Yet another Free Radical/Crytek Blog - [MDR002]
By Lashe 3 Comments
Today's daily response is going to be on the ever-growing topic of the Crytek buy-over of Free Radical Design, a subject which particularly means a lot to me as TimeSplitters 2 was the gravitational force which drew my friends together pretty much nightly for nearly 3 years straight. Future Perfect... Not so much. But I had a little experience today which opened my eyes to that game.
After browsing the forums lightly this morning before a lecture I was suddenly full of inspiration to go back and play this game after the renewed potential of a TimeSplitters 4. So after a half day of lectures I brought the PS2 down from the loft, hooked it up and treated myself to ten quids worths of PS2 games: TimeSplitters 2 & 3, Vice City (can you believe I've never owned a GTA game before?) and THPS4 -- the last game with Tony's name on it that I actually remembered enjoying.
TimeSplitters 2 was just as I remembered... Utter perfection save for one issue; the lack of a cross-hair. And even when there is one, it flies all about the place and it's really irritating, especially after playing the current gen of FPS games. After my trip down memory lane (and a considerable helping of Virus in the Hospital), I threw in Future Perfect, anticipating a slight let down but fun nonetheless. After browsing the preferences and tweaking the controls, I have a cross-hair and something which moves a lot like a contemporary game -- time for TimeSplitters 2 to move over? ...not yet. But awesome nonetheless.
So this Crytek situation should excite me, yeah?
I wish it were that simple. It sounds like a perfect match.. but what of David Doak? Was he not part of the team that brought us Golden Eye and the original Perfect Dark? And was he not to be founding another company with a handful of Free Radical veterans? Is his job one of the 40 to be saved? Perhaps I'm worrying too much, after all how much an one man do? It's not like he is TimeSplitters. But his name gets thrown around so much that he seems like a bit of a figurehead, y'know?
And how much would Crytek change to the formula? At best we have the most gorgeous, frantic, fast paced shooter in years. At worst.. we have something soulless and monkey-less.
I have no doubt all this nonsense is the unjustified gibbering of a worried fanatic.. but.. -sigh-.. I so desperately need my fix. After today now more than ever. I want to kick the arse of people online with my Captain Ash. I want to take the speed up, power up and invisibility up all at once and run riot among a sea of monkeys. I want to argue that the vintage rifle is infinitely better than any sniper rifle ever simply for the preceding word 'vintage' and a cool blacked out scope. I want to turn the lights off and play Hospital Virus online with zombies only and use psychological tactics to scare the last motherfucker on the map shitless. ...and Hi-Def monkeys, dammit!
...don't dare let us down, Crytek.
~ Lee
UPDATE: GameStation's Future Perfect dics showed its true colours and froze up on me upon loading the third level of Story Mode. Serves me right for buying a pre-owned copy without checking the disc first. Amazon, here I come...