History VideoGame / TimeSplitters

* RevolversAreJustBetter: Played with. The Revolver is a slow-firing weapon with a very loud and distinctive sound, and lacks a HollywoodSilencer. It bizarrely shares its programming with the game's assortment of [[ShortRangeShotgun Short-Range Shotguns]], meaning its damage output scales depending on how close the target is. This makes the Revolver useless for long-distance firefights, though in close quarters it becomes more akin to a HandCannon.

%%* SkywardScream: DAMMIT!

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Aside from the titular "Planet X"-level, it is not said where any of the story missions take place. In two of the levels, "Tomb" and "Cyberden", the locations can be extrapolated from enviromental context as being set in Egypt (The architecture, hieroglyphs and mummies are clearly Egyptian) and San Francisco (player character Chastity Detroit has "SFPD" written on her uniform), respectively. Going by the description in the sequel that Harry Tipper used to be a New York cop, the "Chinese" level is possibly set in New York. The others levels' locations are unknown.

* DummiedOut: An unused "Gothic" set for Mapmaker mode exists in the data. Its removal was seemingly ''very'' late into development given how ''Nintendo Power'' and ''Prima'' both included it in their guides.

* DummiedOut: Many music tracks from the previous games exist in the data. There is also data for some unused characters like Mary-Beth Casey and "The Impersonator" from the first game.

* VillainProtagonist: The "Chemical Plant" and "Docks" levels, where you play a pair of crooks who are fighting the police as well as a rival gWoang to recover stolen jewels in the former, and fighting the army to steal a BriefcaseFullOfMoney in the latter.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: ZigZagged. The SWAT and Soldier character sets both have a single female included despite women not being allowed in armed forces. However, during the actual levels (Chemical Plant for SWAT, Docks for the soldiers) you only ever fight the three male characters, the females are exclusive to multiplayer.

* TheUnfought: Female SWAT does not appear in "Chemical Plant", and Female Soldier does not appear in "Docks" though as aforementioned this is technically more realistic.
* VillainProtagonist: The "Chemical Plant" and "Docks" levels, where you play a pair of crooks who are fighting the police as well as a rival gang to recover stolen jewels in the former, and fighting the army to steal a BriefcaseFullOfMoney in the latter.

* UpdatedReRelease: An updated version of ''Timesplitters 2'' with support for high frame rate and up to 4k resolution was included as an EmbeddedPrecursor EasterEgg inside Dambusters[=/=]Crytek's ''VideoGame/HomefrontTheRevolution''. Normally, only the first 2 levels are playable, but data miners have known for a while that the data for the entire game was actually present. One of the developers revealed in 2021 that said hidden content (including the full story campaign and arcade mode) could be unlocked with cheat codes, but the game is not fully stable and crashes whenever Reaper Splitters spawn in. A fan patch exists for the PC version that fixes most of the crashes (other than the Neo Tokyo level) and enables all the unlocks without the need to enter the cheat codes.

* UpdatedReRelease: An updated version of ''Timesplitters 2'' with support for high frame rate and up to 4k resolution was included as an EasterEgg inside Dambusters[=/=]Crytek's ''HomefrontTheRevolution''. Normally, only the first 2 levels are playable, but data miners have known for a while that the data for the entire game was actually present. One of the developers revealed in 2021 that said hidden content (including the full story campaign and arcade mode) could be unlocked with cheat codes, but the game is not fully stable and crashes whenever Reaper Splitters spawn in. A fan patch exists for the PC version that fixes most of the crashes (other than the Neo Tokyo level) and enables all the unlocks without the need to enter the cheat codes.

While the second and third installments introduced more complex levels and overarching objectives, the main premise of each level in a ''[=TimeSplitters=]'' game mostly remains the same: travel to a specific time period (ranging from 1930s Chicago to 1800s Old West to 2019 Neo-Tokyo and 2280 Planet X), apprehend the time-specific foes that dare cross your path, equip the then-latest in armaments, complete the objectives the game instructs you to do, and advance to the next stage. While the first game involved you simply stealing an item and returning to your spawn point (making the experience, for lack of a better word, glorified Capture The Flag with bots), ''2'' and ''Future Perfect'' introduced an overarching story, involving [[Creator/VinDiesel Vin Die]]--er, ''Sergeant Cortez'' collecting Time Crystals sought after by the series' titular [=TimeSplitters=], a race bent on the erasing of human history as we know it.

''[=TimeSplitters=]'' is a series of [[Main/FirstPersonShooter First-Person Shooter]] games developed by the now-defunct British development studio Free Radical Design.

If these games cause you to draw comparisons to the heralded Nintendo 64 first-person shooters ''{{VideoGame/GoldenEye|1997}}'' and ''[[VideoGame/PerfectDark Perfect Dark]]'', then that's expected. When Rare released the latter in mid-2000, much of the core team for both games left the studio: notably directors David Doak and Steven Ellis, artist Karl Hilton, and composer Graeme Norgate. Within a few months of Free Radical Design's founding, ''[=TimeSplitters=]'' was released for the then-brand new UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, its release coinciding with the console's launch in Europe. This game would be followed up by two sequels: The second, releasing with critical and commercial acclaim in 2002, and ''Future Perfect'' in 2005, a game many consider to be the most polished out of the series in terms of mechanics, story, and customization options.

* ''[=TimeSplitters=] 4'': One of gaming's most tragic tales of DevelopmentHell. The status on this game is unknown after Free Radical Design went belly-up as a result of both the UK's economic recession, and the horrible response to their incredibly adequate [=PS3=]-exclusive title ''VideoGame/{{Haze}}''. They were subsequently bought out by by [[VideoGame/{{Crysis}} Crytek.]] It is not known how the story will unfold or if there will even be one, as ''Future Perfect'' conclusively wrapped up the three-game long saga. [[TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX The studio formerly known as]] Free Radical has announced it is publisher shopping for a sequel, and if publishers aren't interested in the ''[=TimeSplitters=]'' name we may wind up with a SpiritualSuccessor instead. Crytek has also stated interest in doing a 4th game, making it a matter of "when". However, On September 5, 2011 it was revealed that this installment of the franchise was in Indefinite Postponement. Fan campaigns have since appeared to convince Crytek to make the game, including one ran by the Voice Actor for series protagonist Cortez. With the announcement on August 15, 2018 that THQ Nordic bought the series, the future may yet have hope. In the meantime...

* ''Untitled [=TimeSplitters=] game'': On May 19th, 2021, Deep Silver announced that they were resurrecting Free Radical Design and brought back two of Free Radical Design's founders, David Doak and Steve Ellis to make a new ''[=TimeSplitters=]'' game. Development will start later in 2021 as Free Radical Design re-staffs.

* ParadoxPerson:
** The key Cortez uses to open a door in "Scotland the Brave" has no real origin. Cortez only receives it because another version of himself suddenly gives it to him. After later passing through a time portal, Cortez passes the key along to his own past self, who of course uses the key then passes it along to ''his'' past self, [[StableTimeLoop ad infinitum]].
** Similarly, in "U Genius, U-Genix", there's an extended sequence where Cortez works alongside several duplicates of himself in order to solve a set of puzzles. Both computers in the room are locked behind passwords, helpfully provided by versions of Cortez emerging from a nearby time portal, and it quickly becomes apparent that the passwords have no source other than temporal shinanigans.
** Jacob Crow's [[spoiler:time device, due to its owner's flagrant disregard for the trope NeverTheSelvesShallMeet. The youngest Crow we meet is given the time device by an older version of himself, yet that same young Crow later travels forward to give a second time device to that same elderly Crow, [[TimeyWimeyBall who somehow has no knowledge of time travel despite his own life's history being changed by the earlier encounter]], and who seemingly just goes back in time to immediately give the extra time device to his younger self in the first place. Its implied that the young Crow reverse-engineered the time device to create the duplicate he hands to his older self, but that still means the time device's very design is a free-floating chicken-or-egg paradox, since Crow [[MyOwnGrampa created a copy of a copy he himself had created earlier, which will then go on to be the "original" time device he receives and copies in the first place]]]].

*** One of the earliest examples. You come to a door with no way in, effectively barring you from continuing. Before Cortez can get frustrated, he is greeted by ''himself''. Future Cortez hands him the key to open the door through a floor grate, and you continue. Later, you come across a portal and step inside. Now you're on the top floor and greet your past self, giving your past self the key, and moving on. As you can imagine, after these sequences are done there is a lot of moments similar to this where it occurs to you that [[ParadoxPerson this key was never found by you, it was given to you, so where did it come from?]].

** The key Cortez uses to open a door in "Scotland the Brave" has no real origin. Cortez only receives it because his future self passes it along to him. After using it, Cortez then passes it along to his past self, who of course uses the key then passes it along to ''his'' past self, [[StableTimeLoop ad infinitum]].

%%* FurBikini: The Jungle Queen.

* DummiedOut: Many music tracks from the previous games exist in the data. There is also data for some unused characters like "The Impersonator" from the first game.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: [[spoiler:Crow's time crystal mine/fortress of Kronia, beneath the waves of Urnsay island in the 1900s. Anya muses that the facilities must have taken years to build, but "that's the beauty of time-travel; you start construction, and then come back when it's finished."]]

* {{Speedrun}}: The premise of the game's campaign.

* ByWallThatIsHoley: Early into ''Scotland the Brave'', the side of an old brick house topples over onto Captain Ash. Thankfully, he just so happened to be lined up with its window.

* DroughtLevelOfDoom: The ZombieApocalypse level, ''The Mansion,'' doesn't have as many ammo drops as the other levels. Subverted in that the existing ammo drops still hand out plenty of ammo.

* LudicrousGibs: The mutants in ''You Genius, U-Genix''. The Injector is also guilty of this as well.

** The key Cortez uses to open a door in ''Scotland the Brave'' has no real origin. Cortez only receives it because his future self passes it along to him. After using it, Cortez then passes it along to his past self, who of course uses the key then passes it along to ''his'' past self, [[StableTimeLoop ad infinitum]].

* RunningGag: Almost every level (except ''Time To Split'', ''Something to Crow About'' and ''Future Perfect'') has a rambling drunk guy hidden in it somewhere. Some are hidden; some are on your path.

** Doctor Peabody and Nurse Gulag are only seen on propaganda posters during ''The Russian Connection''.

* DummiedOut: All the previous games' music exists in the data, but unlike ''TS2'' you can't play it in multiplayer.

* DummiedOut: An unused "Gothic" set for Mapmaker mode exists in the data. It's removal was seemingly ''very'' late into development given how ''Nintendo Power'' and ''Prima'' both included it in their guides.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** In the second 60's level, Harry Tipper's radio callsign is [[UrineTrouble 'Shower of gold']].
** "But first... it's time to get out my... big... weapon... *Snickers*"

* DoNotDropYourWeapon: While typical, this trope can spoil one surprise. In ''The Mansion'' where you finish the first battle in the attic, there's a downed zombie with a shotgun that doesn't get picked up, and an alert player will know that zombie will rise up and attack. Pre-shooting it won't help as the zombie is invulnerable, and the player can still get caught offguard because there's also a flanking zombie.

** Venus Starr was a DamselInDistress in ''[=TS2=]'', but is treated a villain in ''TSFP'', with an Arcade League mission having her forming an OutlawCouple with Jared Slim, who was part of the same gang that took her hostage.
** Cortez himself looks rather different[[note]] armor-mounted flashlight and bracer of knives missing, gloves are now fingerless, goggles no longer have a strap[[/note]], and the ship he arrives in at the beginning of the game looks nothing like the ship he escaped in at the end of ''[=TimeSplitters=] 2''.

** Cortez himself looks rather different, and the ship he arrives in at the beginning of the game looks nothing like the ship he escaped in at the end of ''[=TimeSplitters=] 2''.