Pandora's Box: The Ultimate GameCube Tier List

#19: Timesplitters 2

Rating: T

Players: 1-4

Price Range: ~$27 USD

A first-person shooter.

This is at the top of the B Tier, the final game until we get into "essential" territory, and for good reason.

In terms of multiplayer, this game is nearly unmatched.

Like the previous two entries, it's an old school first-person shooter, but it is so much more, and is very polished.

Runs very well at 60 FPS regardless of the chaos on the screen and is very great in terms of aesthetics and music, aging very well.

However, the sheer amount of content and modes is staggering.

While you have to play the Arcade League to unlock things, it's a price to pay for the massive amounts of fun to be had.

First of all, the modes.

You have your classic ones, like Deathmatch and its team variant, along with Capture the Bag (a play on Capture the Flag), and Bag Tag (hold the bag as long as possible to get the points to win).

However, you also have unique modes, at least at the time, that are unlockable from the single player content.

Virus is basically zombie tag, in which you can turn off weapons to turn it into the game. One player becomes "it" and has to tag everyone else to make them "it" too until the last one standing wins. Very fun on the bigger maps for sure.

Gladiator is a classic one today, in which one player is the Gladiator and is the only one that can score until somebody else kills them and becomes the Gladiator themselves. Cool.

Zones has you take enemy zones and capture them for your team to score points over time. Teamwork is required for this one.

There are also modes that benefit the one in last place, giving inexperienced players a fighting chance, with Shrink making the person in last place the smallest, making them the hardest to hit.

And, because this is a time-traveling adventure, there are weapons, stages, and characters from all eras, including ones around this time that obviously make no sense.

I mean, NeoTokyo from the year 2019 is far-fetched, even six years ago.

The weapons range from oldies like revolvers from the Wild West to plasma ones from the far future.

However, the character selection in the multiplayer?

Oh my gosh is it truly something to behold.

Not only do they have their own descriptions and own stats (speed, size, health, accuracy), but there are so many of them being outlandish.

Like...a snowman who moves by having his upper half lifted by a magic carpet and says "I'm melting!" when you scorch him with a flamethrower. So good.

Actual zombies, including one who is just...on fire the whole time.

A sentient golem and gargoyle who are incredibly slow, but have high health and are immune to fire.

Women with...obscenely big breasts.

A living gingerbread man.

A...human hand with a smiley face drawn on the back of it while having robotic legs and arms to move around and carry guns.

And...

DragonsDwelling, get ready for this...

You get to actually play...as a monkey!

He doesn't have too many hitpoints, but he is so small and so fast, that he is easily one of the most iconic characters play as in the multiplayer.

There is even a game mode called Monkey Assistant where last place gets a bunch of monkeys to help them hunt down everyone else.

Truly a sight to behold.

And I haven't even mentioned the Mapmaker feature yet.

My gosh was this ahead of its time.

While each map takes up a separate slot in your memory card, the number of possibilities you have?

Oh...

I even have a story to tell!

You see, I was fiddling with this mode to make a map, when I thought...

Why don't I make a map that is just a single block? Just one tiny room?

You may think that this is just a waste of time.

However, I then had the idea.

If you have a bunch of computer opponents and/or other people with plasma weapons, some of which ricochet off of walls and play Bag Tag in here, you have easily one of the most chaotic and fun experiences I've ever had with others.

See? Just simple things like this are just great fun.

The single-player content is also meaty with the Arcade League and the Challenge modes pushing you to your limits, with quite the creativity too, so you never have a shortage of content, and given that you unlock things for the multiplayer, including cheats, it is bound to keep you occupied for a good while.

And so Timesplitters 2 is easily one of the best multiplayer experiences of the generation.

However, I have some...issues with some of the content.

For one, the campaign.

I don't know if the amount of objectives is dependent on the difficulty you choose or not, but I did not get into the story mode at all.

While I will admit that being able to play it co-op with another is definitely a highlight, it just isn't my cup of tea, as I did not gel with some of the missions.

For example, in the Wild West level, you had to blow up this barricade...

By...getting a gun powder barrel and creating a line of the combustible stuff to lead to it and end it...under a lamp to shoot?

This is just plain stupid and it doesn't make any sense whatsoever with how obtuse it is.

Not a bad campaign, but easily one of the weaker parts in my opinion.

Some of the Arcade League missions are also so unbelievably hard, that it isn't even funny, especially the platinum trophies.

You have to be a masochist and have a lot of time and patience to have any tolerance for this stuff without getting a little frustrated. It's not the good kind of hard, y'know?

But...yes, this is the top of the B Tier.

Not exactly a classic, but a stellar FPS game from this time.

Although, it is debatable if you should get this version or not since it is multiplatform and is available on modern hardware, so this version is kind of obsolete.

Still, it is discounted often, so you should try it if the game is on sale for a few bucks on today's consoles.

An insane multiplayer experience with a somewhat okay campaign, Timesplitters 2 gets my pick for the top of the B Tier.

An essential game to play with friends, and a great one to play solo, without a doubt.