BinaryCode1001

Obviously, this game is the latest installment in the (undeservingly unpopular) TimeSplitters series. This game has all the makings of a great first-person shooter, whether you just want to do a quick 5-minute romp-a-thon, or you actually plan to go on a rewards scouting session. But, the reason why the game doesn't get so much attention is because these games fall off the radar rather quickly, since this one fell off the radar within a few weeks as games like Halo 2 and Half-Life 2 get coverage and credit references every two hours.

GRAPHICS: Much like the previous two installments, the game sports a cartoon-ish look, especially with the character models. Though it's a debatable issue as to how bland the environments are, you probably won't care. I read that part in other reviews, and I had trouble noticing, much less caring. UNlike the previous two, the game now incorporates blood, which solves my question as to why this game got an "M" rating. I don't know why Free Radical decided to do this now, but it's there. The weapons look much better this time around, and this time, YOU CAN SEE YOUR HAND! Also, each weapon has its own fire/reload animation, unlike the previous two, which had standard firing animations, and if you reloaded, your gun would just drop off the screen with the sound. Here, reloading now requires a more strategic approach, because taking cover is essential when reloading something like a rocket launcher. The game still maintains its hilarious quality by keeping up with the weird characters (like giant gingerbread men and being able to play as a cow carcass).

SOUND: Some of the gun sounds are pretty much recycled from the other two games, but they sound very good nonetheless. Voice acting in this game is superb (and funny), and the sounds the characters make when shot or killed are funny to listen to (as usual). You haven't heard anything until you've shot a duck in the head after he's been chasing you through a hallway. Along with the new orchestral score (which is kinda boring), the game retains most of the music from TS1 and TS2 (notice I said MOST, so only some of the best songs made it onto the game, probably to save disc space or something).

GAMEPLAY: Partly the same way as the other two, but with improvements. Alongside the ability to customize the controls, most of the features from the other games are retained and some have been changed. For instance, weapons can't be fired with primary and secondary fire with the press of a button. Now, you have to toggle between the two modes. The Temporal Uplink has also been retained from TS2, but in a (slightly) better form. The map on it is actually a hologram that projects from a pod on your arm. This is both good and bad. The good is that...well...it looks cool. The bad is that sometimes the map doesn't say much of what you need to know, and if you're standing against a bright background, you can't see the map. The uplink also doubles as a physics claw that allows you to grab certain objects and project them back at enemies, or just to throw stuff. There's also a huge variety of weapons, and most of them do have secondary fire functions (like handguns can have silencers equipped to them). The game also has Story, Arcade, and Challenge modes. Story allows you to play the main story, Arcade allows you to customize matches or play the pre-set Arcade campaigns for rewards, and the Challenges that have you do random things for more rewards. The MapMaker is perhaps the best part of the game. It functions the same way as the TS2 map, but there are more detailed components added, and the interface is MUCH less sloppy. There are a variety of different things to do and create, but you pretty much get the idea now. You can also play friends online, but I'm a little bit afraid you won't find many people, since the game gets as much buzz as free samples.

STORY: This time, the game actually has a good story. In TS1, there was no story. In TS2, there was a story, but it was about as noticeable as brown cookie crumbs on an oakwood floor, and about as easy to understand as Physics. Here, the story got the same amount of attention as the rest of the game. Sgt. Cortez is just coming back from his Time Crystal gathering mission, and when he returns home, his ship is attacked and he crash lands on the planet in the middle of a war between the humans and the TimeSplitters. From here, you are sent on missions across time to find and eliminate anyone involved with the production of the 'Splitters. You even run into your future and past self throughout missions and he will help you out in reference to time paradoxes (you'll get it).

BOTTOM LINE: Just because a game barely gets any more attention than any other game out there doesn't mean it's bad. It just means people were expecting too much or they simply didn't like the game. The single player itself was enough to turn people off, because I heard this was one game that people bought, played, and returned within the same three days. Halo 2 seems to have caught everyone in the "groundbreaker" flux. Though Halo 2 was an attempt as pushing the FPS genre forward, TS3 is a game to play and enjoy, just enough to keep you awake. And, come on, you bashers! The single-player wasn't THAT bad! You all say it like it really was that big of a problem. 9.25/10.

Right now, it's pretty clear that Sam Fisher has what it takes to stand up to the likes of super-spy Solid Snake. Both have the gizmos. Both have the gadgets. And both have the charisma and lasting value of Asian monks. I have played MGS3 not too long ago, and it feels like Contra but with a stealth attitude. Nonetheless, the stealth half is the most emphasized part. In SC, Sam Fisher holds his own in a game that's strictly a stealth adventure. Don't expect to have legendary boss battles or lightning-fast game play. What you can expect is a solid, above-average stealth/action adventure that makes almost anyone who plays it feel like they can go out and really be a spy. Breakdown! GRAPHICS: As expected, SC delivers the most detailed and crisp environments ever shown off in a video game. However, I am sad to say that the PS2 version doesn't look quite as good as the Xbox and PC versions. For instance, on the Xbox/PC, night vision mode is crisp-clear and basically highlights dark areas in the game (and trust me, there will be A LOT). In the PS2 version, the night vision mode is unusually blurry and static clouds the screen as you try and find your way around the environment. I don't know why Ubisoft made this change because I don't see why the PS2 couldn't have handled the Xbox/PC versions' night vision modes. Oh, well. The damage was done. Anyway, aside from that, the graphics are still as spectacular on the PS2 version as they are on the PS2 competing consoles.

SOUND: Yes, there is music, but throughout most of the game is complete silence. This is a good thing because it would just be ridiculous if DMC3 rock music was blaring through your speakers while you were trying to sneak through a hallway. The only time actual music plays is when the mood of the environment changes. If guards are getting wise to your scent, the music will play very softly while the guards search you in the darkness. If the guards are on alert, tense music will start playing, telling you that you'd better do something before you end up as a big black stain on the floor. There are also points in the game where you can interact with the music, mainly with radios that play unusual music that can also be used to help cover your footsteps (I'll get to that in a moment). Michael Ironside and company also return for another voice-over session, and it is some of the best voice acting I have ever heard before. Sam Fisher's one liners are well written, and the script fits well with the story at hand.

game play: The boys and girls at Ubisoft know certainly well that it will take more than revolutionary graphics to make a game good. They bring back some of the old game play elements we know from the older SC titles, such as spying on secret meetings with optic cables and laser microphones, and more importantly, having the vision modes. This time, there is an additional vision mode...the EMF. The EMF certainly won't help you find your way around a dark room, but it does help point out shootable lights and objects. It also points out interactive objects such as control panels and circuit boards, not to mention computers. You can also do things like pick locks (or break them, if you're in a rush), and you can hack control panels and retinal scanners. There's also a sound masking system that measures how much environment noise there is, and how much noise you are making in the meantime. If your measurement exceeds the environmental noise level, nearby enemies can hear it, and may either investigate or not, depending on what kind of characters they are. The AI is very unique and varied. Enemies will be afraid of you if you happen to catch them off-guard. You can also shoot enemies if things get heated, but ammunition is scarce because you're not necessarily expected to have a gunfight with EVERYONE. Sam also have a complex variety of ways to take out enemies in the most exotic fashions possible, but you probably won't be needing them all, because I rarely found any times where I needed to do a wall split to surprise an enemy.

STORY: It's your typical Tom Clancy war-torn world...Sam Fisher is out to save the world again from the brink of a war. His crew, mainly his boss Lambert, his professional hacker Anna Grimsdottir, and his "Q-Labs" William Redding. That's really all that needs to be known from here. Also pay attention to the "news highlights..." it's like the stuff is actually happening! BOTTOM LINE: If you are a fan of the SC series, DEFINITELY pick this one up. If you like pure action games like Metal Gear Solid, you can still play this and have a good time. However, if you only play fast-paced action games, you probably won't enjoy this, or any of the SC games for that matter. For me, this game gets a 9.25/10.

Let me start off by saying that it wasn't the game itself that made me angry at it...it was this one level that was near impossible to pass. After that, I quit on the game until getting Action Replay codes. It also tarnishes the name of the original GoldenEye utterly, which is part of the reason I didn't like it.

GRAPHICS: The graphics are standard. Don't expect anything spectacular. Also, almost all the enemy models are the same. Even though there are some different levels here, you'll be spending most of your time shooting soldier clones and blasting rockets into airborne machines. The level design is wretching. Each level is different, like I said, but in a way, they're all the same. You'll basically be doing the same thing over and over...shooting things. So, they should've just made each level one big early level because that's the whole game. And why is it when I shoot an enemy, blue sparks fly out of him?!

SOUND: SOME of the sound is good. The problem I have is that handguns sound like peanut blasters as automatic rifles sound like rapid-fire Super Soakers. The only sound that is actually pleasant to hear is the shotgun blast from the Mamba gun, which was also my favorite gun for as long as I was playing this. I don't really have much of an opinion about the background music since I could barely hear it throughout the game. However, everyone else seems to like the music (I don't know why), so I'm not going to say much else there.

GAMEPLAY: Here's where the game falls flat...the game is nothing but constant running and gunning. This is why the game is so bland and generic, because each level is a carbon copy of one another. There are hardly any objectives to do other than killing enemies. In the original GoldenEye, each level had something unique about it. In GoldenEye 2, the entire game is basically just shooting things to death. There are only about 7 or 8 weapons in the whole game, unlike the original, which had about 20 or 30 sets of weapons to choose from. This game also has automatic weapons, but they shoot spray rounds. That requires you to really get in an enemy's face in order to make automatic rounds register. Another problem is that there's no diverse way of taking out enemies. Instead of, say, using tanks to roll through a level, you're SLOWLY running through it while shooting everything. Find a heavy rocket launcher and you'll move even slower. You've also got 4 "Eye" powers to choose from, but each of them don't have any real requirements except the "Shield" ability. In fact, levels are so repetitive, I started getting sick of it by the final level. The first thing I said was, "oh, jeez, this game isn't over yet?!" Lock-on targeting is brutal (at least you can turn it off), and there are only two cheats through the whole game. Neither of them enhance the game any more. You do get to dual wield different weapons, but you have no inventory. You can only use weapons as you find them. However, this is the only thing the game capitalizes on. Halo 2 does the same thing, but at least that game has more variety. Honestly, GE2 makes H2 look like the Word of God. What really made me mad about this game was the Dam mission where you have to escape across a dam platform in search of a bomb. I played that mission about 20 times, trying every spy technique in the book, whether it be taking cover behind structures or vehicles or blowing hordes away with the rocket launcher. Since nothing worked, I went to my Action Replay for advice. Once I got that invincibility code, I felt better about myself. I know it's cheating, but hey...as Corey Rouse always says, "when life's got you down, throw in God Mode and keep on kickin' butt." Don't even bother avoiding gunfights because it won't work.

STORY: So, let me get this straight...I'm an MI6 agent with no name, and I got kicked out of MI6 just because I let James Bond die in a V.R. simulator? Now, like the whining baby I am, I go off to work for Goldfinger just to fight with Dr. No and fight a bunch of bad guys that James Bond could dispatch himself? The ridiculous part is that I'm doing James Bond's job for him. In the original game, you could shoot civilians and scientists with a penalty attached if you kill too many. Here, there are no civilians to shoot. It's just a bunch of army guys wanting a piece of you. If I'm supposed to be so big and bad, why isn't 007 coming to hound me? Other than all that, there isn't much else to say about the story. There is one plot twist, but believe me, you'll probably see it coming from miles away. We do see a lot of familiar faces, such as M, Oddjob, and Francisco Scaramanga, but that doesn't do much to help the game.

BOTTOM LINE: This game is only worth a 2-day rental. I'm not trying to put anyone down, but if you like this game, you either can't tell the difference between a good game and a bad one, you're too young to understand, you've never played the original GoldenEye, or you're a mainstream gamer who only plays games just for a few hours of anything but being completely bored. 4/10, certainly not what I've come to expect from EA after EON. (I would've given it a 6, but that's minus 2 points for tarnishing the original game's name.) I suggest sticking with the older 007 titles. Even TND was better than this.

If you want the real GoldenEye "sequels," turn to Perfect Dark or TimeSplitters.