Year: 2000
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Graeme Norgate
Number of tracks: 27

★★★★★

Decent time killer

Time travel as a plot device is now more outdated than a gay-joke and has already been implemented in various games. In fact, the idea is so old-fashioned that it was the core aspect of the Playmobil licensed game Hype: The Time Quest. The only thing that saves TimeSplitters is the fact that it was released in 2000 and therefore has the mercy of early development. According to the meta reviews, the console-exclusive game is supposed to have implemented the time-jumping theme in an exciting and entertaining way - 'supposed' because it was on console, thus I haven't played it ... you know the drill.

Although I still adhere to the motto that a good game is not the same as a good soundtrack or vice versa, the probability that a title with a major publisher like Eidos Interactive will also have a capable composer on board is, as we all know, higher than with an indie production. That's why I had a listen and came to the following conclusion: That's more or less the case with TimeSplitters.

Although composer Graeme Norgate has many well-known games on his CV, he is more of a sound designer and audio director - and I think that's something to be happy about. The idea that we should have heard an interpretation by Norgate for Crysis 2-rather than the fantastic score by Hans Zimmer can be compared to Alexander Markus standing in for Queen.

I don't want to say that Norgate's work here is bad. His work must be viewed in the context of the time: Epochal soundtracks that shine without a nostalgia bonus were scarce around the 2000s. That's why I don't want to be too harsh and say it in the most positive sense when I give the score to TimeSplitters the adjective 'nice'. The soundtrack is nice and ' makes an effort'.

It succeeds in conveying the sci-fi setting of the game through techno beats and trance influences and is thus reminiscent in places of the zeitgeist of the racing games of the time à la Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 3 (Streets). It is also full of variety, as we sometimes get apocalyptic melodies (Virtual Tileset) and sometimes funky fresh hip-hop grooves (Alien Tileset, Compound). Castle on the other hand, has a heroic feel and pleasantly breaks away from the future beat with its knightly medieval tropical cliché.

Overall, however, the music seems too incoherent and, with its amusingly suggestive ditties (Horror Tileset), tends more towards a No One Lives Forever than a Crysis. This is perfectly valid and the mix of different action pieces with dancefloor druggies is quite cool in some places, but overall I can't in good conscience give it a rating higher than 'nice'. But, as I said, I don't mean that in a bad way.

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	Horror Tileset	Graeme Norgate	4
02	Industrial Tileset	Graeme Norgate	4
03	Virtual Tileset [TS3 VR]	Graeme Norgate	2
04	Spaceport Tileset (TS Credits Short)	Graeme Norgate	3
05	Alien Tileset	Graeme Norgate	2
06	Streets	Graeme Norgate	3
07	Bank	Graeme Norgate	3
08	Chinese Restaurant	Graeme Norgate	3
09	Graveyard	Graeme Norgate	3
10	Cyberden	Graeme Norgate	4
11	Haunted Mansion	Graeme Norgate	3
12	Planet X	Graeme Norgate	3
13	Castle	Graeme Norgate	3
14	Village	Graeme Norgate	4
15	Egyptian Tomb	Graeme Norgate	4
16	Warzone	Graeme Norgate	4
17	(Construction) Site	Graeme Norgate	3
18	Docks	Graeme Norgate	3
19	Cyberden Short	Graeme Norgate	3
20	Spaceways	Graeme Norgate	3
21	Timesplitters Credits	Graeme Norgate	3
22	Spaceship	Graeme Norgate	2
23	Compound	Graeme Norgate	2
24	Chemical Plant	Graeme Norgate	3
25	Mapmaker	Graeme Norgate	2
26	Mall	Graeme Norgate	2
27	Timesplitters Front End	Graeme Norgate	3