TimeSplitters Future Perfect closes the trilogy on a bright note. More mature plot, story co-op and generous local multi. Likely the most accomplished of the three on PS2.
A Free Radical and Eidos FPS released in 2005, the third TimeSplitters franchise entry and PS2 peak. Cortez travels through eras again with ten stages (1924 Russia, 1969, 2052 cybernetic, 2401) and a coherent narrative this time. Refined FPS combat, online and local multiplayer mode up to 16 players and expanded level editor with scripter. Considered one of the best PS2 FPS games.
TimeSplitters - Future Perfect review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
4/5
Story
★★★★★
"Captivating"
The third entry fully owns its parodic tone. Each era crossed becomes the occasion for a cinematic pastiche: a gothic horror level aping monster movies, a James Bond spy sequence, a B-movie space station. The art direction multiplies the winks and the deadpan British humor, turning time travel into a guided tour of genre cinema, sent up with a contagious delight.
As the story gains coherence, the score gains themes. Where the previous episodes stacked ambient loops, this one entrusts Graeme Norgate with true melodic motifs, tied to characters and to the story's key moments, that return and develop from one level to the next. The music ceases to be a mere rhythmic engine to tell, too, a thread, accompanying the series' first real plot.
This entry at last gives the series a built plot. Sergeant Cortez is sent back in time to trace the Time Splitters to their source and neutralize their creator before they exist, giving the journey a clear goal and an identified adversary.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"From the very first seconds"
Blending frantic shooting and offbeat humour, this FPS piles on eras, eccentric weapons and improbable enemies. But it's the wildly customisable multiplayer that makes it an institution: four-player matches where chaos and laughter never let up. Direct, generous and fiercely replayable, a classic of friendly console mayhem.
Addictiveness
"Captivating"
Difficulty
"Balanced"
Lifespan
"Massive"
Travelling through the ages, gun in hand, unfolds an FPS as brisk as it is zany, paired with a map editor and a teeming multiplayer. Unlocking dozens of characters, taking on the challenges and building your own levels fills countless hours. That generosity, married to offbeat humour, founds a longevity dear to shooter fans.
The Western release of TimeSplitters Future Perfect, Free Radical's third entry that finally structures the series around a narrative, comedic time-travel campaign without losing any of the multiplayer chaos. Still findable, its interest lies in this status as an accomplished endpoint of a cult trilogy before the studio's demise rather than scarcity. A piece valued by fans of offbeat FPS on the console.
Better with friends
A peak of the zany shooting saga, both cooperative in its two-player campaign and competitive in its frenzied arenas for up to four. You chain missions in unison and unhinged matches loaded with options, bots and offbeat modes. That dual face widens the fun: now you band together, now you trash-talk, and the level editor endlessly renews the urge to come back among friends.
Is TimeSplitters - Future Perfect still worth playing in 2026?
Released in 2005 on PS2, Free Radical's project concludes the trilogy by finally giving the series a fully structured and scripted campaign, carried by an embraced parodic humour and time travels chained with verve. The nervous, arcade shooting keeps its frantic pace, and the split screen multiplayer stays of exemplary richness and conviviality, backed by a very complete map editor. The online play, present at the time, is no longer available. The artificial intelligence and the production show their age. A delightful culmination of the series, recommended for fans of fun shooting and of multiplayer evenings.
