The Timesplitters series has been one that I’ve adored since its first iteration on the PS2 back in 2000. It brought fun and addictive first-person gameplay and fused it with likeable characters, balanced weaponry and monkey assistants. The series is currently in its third generation, bringing the same gaming formula, the same bad guys and the same tongue-in-cheek storytelling with Timesplitters: Future Perfect. Shame it’s not really quite enough to keep this cherished series up there with other modern shooters on the Xbox.

The gameplay in Timesplitters: Future Perfect is basic FPS territory; run-and-gun, a bit of sniping, some nice weapons for each period, some reasonably easy bosses scattered around, and the introduction of vehicles to the series for the first time. Compared to games such as Halo 2, it feels slow and a little bit backward. Turning Cortez on the spot can feel like navigating a double decker bus, the small number of vehicles are unresponsive and underused, and there is no “head bob”, which makes it seem that your character is running on casters.

However, it’s the varied levels that are the most enjoyable part of running through the story mode of the game. Battling 1960’s Bond-style supervillains, zombies in a haunted mansion, mutants from experiments gone wrong, robots etc. It allows you to play through the short story missions without the usual business of repetitive levels and enemy design, although you will probably find you will complete it in around 6-7 hours on ‘Normal’ level.

The multiplayer aspect is also fun, with a retro 4-player split screen or up to 12 players over Xbox Live. Games play smoothly, the maps are interesting and varied and there are currently plenty of people playing the game. There maps may be small in number, but the there’s a basic map editor to allow you to create your own, and this could add a huge amount to the lifespan of the game should level design be your kind of thing.