The space cadet Cortez returns in a new saga that is based in 2401, but whose frantic action spans 500 years. And this is where it gets confusing. By making use of the time-travelling vortex, you can help yourself in the future. Retracing your steps in time, and using era-specific weapons and vehicles, you improve your chances of defeating foes. You can also twin yourself with a former or future you in some battles.

The aim of the game is for Cortez to track down nine stolen time crystals that will restore his time machine to full power and enable him to save mankind. It’s fun to speculate that our hero might be tempted to return and back a few winners on the gee-gees, but this game brooks no such frivolities — saving the world here is a serious affair. Still, so long as you aim straight and don’t set the game to its hardest setting, it’s diverting enough.

The mechanics are competent, but it is the characterisations, especially the wooden delivery of some lines, that let the game down. On the plus side, the ample options include a story mode, multiplayer clash modes and a mission designer to open up replay values.

The last outing in the Timesplitters series was hailed as a real step forward in computer graphics. Now this innovative title finds itself stuck in a timewarp, particularly on the PS2, though it fares better on the Xbox and GameCube.

Tim Wapshott