crystsl

[@PaddyRoon7]

One of my favourite game series of all time, and TimeSplitters 2 is imo the best sequel to a game, ever. I was a few years too young to play Goldeneye when it was current so Timesplitters was the first FPS I fell in love with as a kid. It's sad that it doesn't get nearly as much attention as GE.

[@chickennugget7339]

You put so much work and detail into your videos. Great narration as well, keep it up! New fan here.

[@PVDH_magic]

I played this game sooo much; both solo and pvp. The level builder in this game was so amazing. Ah, Nostalgia. For those that haven't played it back in the day, just look back at that bit of video and how many vertical levels you can make in a custom map. It was insane; some of the premade map pieces were also just perfect for certain game modes. Best map makes I've personally ever used. The mansion is awesome, speedrunning it on hard was cool. And I finished all the challenges as a kid. ---- Oh, talking about the soundtrack reminds me about how often I pot my Playstation disks in my CD radio, so you could listen to the soundtrack! :D

[@lordomacron3719]

Damn, I also spent far too many hours making maps in TimeSplitters. Thinking back, it amazes me they were able to get such a deep map maker in a ps2 game. In TS I did more than make MP levels I made Solo Player challenge levels as well. It was like we made a Good game and oh by the way we also took the time to allow you to make more of the game yourself! So when you are done with our best maps in the main game let see if can you make better ones than we could.

[@thejason755]

Remember what they took from you

[@llab3903]

@@thejason755this statement gets grimmer by the year

[@FortunePayback]

I had no idea that Josh made a video on TimeSplitters! Literally THE game I grew up on and what I have to thank for a lot of things. Still, do this day, I play every now and again and will argue tooth and nail that it is a WAY better game than the old-school Doom, revolutionized the arcade shooter genre far better than any other game did; it literally paved the way and set the bar. Fun fact, my default character in every Fallout game since then has been Harry Tipper through causes of my own headcannon, and damn near the entire OST through all three games has a home on my playlist.

[@stephenwalker1984]

I played this game so much when the PS2 launched, this is the sole reason why I have to have the Y axis camera set on inverted (on every game I play on console) over twenty years later.

[@Hjortur95]

LOL same problem here.

[@Mattznick]

Happen to be binging a bunch of your videos and didn't realize you had one on my favorite FPS series of all time thank you

[@losolosonsky]

i used to play countless hours of TimeSplitters Future Perfect on Game Cube. I played the story of the game like 50 times, knew it all by memory, every secret. And spent huge amount of hours in multiplayer and map creation with brother. Man do i wish a remake or sequel would come.

[@ShadeSpeed]

I wish you covered the unlocks more thoroughly. I had so much fun speed running levels in all dirficulties, finding the new maps, characters and cheats they unlocked. Absolutely brilliant game.

[@keiyangoshin3650]

If it wasn't for you Josh, I'd have never learned what this game was, despite hearing about it for years lol Thank you! Stay safe. ♥

[@ghostface1972]

Loved the cartoony art style to the timesplitters franchise ... not forgetting free raddical' second sight,which was awesome.

[@alexandermccalla5098]

This video deserves so many more views. My childhood was playing the 007 games on N64 and GC. I also had and introduced to my cousins, Timesplitters 3 Future Perfect. Even including the MW2 phase, I'd reckon that we spent more time playing TS3 more than any other. Since we had the Gamecube, we could easily play 4 player games in both 007 and Timesplitters. I was a flare gun god. I'm gonna assume that this video was a victim of the algorithm. But I see that TS1 was very different that the 3rd. That one for sure had a story, in addition to its various game modes.

[@tobiasholm1609]

hands down one of my favorietes games of all time, TimeSplitters was and stil is supper fun. Get 8 mates togher and play 4 vs 4 or free for all. Free for all with capture the flag or the zombie thing is the most fun modes in this game. Remeber i played TimeSplitters 2 with my mate back in the day, and we always grinded the campain.

[@flyingninja1234]

I recommend leaving the crosshairs on while playing the mansion level. It's easier to shoot the zombies that way. This is in my top 10 PS2 games.

[@MANGO-SAXON]

This was the game that taught me the dual analogue stick control system, great memories.

[@heavyflamerheresy2581]

Medal of honor, timesplitters 2, 007 nightfire, need for speed underground, ssx, Colin McRae Rally and TIF. You had all your multiplayer and single player needs. I still play all of them.

[@UltimatBlitz]

I really don't like pvp, didn't even as a kid, so my friends came up with a terrifying game mode to play with me in Timesplitters 2. We'd all play as one of the apes and we'd spawn in a super hard or strong bot, whatever it was, and it just came screaming from across the map, it was awesome.

[@magnus5986]

Such an underrated video. I will watch them all.

[@BlindPeatch]

YES! I love the Time Splitters series. My favorite remains "Future Perfect" for the PS2/GameCube. My 10-year old nephew and I play it now in 2021! It is THAT fun :)

[@sw97058]

I played this game for hundreds of hours on a tiny 12" crt as a kid in the early 2000s. Picked it up again recently and it still plays incredibly. One of the best shooters ever made.

[@jacksonrobbins2288]

I really liked how they made the levels go deeper and deeper the harder the difficulty. You could sprint through the tomb level in under a minute on easy, but hard was a nightmare

[@Dunatos.]

Man, when I played timesplitters the first thing I think of is "oh no im dead" and restarting the level and all the frustration from that rather than it being quirky/etc. Loved this and 2 so much

[@TommyDaGreatest]

At this point in time, the Patreon list was actually readable. Still looking forward to the reviews of TS2 and Future Perfect...

[@SpacexWitch]

Me too!!!

[@Treblaine]

I loved the part where he said "it's splitting time" and split all over the place.

[@Bawzton]

Since you are an FPS reviewer now I expect a Darkwatch review on my desk by Monday.

[@StarKratos]

What a wonderful game. Your section about the "Mansion" level was spot on; such a ludicrously difficult level and not really for good reasons.

[@joaquin17171717]

Timesplitters 2 was utterly fantastic. Playing it with my brother for hours. Memories.

[@Jaqen-HGhar]

My God I hadn't played this game in probably 20 years and the levels were instantly recognizable....such a great game

[@ChumpkinINC]

All of the timesplitters are a shitload of fun. My brother and I mustve spent months working on the challenges and making maps. I distinctly remember the duck challenges being a giant pain in the ass and how annoying it was having to aim down to shoot the monkeys in one of the sequels. Glad so many people remember Timesplitters fondly and I hope to see you revisit the sequels eventually

[@jlmstudiodotnet]

We used to play pistols only, no auto-aim, one shot kills. And screw the break the glass with the brick challenge. TS2 with the I-like cable made it the best shooter of it's time. We would rent extra PS2s from blockbuster and have parties to play TS2. I picked up TS1 on a whim when I got the PS2 and it ended up being one of my favorite games.

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

Ts2 was just an absolutely brilliant fps, probably my fav of all time

[@eternalnos2179]

I've binge watched most of your review content but somehow missed this gem of a video on such a great game. You've earned yourself: Treasure Planet / 10

[@Yuuretsu]

Timesplitters 2 was the first on I played and after that I didn't see the appeal of the first game at all. Now I see it for the pure arcade experience it is. Thanks for giving me a refresher on this classic.

[@In-Midnight-Clad]

Man, I put so much time into Timesplitters 2. I platinumed all but 2 of the challenges. I hope to see you do a review on it eventually. The hardest difficulty story missions were so good.

[@In-Midnight-Clad]

Holy crap I totally forgot about the map maker!

[@davidantinori4778]

„Probably the best 4 player splitscreen since goldeneye“ shows me, that you might not have played Perfect Dark, the spiritual successor of Goldeneye. Because its splitscreen arcade mode has all the features you described from timesplitters (customisable bots, weapon choices, customisable weapon spawn points, around 40 weapons each with secondary fire mode, different game modes, challenges to unlock stuff, etc.) except for the map editor. So don’t get me wrong, I hugely enjoyed your video and I am convinced, that Timesplitters was (and is) a great game, even though I never played it, but I’m always disappointed when people only talk about Goldeneye as the greatest fps on the N64 and seem to never even have played Perfect Dark. And to put it bluntly, every person who loved Goldeneye, absolutely adored Perfect Dark, because it’s basically Goldeneye on steroids. TLDR, I really enjoyed your video and wanted to get this off my chest.

[@mphughes256]

Timesplitters 2 and Timesplitters 3 the 1st and 2nd best shooters known to man So nostalgic to watch this. Even though my time was spent in TS2, I spent countless hours fighting against bots in the arcade mode. I loved the virus mode and my character was always the Cyber Fairy favorite gun was the Luger favorite level was the Wild West both for arcade and story and I 100% the game I loved unlocking the characters and all that

[@roypickering5212]

Man I love this series, i have a lot of memories of it :D

[@JustAGuy93-G]

The most annoying thing about TS1 was when the enemies had double barrels they were super OP not just because of the damage. But because they had an infinite magazine and could just keep full autoing the damn thing.

[@northstarcourage8876]

Time splitters 2 was my favorite by far. The first one feels too basic and rough around the edges. The third does too much abstract stuff falling away from the perfect formula. The second one is seriously one of the best console shooters ever made.

[@zramirez5471]

It always amazes me the difference a couple years make - I think I have around 5 years on you but I saw George of the Jungle at around the formative age you saw The Mummy at and I will never see Brendan Frazier as anything other than a complete toon but you can watch the Mummy and still enjoy it

[@alexandermccalla5098]

Since I'd never played this, I didn't know about the zombie deer turrets. It explains the Zombie deer that breaks out of the wall in the zombie mission of TS3. Creepy too

[@ABABAB542]

So many good memories with this game and the second one

[@IDKman555]

These games were great arcade fun, miss them (all 3). There were perfect at what they did. Good Music too.

[@Hercules1-v9m]

I never grew tired of playing this game. It was awesome.

[@morrellfolkes8145]

I still play this game always fun playing deathmatch and customizing bot sets and weapon sets

[@md_vandenberg]

I remember the print ads for TimeSplitters featuring the Grim Reaper doing things associated with speed, such as looking at a new Porsche 911 at a dealership. "Death Has Never Been Faster" the ads claimed, what with the game running at 60fps.

[@L1NKN]

Love the videos Josh! Keep it up!

[@alexandermccalla5098]

Timesplitters is the one game I frequently look up to see how the fan project is doing. You have to cover the next 2 games. The main protag, Cortez, gets introduced in the next game.

[@jotarokujo3603]

I've never heard of this game before and I want to play it so badly now.

[@DetBareMikkel]

TimeSplitters 3 Future Perfect is one of the all time greats, and it's great to see, that the original still holds up, as I'm sure Future Perfect does as well.

[@teneesh3376]

I only played this series very recently. For a while, I thought it was a duology. So I played future perfect thinking it was the first. Can you blame me? So my order of playing the series is 3rd, 1st, then 2nd. It took a while to get use to the controls of the first 2 considering the 3rd has the option to use more modern controls

[@Lari588]

damn he made 2 identical reviews of the same game. thats dedication

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

I thought 'lets focus mmos' then i thought NO, I AM A GAMER, AND I WILL REVIEW ALL THE GAMES I WANT

[@Lari588]

@@JoshStrifeHayes PROVE IT WITH A PRO GAMER MOVE

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

@@Lari588 im gonna upload EVEN MORE REVIEWS

[@taylororourke2525]

Josh! I’m going to write this on a 3 year old video in hopes that you’ll actually see it! Pleeease give Drakkan: The Ancients’ Gate a cursory glance and do a review! I loved that game as a kid and I’d just melt from the nostalgia! I hope you’re having a lovely day, and thank you for all the hours of wonderful content! ❤️‍🔥♾️❤️‍🔥

[@Ironfrenzy217]

I absolutely loved the mapmaker in Time splitters 2

[@camjocotem]

On the village level, Hick Hyde was the best character IMO. My kid brain loved his drunkenness 😂

[@adamburrows7066]

makes me really wish I was able to play this when I was younger

[@unbearifiedbear1885]

Dr.David Doak will _always_ be one of my unsung hero's of Game development.. absolute don

[@lucasbeck1391]

20:57 in the room with the seats and ramps there is armor and a health pack behind the counters on the first floor The armor is on the left side and the health is on the right (the health pack goes away on hard but the armor remains)

[@howz]

Still Going back to this series, So so good! On to Silent Hill next!

[@uncleclaps44]

my headcannon for time splitters was "its timecop but cooler"

[@Mibit911]

Im so glad to see a timesplitters 1 review! I grew up on timespliters trilogy playing since the first game and having months of sleepovers with friends having 2 to 8 man deathmatches usingnsystem link on 2 xboxs when my dads friends were over. Timesplitters 2 and 3 are masterpieces of gaming enough said but ts1 doesnt get the love it deserves. Its funny because no game innthe series really got a sequel. Each games story mode was wildly different then the last. Timesplitters 1 had twitch arcade action which i loved. Ts2 had goldeneye type levels with objectives And ts3 went full on linear story shooter. All 3 games have an amazing story mode but i always come back to timsplitters 1. The aresnal innmy opinion is the best in the series. The music is some of mt favorite. The story mode and challenge mode is quick challenging fun. And multiplayer mode has probablly the most maps in the series and most weapons. Tinesplitters 1 also has different modes like escort. I wouls love to see a ts trilogy remake like the master chief collection where you can play on any of the 3 games maps. I also really like ts story classic in the challenge mode of ts2 and 3. Imo if timesplitters 1 had 3 more levels or 6 more levels to story mode and arcade league. It would be the perfect game

[@Wobble2007]

Yeah, TS1 is by far the most fun in the series, has to be one of the very few games I consider a masterpiece that doesn't have a traditional story campaign, like Battlefield 1942, I suppose TS1 is a more akin to what games used to be before it, arcade games that just focus on all out gameplay, I wonder if the fact that the devs didn't have to focus on producing a single-player campaign is what allowed them to make such a brilliant core game, despite not having a campaign, it really does pack in a lot of atmosphere and brilliant level design. A far cry from mp only games available these days, which are just cash grabs and devoid of any charm, atmosphere or identity.

[@TheMCmace]

Rly sad that this got only 2k views.. Basically the same flair as the MMO videos and awesome

[@unbearifiedbear1885]

And it's fucking TIMESPLITTERS 😔

[@Hjortur95]

it's time for timesplitters 2 for this Christmas. 🙏

[@Mactire419]

I'll never forget the challenge of breaking all the glass in the Chinese Restaurant.

[@imagecollections6665]

I got spiked with lsd one night & played this. I just thought the gun was me & that I was a spaceship. It was bloody great!

[@adamprotzman6059]

TimeSplitters was a cornerstone of my childhood, absolute gem of a series. Reckon we need a TS2 : Was it any good? 👀

[@shinjutsu2773]

Man i miss playing Timesplitters future perfect xd I played it to bits. PLayed everything through on highest difficulty and wasnt satisfied until i had platinum in all challenges xd I loved it to bits even though it was rage inducing xd

[@couchfrog4823]

Love them all but the sequels didn’t reach the kind of careful and precise speed running fun I had with the first, which is why the first has become my favorite

[@AVB40000]

I'd love to see Timesplitters 2 covered on Josh Strife Plays!

[@dialaskisel5929]

"Serious games like Perfect Dark..." Perfect Dark: **Big headed Grey Alien stands up as you rescue him from being dissected at Area 51** "Hi! I'm Elvis!" ****Serious****

[@GrimmSpector]

I love Timesplitters 2 and 3. Nothing beats TWO Cortez's...except 16 Cortez's in multiplyer :D

[@TerminusTartaros]

HEre is an idea for your josh strife plays: Body HArvest. An old N64 title where you fight aliens who came to earth in the past and now you have to go to the past too and stop them. The graphics are the worst you can find. But the game was actually kinda good. You had this GTA like system of just taking any car or tank you find and use it.

[@ericb3157]

i think it's worth mentioning that Perfect Dark also changed the levels a little at different difficulties... well, honestly only ONE level really changed the LAYOUT. if i remember, it's the next-to-last level, where you are trying to escape an enemy alien spaceship. or was it the level where you are inside a different alien spaceship underwater? anyway, about 1/3 of the way through, you go through a teleporter. the area you teleport TO is TOTALLY different at different difficulties!

[@HeavyMetalCowboy90]

Never played 1, but TS2 and 3 were great in their day

[@leecolburn7849]

Mansion on hard is one of the best levels ever made.

[@PowerMouseMousic]

Ah man I remember this game. I hated it, but I got it for free from a friend and it was the only multiplayer game I had at the time, so you better believe I played the heck out of it

[@LeagueOfDubstep]

Josh, please! Timesplatters 3: Future Perfect review! It Deserves This!

[@sebastianrochefort6763]

never played TS1 but I loved TS2 and TS3

[@ff7522]

Time splitters 2 is one of my favorite fps

[@Mibit911]

Also timesplitters 1 was meant to be a demo. At the time free radical pitched second sight to eidos and was supposed to be making a long story based game. Free radical thought hey we can pump out a quick multiplayer shooter to launch for the ps2 in a few months and that will get some income coming in while we work on the main game were doing. The funny thing is timesplitters ended up so popular they decided to go straight into timesplitters 2. Which they took thier time developing and why it is so much more polished. Although i love the graphics of ts1

[@Wobble2007]

TS1 remains my absolute fave of the series, they just nailed the feel, atmosphere, gameplay, level design, art style, and so on, that they never were able to recapture later on with the series, TS2 is a good game in its own right, but falls short of the masterpiece original for me, much like how GoldenEye is better than Perfect Dark, despite PD being better on paper technically. The proof of course is time, which always reveals what stands and ages better, and for me, TS1 is the one I still think about and crave every other year or so, couch multiplayer on TS1 is some of the best fun I have ever had on a video game, up there with Conkers Bad Fur Day's N64 multiplayer levels and GoldenEye, Mario Kart etc, few games ever offer that much multiplayer fun.

[@HikingFeral]

As far as i'm aware, this was one of the first game to have R1 as shoot and triangle as jump etc instead of god awful control scheme

[@Zabucracker]

And the great part is that they are now available on the PSN store.

[@fronthal157]

Video gaming's only real-life accurate shotgun

[@haunteddeandollsuk]

timesplitters 2 was the best version , they need to remaster these games on latest consoles and add online play , i remember the monkey characters that people used online on ps2 lol

[@TurboQuinn]

As a kid I used an Action Replay to beat Mansion, I do not regret it in the slightest. I got the multiplayer map and that's all that matters

[@coolbrotherf127]

I remember playing Time Splitters 2 on my cousin's xbox, it was a wacky experience compared to the more serious Halo multiplayer.

[@matthewchandler7845]

loved it....I got it as a gift and played it but didn't like it. Then one day I got bored and tried it again and WHOA! What a game! in multiplayer. It was the first game where you could have so many enemy AI players.

[@benjaminswanson4961]

I think Josh likes Timesplitters.

[@pushon10]

I like the Mansion level because you get to shoot police!

[@JohnSmith-pq8gk]

I'm replaying the trilogy and growing up I put more time into the campaign of this game than I did games that are 4 to 5 hours and 20 levels. You have to play through it on easy and you get a tiny simplistic version and then on normal and hard it's 3 times the size and way harder. Some areas have timed infinite respond so in some levels there's really nowhere to go to get the the jump on them but rushing forward.

[@ArcAngelRyse]

really would like to see you do one of these for Nightmare Creatures on the dreamcast.

[@Hjortur95]

lol he actually did it