The TimeSplitters series has always sort of been the Jeff Bridges of the first person shooter genre: solid, reliable, and consistently entertaining, but never quite attracting the attention it deserves. The End of Days-sized ruckus created by the release of Halo 2, Half-Life 2, and Doom 3 has come and gone, giving TimeSplitters 3: Future Perfect a rare chance to be the center of attention. The question is, in a year already crammed full of excellent examples of the FPS genre, can Free Radical's littler shooter that could finally get noticed?

Those familiar with the TimeSplitters franchise will feel right at home with Future Perfect, since it doesn't deviate much from the structure of its predecessors. The different levels of the game are set in different time periods, such as the Renaissance, the spaceship-laden future, or the oh-so-groovy 70s. The plot of Future Perfect is a bit more cohesive (and coherent) than previous TS games, not that that's saying very much. Players take on the role of Cortez, who is chasing the Time Splitters through the ages in hopes of finally destroying the crystals that make time travel possible. Although successful completion of this plan would create an enormous paradox (how can he go back in time if he destroys the things that allow him to go back in time) it does at least create the opportunity for some fun gaming moments as Cortez ends up helping previous and future versions of himself as he swims in and out of the time stream.

Confused yet? Watch a few episodes of Star Trek and it'll all start making more sense.

The basic action of Future Perfect is fairly standard FPS fare. Each level takes place in a different time zone with era-appropriate weapons and environments. In order to complete the level, players must complete a series of objectives, the length and challenge of which depend on the current difficulty setting being used. The most basic objectives are simply getting from point A to point B, while more complicated objectives involve simple puzzle solving or item collection. Besides the main story mode (which can be completed in a two-player co-op mode, bonus!), there are plenty of multiplayer options, including deathmatches, capture the flag, and zones.

And that is where any similarity with other first person shooters ends. Anyone looking for gritty realism and ragdoll physics is going to be sorely disappointed with Future Perfect's cartoony graphics and silly sense of humor. There's a load screen that asks "Have you played as Pulov Yuran yet?" (Sound it out, folks, keeping in mind that proper Russian pronunciation makes that first name sound like "Pool of".) An instruction for one of the challenges urges players to "fill [your opponents'] rears with your salty load." Mmm hmmm. I'm thinking the folks at Free Radical were a wee bit punchy as they put this game together. Challenge mode adds to the weirdness, with events such as cat racing, which has players driving a cat on wheels around a race track (it makes sense in context, I swear) and monkey curling, which is standard Olympic-style curling using monkeys instead of stones (yeah, that one doesn't make as much sense, but it sure is fun). Don't be fooled by the silly trappings, though, these ridiculous tasks are also quite difficult, and earning a gold (or platinum!) medal for each challenge is an accomplishment along the lines of finishing Contra with one guy. Ok, ok, more like lasting more than two minutes in Contra with one guy. But still, pretty damn tricky. Future Perfect's Arcade league offers more traditional, but no less difficult, challenges, such as beheading a certain number of zombie monkeys in a set amount of time or sniping a high enough number of mutant elk. (You'd think the hooves would keep them from operating a sniper rifle with any kind of accuracy, but you'd be wrong. Oh, so wrong!)

Hmmm. I now realize that I just categorized shooting the heads off of zombie monkeys as "more traditional." Well, that's about as close as Future Perfect gets to normal, I suppose.

Although the story mode and challenges are all very fun and satisfying, what really makes Future Perfect a must-have for any fan of the genre is the sheer amount of customization available in multiplayer. With roughly a gazillion characters to unlock, dozens of weapons, surprisingly skilled bots, and a healthy roster of maps and play modes, this is a sure-fire hit at any gaming gathering. I personally recommend playing one-hit kills armed only with the brick. There's not much funnier than two players standing nose to nose, desperately trying to hit each other with the hard-to-aim brick. Sick of playing with those hyper-obsessed FPS junkies who memorize every nook, every cranny, every spawn point on the map? No problem: Future Perfect offers an easy-to-use map-making tool that provides an admirable amount of detail, from weapon placement to lighting to spawn points. Player-created maps won't be as intricate as the environments from the game, of course, but they're fun to make and test with friends.

Future Perfect looks right at home on the GameCube, with its bright colors and exaggerated characters. The environments are time-specific and generally well designed, although they definitely would have benefited from the type of attention that was given to the characters, who are all charmingly weird. For the most part, the sound effects are simple holdovers from previous TimeSplitters titles and do little more than get the job done. If you've heard one zombie gurgle in Future Perfect, you've heard them all, but at least the music is always level-appropriate, fun, and catchy. The control, on the other hand, is a bit of a pain. There's nothing actually wrong with it, but the shoulder buttons just aren't responsive enough for players who are quick on the trigger. Although it's not a huge problem in the story mode, it can add an unnecessary layer of difficulty to some of the timed challenges. It's certainly not insurmountable, but gamers with more than one console may want to consider picking up Future Perfect for a different system.

Gamers who've played previous iterations of TimeSplitters and not found them to their liking will not be won over by Future Perfect. It is, in essence, just more TimeSplitters. Those who haven't tried it, though, should, because despite its cartoony trappings and absurd game modes, it offers a healthy challenge for even seasoned gamers, oodles of unlockables, and some of the best multiplayer to be found anywhere. It's the perfect respite from the hyper-realistic, super-tense, oh-my-god look at those lighting effects first person shooters that are all the rage these days. TimeSplitters: Future Perfect is just good old fashioned fast-paced arcade fun. With zombie monkeys.