I’ll expect you won’t cry

As I briefly touched on in yesterday’s post, lately I’ve been going back to some older games in anticipation of upcoming/recently released sequels/prequels. I even started playing Final Fantasy VII again a while ago because I was beginning to buy into the Crisis Core hype (I’m still on the fence about it). But if there’s one series I really have a hankering to see a new installment in, it’s gotta be Timesplitters.

I have no idea why, but as I was playing Rock Band with The Tall One last weekend, it suddenly hit me that it seemed like it was about time for a new Timesplitters game. It’s without a doubt my favourite FPS series, and one of my preferred multiplayer games. Hell, I still pop in Future Perfect now and then just to fiddle around with the map creator [I just realized why timesplitters is on my mind] and run a couple rounds with some bots. I’ve never built the same level of camraderie with my AI teammates in TS as I did with the ones in Unreal Tournament (customization helped a lot)(and yes, I know it’s sad to make friends with AIs), but it’s still fun. But seriously, am I wrong? Do you not feel like we need a new Timesplitters game to spend all our weekends for the next couple months on?

Well, I was doing a little digging earlier, and I found out that there is a new one on the way! Huzzah!

I was squealing with joy (on the inside) when I saw that logo image pop up. It’s like a magical promise that one day everything will be right in the world again, if only for a while. Or something epic like that anyway. The issue is that while it was revealed in June of last year, we still haven’t heard anything about it other than that they’re focusing on gameplay over graphics. Which, along with David Doak’s statement that they’d like to put it on Wii, is a pretty good indication that it’ll show up on my little white box of happiness. I mean, of course a multiplatform release would be the best, because for all the bragging rights that exclusivity gets you, the more people that get to enjoy the Timesplitters experience, the better. I really just hope that it’s Wii-bound in general. Of course it’s completely irrelevant to me because I own a 360 as well, but whatever. Brand loyalty, man.

In any case, as long as the game retains its big brothers’ trademark hilarity and monkeys, I think I’ll be satisfied. I complain about companies pushing out the same sports games year after year with nothing but roster updates, but I think that would be just fine for Timesplitters, so to speak. Put a new storyline in there, make up a few new maps and characters (perhaps a character customization mode?), and you’re good. This is one series that I would really prefer just to stay where it is and not be fucked up by trying to be innovative. Of course, if there are any major changes and they work out for the best, I’ll be tickled pink, but I’m pretty much expecting a standard FPS with a few pinches of zazz and a light comedy glaze. You know, exactly like the last two.