the TimeSplitters, a sadistic alien race bent on the destruction of mankind. However, rather than use brute force to destroy humanity, they are using the special objects called Time Crystals to travel through time changing the course of history, bringing Earth to ruins. Two space marines from Earth, Sergeant Cortez and Corporal Hart, are sent out to a space station overrun by TimeSplitters to retrieve the Time Crystals. However, when they reach the bridge, they are too late as they see the last few TimeSplitters take the Time Crystals into various time periods using the time portal. While Sergeant Cortez and Corporal Hart are preparing the time portal to follow the TimeSplitters, they are attacked by another squad of TimeSplitters. Corporal Hart decides to stay at the bridge to keep the TimeSplitters at bay while Cortez goes into different periods of time to retrieve the Time Crystals. Upon arrival at each time period, Cortez takes the form of a person from that particular period of time, similar to Quantum Leap. For example, when Cortez arrives in the Wild West, he takes the form of a bounty hunter. When he arrives in a 24th-century robot factory, he takes the form of a robot. After Cortez retrieves all of the Time Crystals, he returns to the space station to rendezvous with Hart. The TimeSplitters outside finally manage to break into the bridge. Corporal Hart is killed in the ensuing battle. Cortez has little time to mourn, as the TimeSplitters become relentless to retrieve the Time Crystals from him. Cortez manages to set the station to self-destruct and escape before its destruction. This leads into the events of TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. Development In February 1999, 15 months before the release of Perfect Dark, several members of Rare that were part of the GoldenEye 007 development team, including Steve Ellis, Karl Hilton, Graeme Norgate, and David Doak, left to form their own company called Free Radical Design. After they developed the first TimeSplitters, TimeSplitters 2 went into development, trying to create a more fulfilling story mode alongside the Arcade and MapMaker modes. The game was developed over a 23-month period, with around half of that time devoted to creating the opening level. It was also one of the first multi-platform games to be re-released on both the PlayStation 2 Greatest Hits and Xbox Classics labels. The location of the health bar and other gameplay